Open Letter to Crete Carrier Management - Constructive Criticism

Aye. A truly dedicated Lean system can be very difficult to adopt, but most companies can gain some benefit without extraordinary effort by adopting a mindset that considers Lean principles.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, high-compliance Lean operations can grow difficult to manage. The more lean a company gets, the more time, effort, and money it takes to get leaner

 

There is a balance between efficiency and happiness. It also matters what is targeted for efficiency 'improvements.'

What I outlined above is inefficiency associated with errors or wasteful, unnecessary processes.

Some degree of morale-increasing expenses is actually a good thing. Driver lounges with comfy chairs, air conditioning, etc., for example.

Everyone works at a different pace, but some folks are a lot slower than others. A highly energetic gung-ho individual will do more work than a daydreaming slacker. But lean processes will help both do more work.

 

Here is an example of bad data being provided by Peoplenet.

First: background.

The 44.8k load was initially illegal for CA, (too heavy on tandems at 40 foot) and had to be reworked. The shipper managed to rework it without removing any product. This made the steers CA illegal with half tank capacity of diesel and full DEF tanks.

I hit the CA border with 1/2 tank of DEF and a bit over a quarter tank diesel, but had to refuel a bit before final. I took a 30 there after sitting 15 minutes in off duty after fueling. Drove to final, drop, hooked new load, rolled.

I fueled again in AZ.

However, because of my early stop for fuel and a 30, I had more drive time remaining than 8 hour clock time, since I spent time on duty not driving dropping and hooking loads, as well as fueling in AZ.

So, this is what I was looking at. My actual drive time remaining at this point was 1h46m. The display was showing false drive time data, which made it impossible for me to use REAL data to figure out what all of my driving options actually were. Note that I did have time to take a 30 minute break, without losing any drive time, but because the drive clock was displaying bad data, I could not accurately assess all my driving options.

I should not have to stop my truck or call dispatch to get the data I need to accurately determine my clock data.

 

Perhaps, but if that's the only way to make change happen, then I won't be doing it.