Middlesex Bolsters Customer Service with Tech
BY Jim Wahl
The Middlesex Corporation, Orlando, has been safely building America’s
infrastructure since 1972 when Robert Pereira founded the company. Middlesex has grown significantly over the years with divisions that specialize in heavy/civil infrastructure, transit, aggregates, energy and paving. They take pride in the core values of safety, quality, integrity, professionalism, strong work ethic and commitment. These core values develop amazing partnerships throughout the industry. The paving division goes over and above to complete projects and partner with any customer at any time.
There are many factors that have helped them to achieve this level of success, including the adoption of technology to better serve their customers. Middlesex is committed to using technology and real-time information to keep internal teams and customers moving forward. Real-time data and communication allow all parties to learn, grow and develop lifelong partnerships in the industry.
One of the technologies that Middlesex uses daily is FleetWatcher, which provides transparency to their paving operations. Knowing where each truck is, where it is headed, laydown speed, cycle times or bottlenecks, and wait time at the plant and paver, allows Middlesex personnel to make changes that provide immediate results.
Vice President Michael Iapaluccio recalls what it was like beforehand.
“It was very reactive. We were getting paper timesheets, and it was after the fact. While approving timesheets we might see that a truck took three hours to get to the jobsite and question why, but we already lost the money.
“Middlesex has been using FleetWatcher for over five years now and it is a different story,” he continued. “Middlesex created a live dispatch team to process the live data. It allows you to be the quarterback and the support for the paving crews, customers, and drivers.”
Here’s How it Works
All 70+ of the Middlesex trucks and equipment have FleetWatcher hard-wired into them, to capture data. Third-party trucks use the FleetWatcher app. All they need to do is sign in, and sign out, daily, and are then pinged every 30 seconds to know their time at each location. Electronically capturing data has not only improved its accuracy but has also enhanced production efficiency. Before the daily start, load times, paver speed and arrival times are entered into FleetWatcher, the data is live and ready for the shift to begin tracking.
“Every job is different, bid differently, and every job has a different budget, depending on mileage, locations, accessibility in and out of the jobs,” Iapaluccio said. “If they see that wait times are extending at the paver, they will pull trucks from that job and put them on another project. Or if there is a traffic tie-up along the route, they can reroute trucks around it. If the plant is backed up, we can silo manage.”
FleetWatcher Telematics Platform Monitors Four Key Safe Driver Metrics
“Every paving project is set up in FleetWatcher. On a day-to-day basis, trucks are set up according to the job and the tons to be placed. As the job is loading or as the job is running, FleetWatcher updates the live LCA (load cycle analysis) Graphs, which are analyzed by the dispatch team.”
Although Middlesex has the largest asphalt plant in Florida, they do not lay all that product themselves. With the use of FleetWatcher, Iapaluccio and his team allow their customers that same visibility into the trucks hauling their materials.
Once given access, the purchaser can monitor delivery status and timing, ensuring that someone will be there to accept delivery and order additional materials on the fly. All parties can see exactly where the trucks are, when they are expected and how much of the order has been delivered versus how much is still to come. The LCAs are a major tool in this daily process. Best of all, from Iapaluccio’s standpoint, they were able to provide this service to their customers without changing their business model or procedures.
FleetWatcher also allows state DOT inspectors access to electronic tickets on DOT projects to help streamline the inspection process.
Middlesex uses FleetWatcher to enhance its internal processes and provide a quicker, more effective customer service experience. That is the value add for Middlesex and their adoption of technology.