Corcentric Solution Helps Fleet Take Control of Life Cycle Costs

The family-owned business operates about 375 trucks, 2900 trailers, and has another 230 independent contractors. It also has a logistics/brokerage division that handles business outside of the southeast region. In addition, G&P provides dedicated operations for select customers and has a robust automotive business concentration in Mexico.

When G&P Trucking was faced with making hard decisions about its aging fleet, they realized they needed help. “We had solid data capture, but it was tough to pull it all together in a comprehensive platform, and then integrate all that into a fleet plan with a long delivery cycle on equipment,” said Greg Grubbs, Senior Vice President for G&P Trucking.

Given the competitive trucking environment with its challenges of attracting customers, recruiting drivers, and reserving vehicle build slots, Grubbs knew it was necessary to invest in information technology in order to gain complete visibility into fleet operations and take G&P Trucking to the next level.

The Corcentric solution has helped us determine which makes of trucks perform better in which of our applications. This will
help us identify and spec trucks for a specific application to help streamline our fleet and keep costs down.”

~ Greg Grubbs, Senior Vice President

Although Grubbs was not actively looking for a solution to his data problem, he was searching for a way to refine his data within existing constraints. He explored some information technology systems that carried a huge cost, and considered the services of a number of finance companies, but never found the solution he was looking for. And then Corcentric found him.

Grubbs admits that he is a finance guy by training, and when he took over maintenance, it had been a while since the company had purchased tractors. In 2018, it became clear that there was going to be a need for new equipment. This time around, things would have to be different. He started a discussion about how to solve the correlated issues of equipment and retaining drivers, and landed on Corcentric as the answer.

“I inherited a maintenance system that was a little outdated, so I was not able to extract data in a presentation format that made sense to me,” Grubbs said. “I could understand the [equipment] costs, but not where they were coming from. What attracted me to Corcentric was the unbelievable amount of detail available. We can now zero in by make, model and year, and really see what those costs are.”

Grubbs chose Corcentric because of its extensive suite of solutions and its strong understanding of the company’s business and industry, including equipment, finance, supplies, and remarketing. “Corcentric’s offering was much more in tune with our business and industry,” Grubbs said. “Their solutions are well designed to meet the challenge of transforming our strategic fleet management into cutting-edge sophistication, which is essential in the hyper-competitive environment in which we operate.”

G&P Trucking’s greatest challenge was understanding its life cycle costs, and when to move equipment in and out of the fleet. Through the new data analysis provided by the Corcentric solution, the company has seen a change in trade cycle that has led to promising results. “We were at a 66- to 72-month trade cycle and now we are looking at a 45- to 48-month plan,” Grubbs said. “There are all kinds of benefits to that shorter life cycle, including a positive effect on maintenance and fuel costs.”

The data supplied also resulted in more accurate spend forecasting. “We are now able to project, based upon our equipment and history, what our maintenance costs are going to be going forward and that was very helpful to our finance team.” All of these changes have helped G&P Trucking realize a $1M savings per year. Freeing up this working capital allowed the company to purchase more trailers for specific projects they have underway.

The Future