Telematics simplifies dispatch operations for California producer

By |  March 13, 2020
With a fleet of about 60 trucks, the headaches Butte Sand & Gravel once had from dispatch and fleet operations have been alleviated. Photo: Command Alkon

With a fleet of about 60 trucks, the headaches Butte Sand & Gravel once had from dispatch and fleet operations have been alleviated. Photo: Command Alkon

Butte Sand & Gravel Co. is a family operation in Sutter, California, with a rich history.

The company, in operation since the 1960s, is a leading provider of aggregate in Sutter County. Butte Sand & Gravel owns a sand and gravel plant there, where it mines materials and sells them via the scale to customers.

The company owns a fleet of about 60 trucks, hauling for itself and other contractors – mainly heavy and general engineering and heavy construction contractors.

Just imagine the complexity that comes with owning a fleet of 60 trucks. In the past, calling truckers and employees sometimes took four hours a night, keeping dispatchers working overtime to dispatch the next day’s work. On top of that, billing could be a total headache, compromising customer service and cost control.

Butte Sand & Gravel, however, chose to take charge of its challenge and overcome the obstacles by implementing Command Alkon’s HaulIt into its dispatch operations.

System advantages

From left: Butte Sand & Gravel’s Darren Morehead and Joe Morehead with Command Alkon’s Tom Burlington. Photo: Command Alkon

From left: Butte
Sand & Gravel’s Darren Morehead and Joe Morehead with Command Alkon’s Tom Burlington. Photo: Command Alkon

Command Alkon’s HaulIt handles quoting, dispatching and billing, providing real-time visibility of costs. It also integrates with TrackIt for fleet and workforce management, including in-cab telematics.

“With the HaulIt system, the dispatchers are out of here most of the time by 4 o’clock in the afternoon,” says Darren Morehead, president of Butte Sand & Gravel. “Billing is so much more efficient because the system eliminates manual entry of driver tickets and reduces billing errors. It makes everything seamless.”

The price producers charge for a product or service is one of the most important business decisions they make. Setting a price that’s too high or too low will – at best – limit the business’ growth.

Smart quoting takes into account truck type, tonnage capacity and driver and fuel costs. This allows Butte Sand & Gravel to evaluate virtually every load and compare what each load is costing the company, helping it to better determine a pricing strategy.

The ability to historically measure and analyze profitability ensures smarter quoting on future jobs, as well.

“That is a fundamental feature of the system,” Morehead says. “It’s important to know your round times and know what each load or each group of loads is costing. We go over that in detail every day to make sure every job is generating profits.”


Karli Langner is the marketing content specialist at Command Alkon. She graduated from Jacksonville State University with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a focus in public relations.

This article is tagged with and posted in featured, Features
Sarah Peecher

About the Author:


Comments are closed