Implementing a LMS into your Trucking Operation
Trucking companies, though not receiving as much credit as they should, play a major role in stabilizing a country’s economy. About 80% of the population in the US depends on trucks for the transportation of daily goods which is much more than what trains, ships, and planes offer. Starting up such a company entails several things ranging from how to train the staff to managing deliveries to ensure its success. The prospective business owner begins by writing up a business plan, registering the business, acquiring business licenses and permits, choosing the appropriate truck to use, securing enough capital, and getting the right employees who are equally motivated.
For any profit-making business to thrive, a responsible business owner makes use of technology such as obtaining an Employer Identification Number(EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service(IRS) to report employment taxes and avoid issues with the Revenue Authority. Acquiring motor carrier authority and systems to manage freight, and implementing the use of Learning Management System(LMS) into the company’s operations ensures the company has a competitive advantage. Freight management refers to the process of supervising and directing the delivery of goods to clients. Companies manage freight by obtaining data on various carriers and the services they provide and assessing them to make the best choice on the one to utilize. Among the systems utilized are the Transport Management System(TMS) which is used by companies to design, execute and perfect physical movement, and Warehouse Management System(WMS) which ensures they gather and analyze data efficiently. For authority, trucking companies utilize motor carrier who transport passengers or property, freight forwarder who arrange shipment on behalf of shippers, and broker who ensures goods are transported to their intended destination. Motor carriers are categorized into the following.
Private vs For–hire– the private does not charge any fees and provides service to the owner of the vehicle or the one who leases it while the for-hire provides service to the public and charges a fee.
Local vs Inter–City–These are a subgroup of for-hire. The former operates within a region defined by the surface transportation board while the latter is not confined to any specific area.
Common vs Contract–Common carriers are expected to refrain from discriminating against anyone and serve the general public while contract carriers are not always available since they serve the shippers they are on contract with.
Exempt– does not follow the regulations laid down by the surface transportation board. They enjoy the freedom to choose what to transport.
Depending on the specific goods being transported, motor carriers use the dry van, open top, flatbed, tank trailer, refrigerated, high cube, special, line haul, and city trucks. The rates to be charged also depend on the type of vehicle being used. Motor carriers are vital and beneficial to trucking companies as they are cost-friendly, frequent, flexible, safe, easily accessible, observe speed and transit time, and have an efficient carrying capacity. LMS on the hand is a software application that business owners use to plan, implement, and evaluate a specific learning process. The most vital feature of this app is skills and certification. Its main objective is to manage the learning process of a company’s employees by training them, arranging their training courses and material, tracking their progress during the whole training, and improving their training experience. TMS Dash is suitable for use since it has the following unique features.
- It runs on WordPress which is the most commonly used and user-friendly content management system available. This means that cost will be minimized since TMS DASH has a LMS integrated within the platform making it is free for you as a member, it contains a wide variety of themes to best suit the needs of the user, its updates are not complicated, one can easily and fast add website content, and its plugins enable the user to do as they wish on their website since hosting is easy with TMS DASH.
- It is a self–hosted managed system that gives the user full control over their content and website architecture. This means one does not have to conform to any laid out rules and regulations when creating courses and building drag and drop websites.
- It is fully customizable for people with no coding knowledge and for those who have a lot of coding knowledge. This assists an individual in gaining more knowledge in technology, enhancing their skills in solving problems, improving their careers, and enhancing their creativity.
- It provides vast documentation and top-notch support in case one runs into challenges. This is through easy access to a wide range of features through add-ons.
- It is compatible with almost any theme which means its designs do not disrupt design elements. This means educators, during a training session can create new content which in other words is assisting the developer or the drag and drop site creator build the content for their site on TMS DASH .
Implementing the use of courses through TMS DASH assists employers in having an easier time tracking the employee’s performance and improvement during training. Some of the benefits it has included the following;
Time-Saving
Since employees are learning through a computer system, time that would have been spent on a physical class with a trainer or a workshop to learn and enhance their skills will be spent on other duties within the company to generate returns. There is no need to wait for the training day since the data is accessible throughout. The training can also be accessed from anywhere which means a trainee does not need to spend time traveling to a specific physical location. This makes it efficient and easily accessible by all users.
Resources are salvaged
LMS assists in reducing training costs. This is because there is no need to pay an individual to offer the classes since they are online. This assists the company’s management in better managing the resources and allocating them to other duties within the company.
Guaranteed efficiency
This system equips the trainees, who, in this case, are the employees of the trucking company with better skills to perform their duties, better knowledge of the safety procedures to observe as they carry out their duties, and fewer claims from customers since the possibility of major mistakes is reduced. This, in turn, ensures increased client retention and satisfaction as the staff offers more than just policy to their clients and other stakeholders. When employees receive quality training, they perform their duties efficiently which makes it easier to achieve the company’s goals and ambitions. This way, they create a better and deeper connection with their clients who offer loyalty in return.
Compliance friendly
The system is designed to offer the required training to the right group of people in a timely fashion while tracking completion and results. Different users have different specializations thus it is easy to acquire the exact information one needs. Concentration on specific courses or training material equips one with the right skills. This makes them learn the guidelines they are to follow and comply with. It allows employees to prioritize their workload which assists in boosting their productivity and performance.
Easy to use
LMS reduces the workload for a trainer since they can easily assign training to their trainees, track their performance at the same time and gauge their comprehension. This assists them in knowing where to apply for more assistance. They use this data to know whether the trainee should specialize in the specific course or if they can do better in another specialization. It allows them to easily incorporate quizzes, situations, scenarios, and other interactive elements into their training. This helps in creating a consistent learning environment through consolidated content. This ease of reporting, tracking, and saving user progress increases the ability to drive engagement.
Customizable
The system ensures employees learn paths through their specific jobs title, specialties, and requirements. A simple search avails all the information required. This means that one does not necessarily need to spend a lot of time searching through the learning material to find a specific course.
Reduced competition
A trucking company that utilizes LMS minimizes competition with other companies in the same industry since they are placed a step ahead. The system equips them with better and improved knowledge. They can also earn extra income through it by offering a fee for service. The new and valuable data which might not yet be available to the other competitors is used by the trucking company to their advantage.
Consistent and flexible
The system is designed to be easily accessible by the users. This means that a user can’t access data on a particular day and misses it the following day. This consistency makes users trust the system for their training systems. Flexibility is one of the features that make a successful system in any profit organization. LMS is flexible enough to allow the trainer to make any changes such as adding any relevant data for the training sessions.
Reduces staff turnover
A company that utilizes LMS ensures employee turnover rate is reduced since employees will always stay in a company that ensures there is career growth and learning regularly. A company’s management is responsible for ensuring they maintain employees, most especially the most resourceful ones. Implementing systems that ensure this, is one of the ways, thereby attracting new and skilled employees as a result.
References
Bayard, K., Dinlersoz, E., Dunne, T., Haltiwanger, J., Miranda, J., & Stevens, J. (2018). Early-stage business formation: An analysis of applications for employer identification numbers (No. w24364). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Little, B. (2015). JAS delivers cheaper, more effective employee development: Learning-management system transforms training at freight forwarder. Human Resource Management International Digest.
Lookman, K., Pujawan, N., & Nadlifatin, R. (2022). Measuring innovative capability maturity model of trucking companies in Indonesia. Cogent Business & Management, 9(1), 2094854.
Phan, M. H., & Kim, K. H. (2016). Collaborative truck scheduling and appointments for trucking companies and container terminals. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 86, 37-50.
Rhode, J., Richter, S., Gowen, P., Miller, T., & Wills, C. (2017). Understanding faculty use of the learning management system. Online Learning, 21(3), 68-86.
Wygal, A., Voss, D., Hargis, M. B., & Nadler, S. (2021). Assessing Causes of Driver Job Dissatisfaction in the Flatbed Motor Carrier Industry. Logistics, 5(2), 34.
Reporting by TMS DASH; Writing by Amanda; Editing By Gavlex
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