Moving goods across the world takes a lot of fuel, expertise and paperwork- lots and lots of paperwork. From a bill of lading to commercial invoices to delivery receipts, millions of documents are needed daily to make sure goods are being transported efficiently and by code. The production and distribution of paper relies heavily on the carrying capabilities of massive transport trucks. From clear site to process plant to stores, trucks are there along the whole way to help the paper to its end destination. Even historically, trucking and paper have been intrinsically intertwined. But this symbiotic relationship takes a deathly toll on the environment. Although trees are considered a renewable resource, forests are not. The average tree used for paper is over 100 years old. Because of the long time it takes to regrow trees, most paper is made from ‘virgin’ forests where little to no human activity has taken place before. This deadly practice can uproot entire ecosystems. As leaders in environmental sustainability, Musket Transport saw the opportunity to progress within their green journey. From such, Musket Transport’s maintenance team created an in-house app to negate the use of paper since June 20th. Since using the application, Musket Transport has found 4 business benefits of going paperless.
Maintenance
The in-house application was made with the intention of completely automating the maintenance work order process. Musket Transport took the time to label and categorize all trucks and truck parts into their vast database. This timely process allowed for automation to prevail and thrive within Musket Transport’s garage. Creating a digital database helped prioritize preventative action by automatically sending out reminders when parts or vehicles haven’t been worked on. The innovative team at Musket Transport also worked to store all vehicle history within an easy-to-read file. This robust vehicle history allows for mechanics to know of every time a vehicle was worked on, how it was worked on and what needs to be repaired. With all the extra information, regulations and warranties are easily accessible which helps keep the trucks up to code. Providing all this information to the mechanic gives them irreplaceable insights into the vehicle and how to best service it.
Transparency
With the maintenance automation, the quality of work done on the trucks is able to be tracked more easily. From start to finish, every process is tracked and able to be reviewed by employers. The skill gaps and inefficiencies are able to be discovered and rectified. The strengths and efficiencies are celebrated and noted. Training programs can be organized to better the work of all those within the garage. Being able to review all workings within the garage gives managers a better idea on how to best engage with their employees. The digital database allows for long term work trends to be monitored better than with a massive collection of files upon files.
Human Error
Providing a clear and concise way to fill out work orders makes for less clerical errors. All workers within the garage have been trained to become experts at operating the application. Chicken scratch across papers is no more, clearly laid out instructions and problems are laid out in a way that mechanics can easily follow. The single format allows for easy distinction of information which is crucial when working on massive transport trucks. With the application, skill gaps are easily distinguishable; they can be addressed proactively with adequate training to strengthen the overall quality of work and lessen the errors made.
(Photo of New Axel alignment machine, which uses red lasers as a measurement tool, data is then transferred to our paperless system.)
Savings
The bottom line, literally, of any business is their ability to turn a profit. Surprisingly, Musket Transport’s decision to help the environment coincidentally helps keep the costs of operations low. One of the benefits of going paperless is the less administrative work that needs to be done thus allowing more time to be spent on other, more pressing tasks. The ability to maintain vehicles at the par that Musket Transport does since their application creation has led to better running vehicles which saves on fuel and overall repairs. The benefits of going paperless are priceless.
Although making the change can be extremely difficult, our process took over a year to implement, the benefits of going paperless greatly outweigh the risks. Even though the trucking industry and paper will always work together as we all keep using paper, the trend is seeing more and more fleets moving away from running their business on paper. Paper is wasteful, tedious to go through and opens the room for errors. Musket Transport is still moving to make more and more of their process paperless, reaching towards the goal of a completely paperless future.