Swift Transportation Co., Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, operates the largest truckload fleet in the United States combining strong regional operations, transcontinental operation, various specialty and dedicated offerings and an intermodal package. The company operates a fleet of about 18,000 tractors and 52,700 trailers from a network of 33 terminals in 28 states, and has 22,000 employees, of which over 17,000 are drivers.
The Challenge
As an organization known for an employee-focused culture, Swift was challenged by the need to deliver timely information to its geographically-dispersed and highly-mobile driver workforce. Much of this information was available via enterprise applications and the Internet, but it was only accessible by supervisors who had a PC available. Wanting to empower employees while at the same time improving operating efficiencies, the company made a commitment to deploy a network of interactive kiosks which provide workers with self-service access to a variety of corporate applications and services.
The Netkey Solution
After an extensive evaluation, Swift chose Netkey as its kiosk solution provider. Called the Swift Informer Self-Service System, over 150 kiosks have been installed in Swift-owned distribution and repair facilities and customer locations where Swift maintains a full-time employee presence. The Swift Informer kiosk application provide drivers, mechanics and other employees — once securely logged in and authenticated — with online access to payroll, benefit, permit, training and safety information, truck repair manuals and parts availability, as well as e-mail, company news, weather, and directions.
All kiosks in the network are remotely monitored by Swift from a central workstation for maximum uptime and performance using Netkey Manager software. Netkey also provides the ability for scheduled or ad-hoc remote application, software and interface updates to keep kiosk content current. In addition, the Netkey system allows Swift to capture valuable usage and performance data from the kiosks, giving HR staff and IT administrators clear insight into content, applications and issues that are most of interest to users, and allow responsiveness to updating or modifying the content to reflect changing work conditions.
The Results
The kiosks have been well-received by drivers. Usage reports generated by the Netkey management software helped Swift officials identify over 100,000 driver logins to the kiosk system each month, with the number one use being pay inquiries. The kiosks have also become news and information portals for the drivers, delivering critical information like weather updates. In addition, the company’s payroll department is handling fewer calls from drivers, and is able to dedicate more time to resolving other employee issues.
The Swift Informer system is an outstanding example of a market-leading company’s willingness to invest in self-service kiosk technology to meet needs of a highly-mobile workforce. As an employer, Swift is in competition with other trucking companies for qualified drivers. The company makes a significant investment in hiring, training and outfitting its drivers. Through the Informer kiosk program, Swift is taking action to increase employee satisfaction and reduce driver turnover, giving it a competitive advantage over other transportation firms.