COLUMBUS, NE – Progressive Swine Technologies (PST) has upgraded its 500-vehicle fleet with the RoadBASE fleet management system from Chevin Fleet Solutions. The company focuses on the swine/pork production segment of the agricultural industry and has a number of different types of vehicles and equipment, such as tractors, livestock and feed trailers, and farm equipment.

Automotive Fleet contacted Chevin for more information about how the company’s RoadBASE system is being used in PST’s fleet. According to Ron Katz, senior vice president, the company’s previous fleet management and maintenance practices involved manual processes. As the system has only recently been integrated, PST doesn’t have numbers for comparison purposes yet.

“As Progressive Swine Technologies previous fleet management and maintenance practices were established using manual processes and a non-integrated work order management system with their baseline operating costs being captured in a summarized fashion using their corporate finance system, any historical cost reductions and performance comparison are still months away,” Katz said.

The new system has allowed PST to monitor and manage a range of fleet management tasks.

“We’re a conscientious business recognized for our ability to embrace new and changing technologies including implementing advanced internal systems,” said Troy Runge, Shop Manager at Progressive Swine Technologies. “With the increased visibility that RoadBASE has provided, we’ve been able to dramatically reduce the time we previously spent on administration, inventory oversight and fleet management. In addition, by enabling real-time tracking of all operating details across our diverse fleet, our related running costs have been massively reduced.”

In terms of specifics, Chevin’s Katz said PST has used the system’s capabilities to better track employee productivity and manage related costs.

“Progressive Swine has already seen significant improvement in workshop productivity using RoadBASE’s integrated touch screen capability for real-time capture of work order details and direct/indirect time capture, employment of standardized labor times for maintenance tasks, and improved visibility over inventory stocking levels with a reduction in stocking levels and increased inventory turns,” Katz said.    

Part of the challenge involved in implementing this fleet management solution for PST involved customizing it for the company’s fleet. The company distributes feed and food products across a large geographic area, so Chevin said the operational requirements for PST’s fleet are complex.

“From accommodating Progressive Swine specific data requirements such as costing and accounting codes, its complex organization structure, manufacturing and distribution channels, to more rudimentary maintenance requirements such as multiple markup types for parts and labor, RoadBASE has been uniquely configured to meet Progressive Swine Technology’s precise requirements all without programming or costly development,” Katz said.

Chevin said RoadBASE can be adapted to meet PST’s future fleet needs as well.

By Greg Basich

Correction: The previous version of this story had the term "telematics" listed in the headline. As the RoadBASE system does not involve telematics, we corrected the headline and copy.