Drivers at Land Air Express of New England, an LTL and truckload carrier in Williston, Vt., now use tablets to keep in touch with dispatchers, terminals, and all computer users at the company and to handle all the paperwork at each stop.

The tablets, which incorporate smartphone technology, come from Carrier Logistics Inc. and are powered by Accordex software.

According to Dave Bush, director of business processes, Land Air Express runs about 300 pickup and delivery units daily and another 224 linehaul units at night. The company hauls common goods from commercial to industrial to residential.

The company serves the Northeast U.S. directly, but can cover the balance of North America via a strategic alliance with seven similar regional carriers called the Reliance Network.

Bush says the tablets have been a big hit, connecting drivers with the centralized CLI Facts system.

With the tablets, the company knows each truck’s location in real time, and which loads have or have not been delivered. Plus, drivers get precise routes to their next stop, which saves time and fuel.

Drivers also use the tablets for recording hours of service logs.
Before deploying the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.0 tablets, communication took place by means of mobile units of an earlier generation with fewer capabilities — smaller screen size, smaller keypads to enter data, and fewer options.

While the company isn’t currently using the tablets for signature capture, there are plans to do so in the works.