LTL carrier Dohrn Transfer Co. of Rock Island, Ill., is in the process of installing a new complete freight management software system -- the Carrier Logistics FACTS2000 -- as the centerpiece of a modernization program.

The company had been trying to correct inaccurate and delayed billing and difficulty in tracing shipments, all attributable to old software.
Dohrn Transfer Co. was founded in 1981 by Gary Dohrn and became a top highway freight carrier serving such clients as Deere, Case, Hershey, J.C. Penney, and Payless Shoes.
The firm's growth created a complex distribution pattern. Requirements for billing, rating shipments (assigning the correct freight rate), and on-line Internet tracking and tracing went beyond the capabilities of the company's older software. To solve the problem, Dohrn decided to modernize its entire operation.
The company went with the FACTS2000 software system, based on advanced open architecture developed by Carrier Logistics Inc. of Tarrytown, N.Y.
"I was particularly impressed when a CLI customer told me their system never goes down, since one problem with our old software, leading to customer service failures, was downtime," Dohrn said. "He also told me CLI software would meet all our management, administrative and operating needs, including billing and tracing." The system's Progress platform, Dorhn explained, enables real-time freight tracking and order taking over the Internet.
"Also, through the Progress platform, the CLI system gives us an unbeatably low cost of ownership. Our study showed FACTS2000 would pay for itself, largely by reducing administrative costs related to rating, billing, and dispatch. In fact, it's the only system I've seen that does rating using a trucker's language," Dohrn said.
The company is now undergoing first-phase software implementation with FACTS2000. Following a period of data conversion and training, employees at all levels will begin using the system. Those employees range from telephone operators to linehaul coordinators to vice presidents.