Southern Cal Transport

Source: Supply Chain Digital

Date :6/25/2008 7:14:40 AM

The customer comes first for Southern Cal Transport as it strives to provide the best possible service for every client

Written by Donna O’Neil and Produced by Jason Garry

Southern Cal Transport, Inc. is a US$125Million Truckload Service Provider with more than 500 power units, 1,200 trailers, and 800 drivers. Their offerings include Over The Road Team service with more than 300 teams, intermodal drayage services across the Southeast, and dedicated contract carriage. Southern Cal is led by Ken Adams, a 45-year veteran of the industry. His simple and enduring formula for his company is: Safety plus Service equal Success.

Southern Cal Transport provides more than a fleet of vehicles for moving products from warehouse to destination. The company offers safe and on-time over-the-road passage for dry goods while maintaining a seamless tracking system that allows customers to pinpoint the location of their cargo at any given moment of the journey.

“We serve a large component of longhaul transit sensitive business.” says Adams, president and CEO of Southern Cal. “This includes terminal to terminal movements of LTL, carpet, retail goods, automotive, and consumer products. Customer service and the safe journey of their product, safety of their drivers and the safety of others on the road are among the company’s utmost concerns.

Customer Service

“Our focus is on our customers and the technology to provide in transit visibility of goods and information across their supply chains,” says Phil DeSimone, Chief Operating Officer, for Southern Cal Transport. “We have satellite tracking capability on our tractors and trailers, and our business requires an extensive communication system including EDI messaging, Web site tracking and vehicle-based monitoring systems.”

“It is not enough for our trucks to go from point A to point B,” says Adams, “It is important for our customers to know where their cargo is in transit. We provide the visibility so they know where trucks carrying their cargo are at all times.”

Satellite tracking is in place in all cabs and trailers and provides real-time visibility. Customers can log on to a web site for tracking updates or they can call and speak with a customer service representative since Southern Cal Transport’s operations team is staffed around the clock.

Safety

Safety begins with the driver hiring process. “How we recruit and select drivers,” says Adams, “along with stringent driver hiring criteria help us to preserve and enhance our safety culture. Trucking operations have an inherent risk. We want to make sure our processes and people are focused on safety.”

Governed by Department of Transportation safety requirements, Southern Cal Transport abides by strict work rules and promotes safety through comprehensive dispatch and planning processes, trip planning, and safety compliance reporting and management.

Trip plans delineate the route a driver takes as well as the number of miles and hours drivers will operate their vehicle. Trip plans also consider the number of hours remaining to drive and work for the day and week, so that the driver does not violate hours of service regulations. Fuel stops, rest breaks, pre-trip inspections, en route inspections, and post trip inspections are all part of the trip plan.

“While on the road, our drivers utilize the Smith System, a defensive driving system that ensures all drivers promote ways of safe operation.” says DeSimone, “They are professional drivers pulling 80,000 pounds down the road, and they take this accountability very seriously.”

Southern Cal Transport has numerous awards to their credit, including Alabama Trucking Association safe carrier award and a 2007 award for improvement in accident frequency from year to year. They have a multitude of Carrier of the Year awards for service.

“Accidents and safety performance are measured in a myriad of ways,” says DeSimone. “Accidents per million miles are a leveler that is only one key metric that we look at. The severity of the accident, accident cost, lost-time injuries, work comp injuries are all measured and managed. We are not a static manufacturing location but have a workforce that is constantly on the move. We manage and communicate safety performance through a variety of communication mediums - satellite communications, payroll fliers, web–site postings, and driver meetings to name a few.”

“Safety is not lip service, it has to be upheld in a multitude of decisions that we make every day,” says Adams, “You have to live it out all the time.”

“Success is driven by how safe you are,” says DeSimone, “Safety and service equals success. It is still very relevant -- we promote a safety and service culture,” says DeSimone.

Employees

Among the drivers, 90 percent are employees and 10 percent are contractors – owner/operators with their own trucks who haul for Southern Cal Transport. Drivers include solo drivers and teams. Southern Cal Transport is one of only a few trucking companies that offer both a passenger program and a pet policy. Drivers may take certain family members, depending on their age, with them. In all cases the rider is a member of the driver’s immediate family, which helps promote a family support factor for our drivers.

“Of over 300 teams, 60 percent might be husband and wife, and some are empty-nesters with no family at home,” says Adams. “Their pet is a part of their family. It is a real benefit to these drivers to be able to take their pet along for the ride. A number of drivers come to us because of this policy.”

By industry standards, Southern Cal operates a relatively new fleet. Most of their equipment is 30 months old or younger and have 500,000 miles or less on the odometer.

Challenges

“Trucking serves a critical role in our nation,” Adams says “The general public does not always realize the role trucking plays in their lives. Most everything they eat, wear and use at some point was on a truck. Trucking is vital to the standard of living we enjoy.”

Although truck operations appears to simply go from point A to point B, the challenge of transporting goods across a customers’ supply chain is becoming increasingly complex. Among the other challenges, he sees are “Rising operating costs including insurance, cost of equipment, and most of all drastic fuel spikes.” says Adams. “In a weak economy, the availability of freight and resulting imbalance of capacity and demand make it difficult to recover from the increased cost of operating.”

He likes the industry. He says, “It has been a very challenging and dynamic industry to serve in, and when I started in the industry, I didn’t plan to have a career in trucking. It is a good industry and provides a great deal of opportunity. It is a move I would certainly do over again.”