“Axon Saved Us From Making a $58,000.00 Mistake!”
Aden Russell, Operations
Manager with Metzler Brothers Transport Inc. of Duncansville, PA
speaks about their Axon experience.
 Aden,
tell us about Metzler Brothers.
“Metzler Brothers started in 1988 with one truck. We're currently
running 85 power units hauling anything to do with agriculture –
from milk in food-grade tankers to feed and animals in vans. We haul
farm equipment on flatbeds and step decks and so on, mainly east of
the Mississippi.”
Has Axon helped your company deal with the
fuel tax?
“Yes. Before Axon we were actually entering it twice. We had a
gentleman, and that's all he did; he sat and entered all of the
mileage in the computer, and it figured out that you ran x amount of
miles in this state and x amount in that state. Now, with the
routing, we're able to just go in and do each individual truck
automatically. That's really simplified our fuel tax. Our payroll is
a lot easier because everything's right there: the routing's already
there, so are miles for the drivers. It just makes it a lot easier
to keep track of everything.”
Has the software helped you deal with any
other types of issues?
“Oh yes. For example, our milk companies pay us on how much milk we
haul. They get all the paperwork from us; they add the fuel
surcharge; and they cut us a check. Before Axon, we had no real way
of tracking it to see, 'Hey, did we get what we were supposed to
get?' kind of thing. Yesterday, by using Axon, we found that one
of the milk companies made a $58,000.00 mistake back in January. And
we’re going to be able to collect it. That, right there, paid
for the software!
It's real easy now. We go in once a week after
billing is done, and we pull a report to see what orders haven’t
been billed. If there's any that somehow got missed, we can go in
and look at them individually and say, 'Why didn't this invoice go
out?' and we've been able to pick up on some other items that
weren’t done.”
Has the settlement process for the owner
operators improved with Axon?
“Yes, because it's a lot easier to track the loads that they’re on.
With the owner operators, we know exactly what that truck generated
so that they can get their proper percentage.”
Aden, you were an owner operator, and you
still run your trucks with Metzler Brothers. Has Axon’s statement
helped the owner operators in any way?
 “Yes.
I know personally with the two trucks that I own, I just do a quick
look every week at the miles that they ran because it gives us a
total for that week or that period. And I just do a quick
calculation to see what I'm running per mile with my truck, and it's
just so simple to figure that out. When I was with other companies
[as an owner operator], I didn't have that; I got this load paid x
amount of dollars and I got my percentage of that. And then I'd have
to physically go in and figure out how many miles I ran and, you
know, it was a lot harder to do. Now I can do it in about 30 seconds
to see where I'm at per mile for the week.”
Has the productivity in the office improved
since moving to Axon?
“Yes. We have eliminated one person in the office, and we're
actually in the process of doing that again; not eliminating this
next person but changing some things around to be able to maximize
her time better. And it's a lot easier for our payroll staff and for
the dispatchers to keep track of things. When we started using Axon,
I’d guess we were running 60 to 65 units. We’ve grown to 85, and
we’ve decreased our clerical positions. It has definitely made our
life a lot easier here in the office.”
Talk a little bit about the support you've
received from Axon.
“It's been tremendous. I mean we go into the program and click the
Contact Axon button and we can send Axon a message, and they're very
quick to get back to us. If we have a question, we usually have an
answer within 10 or 15 minutes.”
Has Axon helped you improve your customer
relations?
“It runs the whole gamut. I mean it. We can put directions in for
our drivers so we can print out the order confirmation and have the
directions right on it; so it's a lot easier for our drivers to get
to that customer and get there on time. And everybody likes on-time
deliveries.”
Would you say that Axon has helped Metzler
Brothers grow their business?
“Yes, because we now know our cost per mile where we didn't before;
and, whenever I'm quoting loads or going after new business, I can
make sure we're making money on the load (but we're not overcharging
and maybe getting under-priced by a competitor) and be able to get
that business.”
How easy is the software for you to use on a
day-to-day basis?
“It's extremely easy. You can put an order in in two minutes and be
able to follow it the whole way through and see if this person's
paying or they're not, even as far as being able to pull the reports
that I need to pull so that I can sit down with my dispatchers and
say, 'Hey, why did you do it this way versus another way?' I'm able
to do that every couple of days and be able to track it better where
before we never knew.
We had money coming in and money going out, and
we thought we were making money. Now I know we're making money. And
if we're not making money, I can pull that information very easily
from Axon and be able to go to my dispatchers and say, 'You know,
you need to run the truck this way the next time.' Or be able to go
to my customer and say, 'Look, we’re losing money on hauling your
product. We need to do it differently, or we need to raise your
rate, or we're going to move on,’ and we've done that.”
What's the reaction of your dispatching staff
to using Axon?
“They really enjoy using it because of the dispatch screen and
everything being colour-coded where they can very easily look and
see what load's available. And they can easily see that I have John
Smith over here and he's available, and over here is a load that
works, where if it's on a scrap of paper or something, it may get
shuffled off to the side and be forgotten about.”
If one of your peers in the industry were to
ask you about Axon, how would you describe your experience to them?
“I've actually done this. The company that I used to be leased to
was looking for dispatching software and was asking us what we used.
It's a good fit for most companies. I'm sure there's probably a
company or two out there that it's not, but if you want a
simple-to-use program that gives you the information you want on a
timely basis, this is the one you need to be using. And that's
exactly what I've told this company that I'm referring to.”
Would you want your direct competitors using
Axon software?
“No. I don't want them to know their true cost per mile. I don't
want them to have the information on their trucks that we have on
ours because, when I’m going after a contract and I’m competing
against them, I want to know what our cost per mile is so that I can
put in our profit margin and be able to hit it on the head and know,
when I walk out of there, that I gave it my best shot. And if you're
not using this software, I don't think you can do that.”
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