Texas-based Common Disposal, LLC has grown a lot since humble beginnings back in 2008. In 2018 they invested in Axon Software, a fully integrated system, to help streamline their business. In this interview, Daryl Darby, the company’s controller, explains how they run their day-to-day operations and keep things under control.
Q&A
Tell us about yourself and the company.
I’m Daryl Darby. I’m the controller for Common Disposal, LLC here in Chireno, Texas. We are in saltwater hauling and saltwater disposal.
In 2008, a family-owned company saw an opportunity in the area for saltwater hauling and disposal. They acquired their first trucks. I believe it started with five folks, and they grew the business from there and took over multiple different disposals. In the downturn of the market, they started acquiring other assets, trucks and disposals. Here we are today with five disposals, 65 trucks, a number of trailers, and multiple facilities.
I started with the company in 2022. I was brought in as a controller. They were looking for someone to take over their day-to-day financial side. At the time, the company was sold to new partners from the Houston area. They were looking for a boots-on-the-ground kind of controller. So, I was lucky enough to take the position and have pretty much taken over the controller shift for Common Disposal.
How did the company get started with Axon Software?
Axon was implemented in 2018. They were pretty much looking for a system to run the business since it had grown significantly, and the old system was not up to par.
My training came from the previous controller who was here. I’m not a computer nerd, but I like to fish around and whatnot. I learned a lot of things by myself too.
Axon has this little Help button which is a tremendous tool for me. You pretty much hit it, and next thing you know they’re ready to talk to you. That’s a good thing.
We have a combination of company trucks and owner operator trucks. We also have third parties or common carriers that we utilize. We probably have anywhere from 13 to 18 trucks that are not owned by Common Disposal, so those are a little bit different. They are easily integrated into our system.
How do you find Axon for getting invoices out?
We utilize Axon 100% from the invoicing side, but some of our customers require that we load things to outside systems. From our perspective, the invoicing side is very easy and very straightforward.
The group that handles the invoicing side pretty much just runs a report, sees what needs to be invoiced, and they go ahead and get it to the customer in any form or fashion. It’s pretty easy and very simple. We don’t really have to think about it. It’s kind of a day-to-day activity that just happens.
If you added another 20 trucks, would you have to add more staff members?
It’s not going to be because of a limitation in the system. I think we run anywhere from 330 to 370 tickets a day. Our volume would increase. We have standard ways of doing everything, so that would pretty much be repeated, just with a 20-truck add.
Does Axon help you answer questions and concerns from your customers?
Meeting their needs is very simple and very easy. Everything is compartmentalized, especially if you’re looking at the most recent activity.
We don’t have a lot of departments here, so a lot of us just handle a call that comes in. They may need to know what address we have on a customer, or what invoice was the last one, or what ticket. Everything is really easy to get to and you roll through it easily with Axon.
Can you compare the customer support from Axon to any other programs you've used?
There are many companies where you wait days. You put your ticket in, wait for that ticket to be dispatched to someone, and hope that someone calls you back.
Clicking on a button in Axon lets them know, “Hey, I need some help.” I’ve seen it as fast as two minutes and probably no longer than ten. We get some acknowledgement back saying, “Hey, I know you have an issue. We’ll work with you to figure out what it is.” So very quick, very easy.
Most companies, if you have down time, you’re going to be down for quite some time waiting for them to come back. But with Axon, no issue whatsoever.
If somebody in the industry asked about your experience with Axon, what would you say?
I’ve worked with larger, name-brand ERP systems. The experience with Axon has been absolutely wonderful. We go to one place, and everything is right there. It’s pretty much that one-stop shop.
With other systems, you’re worried about interfaces. You’re worrying how to control those interfaces. Is it manually controlled?
From an overall perspective, you can’t beat an integrated system. Everything is right there at your fingertips and it’s very simple. It makes life a lot easier, and we know exactly what we’re doing. We come in each morning, open up the Axon app, and we’re ready to go.
