ELDs Don’t Have to Be a Productivity Killer
It may turn out that the ELD mandate that hits in December will not have much further impact on driver productivity as so many fleets have already made adjustments to their operations. Photos: iStockPhoto
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It may turn out that the ELD mandate that hits in December will not have much further impact on driver productivity as so many fleets have already made adjustments to their operations. Photos: iStockPhoto
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You could argue that the federal mandate requiring the use of electronic logging devices for most trucks involved in interstate commerce could be the biggest shakeup the trucking industry has seen since President Jimmy Carter signed the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 37 years ago this month, which deregulated the interstate trucking industry.
Trucking companies large and small have expressed for quite some time their concerns that the ELDs to be required come December will cut productivity, meaning less revenues and profits. Yet while that may happen, especially for those waiting until the last minute to get on the ELD bandwagon, there are indications that negative productivity effects will be outweighed by other productivity gains fleets have made in recent years – and by other changes that can be made.
“My take on ELDs and productivity losses is that looking at the industry in total, you won’t see much impact going forward,” says Chris Kemmer, consultant at CK Commercial Vehicle Research.
This spring, her firm conducted a fleet productivity survey of nearly 60 decision-makers from small, medium and large for-hire, private and municipal operations. She believes that for those required to add ELDs, there will certainly be some who lose productivity, at least in the beginning. However, Kemmer also found there have been so many other changes in trucking – improved vehicle performance, automated transmissions, and even shop management programs, for instance – that any loss of productivity from ELDs will be offset.
“There are so many other things that are counteracting that loss from ELDs, that, in my view, and it’s only my opinion, that at the end of the day …Read the rest of this story
