Concrete Products

MAY 2012

Concrete Products covers the issues that attract producers of ready mixed and manufactured concrete focusing on equipment and material technology, market development and management topics.

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FEATURE TRUCKS & COMPONENTS TRUCKTRAX SIGNS ON TO TABLET REVOLUTION, SHELVES CLIPBOARDS After Catalina Pacific driver Robert Barry washed and packed his chutes having delivered the last load of the day for a recent south- ern California project—the West Basin Edward Little Water Recycling Plant—he carried his wireless tablet to the back of his truck for the contractor to sign. The contractor confirmed that the delivery times were correct and signed the receipt with his finger. Within seconds, an electronic image of the ticket was deposited in the invoicing sys- tem, and the completed order was ready for billing. Throughout its ready mixed operations in Arizona, California, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest, CalPortland Co. has begun replacing its aging, truck-mounted, GPS-enabled statusing equipment with 7-in. touch-screen tablets loaded with software to function as a timecard and delivery ticket. In the ready mixed business, the majority of delivery information continues to be conveyed via paper, supplemented by radios or push-to- talk phones in trucks. According to CalPortland Director of Business Processes and Architecture Daniel Fincher, the "bulk construction materials industry is the last bastion of delivery drivers carrying paper tickets on a clipboard. Virtually every other industry has evolved to the electronic age." GeoTrax is the latest development from TruckTrax LLC in Van- Partial ticket samples as shown on the tablet screen, along with a signed ticket as uploaded to an in-house server. couver, Wash., founded a decaded ago by CalPortland and high- tech firm Capstone Technology to develop industry-related hardware and software. "Merely replacing paper is the easy first step. The trick is to use the tablets' capabilities to make it a better venue, to offer something more than is possible with paper," says Capstone cofounder Steven Fain. Electronic tablets have taken the business world by storm since Apple's introduction of the iPad, he adds, providing a platform that's convenient, inexpensive and powerful. Replacing hardware-centric AVL systems was a logical step. "The exciting thing about tablets is that they are completely portable, they can be moved from truck to truck, driver to driver," Fain affirms. "The key point is that software for the tablet needs to be built especially for the intricacies of ready- mixed delivery and the tablet specifically." CalPortland finds the tablets and GeoTrax software require far less training time than older, traditional truck-mounted GPS sys- tems. Drivers find the touchscreen interface intuitive so they're Catalina Pacific driver Robert Barry (right) demonstrates a touch-screen tablet with timecard and delivery ticket functions. The durable, portable hardware is part of an enterprise-wide, CalPortland mixer fleet technology upgrade. 28 | MAY 2012 WWW.CONCRETEPRODUCTS.COM

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