“WE HAD 6 TRUCKS AND NOW WE HAVE 55. WE DID NOT INCREASE ANY STAFF.”
“WE’RE DOING INVOICING, STATEMENTS, EVERYTHING. I THINK WE CAN GO UP TO 100 TRUCKS WITH THE SAME STAFF WITH THE WAY AXON IS WORKING, BECAUSE IT’S SO SIMPLE.”
Raj Lail moved to Canada in 2006 and built SST Trucking from the ground up. They are already up to 55 trucks and don’t plan on slowing down. In this interview, Raj explains that as they continue steady growth Axon Software minimizes their workload and allows them to stay lean in office personnel.
We are a flat deck company located in Saskatoon. We run mostly in Western Canada as well as the US. We haul anything that we can fit onto a flat deck. Most of our fleet is B-train flats. We have some tandems or flats that we run in the US.
I moved to Canada in ’06 and after a few months I got a Class 1 license and started driving. I love driving. It’s kind of a passion, and after a couple of years I started pursuing my career in trucking. I bought my own truck and started out with one truck. Now we have a fleet of 50 to 55 – half of those are owner operators and half are company-owned.
We heard of Axon in 2011 and had a couple of phone meetings with them. In 2012, they convinced us that it would be the best decision. And it was. It’s like we can do anything we want with Axon.
It makes your life way, way easier – especially with me because I have to check everything. I have to go through everything. Once you enter an order, after that you can run any report. You can do whatever you want to do, so you don’t have to re-enter anything twice. You don’t have to go look in different places. Everything that I want to see is in Axon.
My name is Raj Lail. I am the owner and manager at SST Trucking.
Yes, it has. Once the order is entered, we put the order number on the paperwork, and once we receive it, we invoice it right away. We don’t have to worry about which load it is or what we are doing. Axon has made our life very easy.
Once the order is entered, we tell the driver, “This is your order number.” Everything is through the order number. Once we receive the paperwork for that order number, the only thing we have to do is invoice and attach the paperwork. It’s way, way easier.
It’s very simple. They can understand whatever they need to and they have their year-to-date earnings on there too. Same with the owner operators.
What makes our life so simple is that, once the order is entered, it ultimately goes into the unit. We don’t have to do anything at the end. It just creates the statement because we download the fuel directly from our providers.
When we are making a statement, it’s just a simple click and it’s done. The drivers and owner operators love it.
We had 6 trucks and now we have 55. We did not increase any staff. We’re using Axon, so we did not increase our office staff other than the people on safety or the ones in the shop. The office staff is the same as at that time, and now we have 55 trucks. We’re doing invoicing, statements, everything.
I think we can go up to 100 trucks with the same staff with the way Axon is working, because it’s so simple.
Axon paid for itself a few years back. Now we’re just making money out of it. Where we are right now, we would need two or three more people in our office to do the stuff that Axon is doing. At 40 grand a year, Axon is saving at least $100,000 a year for us in employee wages.
It’s very easy. Sometimes customers call and they say, “I need to know where this load is.” They give me the order number. Some of our customers book hundreds of loads with us. The only thing I have to go on is the customer’s PO in the system. It tells where the load is, whether it is picked up or delivered, if it’s invoiced, or anything, and if we have to send them paperwork.
It’s so simple. I can tell them within a minute. Customers are really, really happy with that.
That’s the best thing. It’s so easy. We can teach anyone in a day how to operate it and there are not too many complications. It’s so simple.
You can make the reports the way you want it. It’s not how the reports are set up in some other software – it’s the way you want it. You can do whatever you want to with the software. That’s the best thing.
Yeah, whenever we need it, anything, they just provide. It’s the same day. They say, “Yeah, we will figure something out,” and in a day everything is done.
A couple of years back we put in the inventory system with Axon. It’s so easy now. We can track everything. We can track when our oil change is done, how much inventory we have left, tires, and other stuff. It’s very simple.
Before, we were always running out of stuff because we didn’t know. We were not tracking it. Since we are now, we know how much stuff we have and when to order, so it’s a good thing.
As I said, it paid itself off a few years back. I couldn’t imagine doing trucking without Axon right now. I can’t go back. It’s part of our business.
STAY ON TRACK WITH AXON’S WORK ORDERS APPLICATION
If you run a shop, you know how important it is to keep accurate records. With Axon’s work orders application, you can track work, parts, and repairs – in real time.
Inventory:
Axon’s software is fully integrated. Your inventory will be updated whenever you purchase, use, or return a part. You can track serial numbers, warranties, used core details, and reorder quantity.
Work Orders:
The information from a work order will flow through automatically to receivables invoices, equipment statements, and driver settlements. Odometer/hours readings and equipment reminders will be updated, and you can set up separate pricing for company, owner operator, and customer equipment.
Templates:
Speed up data entry by setting up templates for work orders with similar information.
Reports:
Axon reports are a convenient way to review the work you’ve done for a customer or piece of equipment, track used cores, or decide if it’s time to reorder parts.
AN ALL-IN-ONE TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Dispatch is at the heart of your company’s operations, and Axon ensures that every aspect of the dispatching process is fully integrated. But there’s so much more to your operations and Axon is there to help you every step of the way.
Payroll:
With Axon’s payroll application, your drivers will be paid correctly and on time. The system will help you assemble all the necessary information for taxes and year-end reporting.
Purchase Orders:
Track your purchases with Axon’s purchase orders application. The system is completely integrated in real time so purchases flow through immediately to inventory, driver settlements, equipment statements, and can be matched to invoices.
Warehousing:
Reduce labor costs, improve inventory accuracy, and decrease errors in orders, shipments, and receipts with Axon’s warehousing application. The system will record parts that you’re storing for a customer as well as parts that you’ve purchased to sell and ship to customers as part of an order.
Fuel Downloads:
Your fuel tax calculations will be completed in minutes not days with Axon’s integrated fuel downloads.
ACE/ACI:
Do you have trucks crossing the American/Canadian border? No problem! Axon software is there to help you enter and send your manifests.
EDI:
Whether you’re sending invoices or trucking transactions, EDI can be integrated with your Axon software.
Axon Link:
The Axon Link App is integrated with Axon’s trucking software making it easy for you to connect with your drivers via Apple or Android phones and tablets.
RESTRICTED ACCESS TO PAYROLL INFORMATION
Not all your employees need or should have access to payroll information. Axon provides you with two options for protecting confidentiality.
No Access
Some employees, such as dispatchers, don’t need access to any payroll information.
- Choose Business > Roles and make sure that you have a Role that will be suitable for users who will never have access to payroll information. Remember, the admin Role has access to every part of Axon, including potentially confidential information, and should only be given to individuals who require full access.
- Choose Business > Permissions and make sure that the role doesn’t have permission for the payroll screens.
- Assign the role to the relevant individuals and make sure they don’t have any additional roles that will give them permission to access payroll information.
Partial Access
You can also restrict access so that staff members can only access some of the payroll information (e.g. they can enter or view payroll information for drivers and office staff but cannot edit or view payroll information for managers).
- Choose Payroll > Departments and identify the payroll departments (e.g. management) that should have restricted access.
- Limit access to the payroll information for these departments by choosing the appropriate roles in the Restrict Permission To field.
TROUBLESHOOTING THE INVENTORY ACTIVITY REPORT
The Inventory Activity Report (Work Orders, Warehousing) is a handy way to track changes in inventory and check for errors. But what if you think there are missing transactions or you’re unable to reconcile your Inventory Activity Report with your Account Activity Report? Check to see if you’ve changed the Category or GL Account for an inventory item (Inventory > Current > History). The report will reflect transactions based on the category/account that was specified at the time the transaction was created and this could lead to some confusion.
You can make it easier to reconcile the amounts in your inventory asset accounts by waiting until a period has closed and trying to avoid having any outstanding inventory-related transactions when making the change. Your other option is to zero out the Quantity on Hand before re-entering the information for the new asset account (Inventory > General tab > Category).
Need more information? Check the online Help:
Some employees, such as dispatchers, don’t need access to any payroll information.
- Why are there missing transactions on my Inventory Activity Report?
- Why can’t I reconcile my Inventory Activity Report with my Account Activity Report?
- Why can’t I reconcile my Inventory Report with my Inventory Activity Report?
ADDING ATTACHMENTS TO MULTIPLE TRANSACTIONS
We’ve eliminated the frustration of navigating to multiple transactions, putting them in edit mode, and manually picking labels to add attachments. You can now add attachments to many different transactions all from one screen.
- Head to the Add Attachments screen (Business).
- Select the transaction that requires an attachment, pick the labels you want to apply, drag the files into the attachment area, and choose Apply.
If the system is unable to add an attachment, it will remain in the list, accompanied by an explanation for why it couldn’t be attached.
Tip:
Contact Axon if you would like to set up automatic attachments for your orders, trips, and/or tickets.
Want to learn how to put more money on your bottom line while spending far less time working at it than you do now? Call now 1.800.567.8385 or fill out our form below to reserve a copy of the free book: “HOW WE TRIPLED OUR FLEET SIZE WITHOUT ADDING ANY OFFICE STAFF!” In this amazing book, you’ll discover:
- How properly integrating your dispatch and operations software with your back‐office systems can slash your current office staff’s workload in half!
- How a simple one‐step interface option can help cut 10 days of work or more—each and every month—off your fuel bill processing.
- What most trucking software companies don’t want you to know about their so‐called “Real‐Time” systems that could cost you thousands of dollars every month.
- Why integrating your Accounts Payable transaction entries with your operations software will save you over half a week of work—every month.
- And much more!
