"For a company like Kowalski Sausage, dealing with perishable food items, timing, control and transparency is non-negotiable, both for the company itself and its customers. In order to ensure they're operating at optimal performance levels, they require real-time, objective information—unfettered access and visibility to route factors such as distance, time and cost," says Kevin Haugh, general manager of Omnitracs Roadnet Technologies. "Our Roadnet Anywhere SaaS fleet management platform has been able to successfully address each of those needs. In less than a year, we transformed fleet operations at Kowalski, delivering data-driven insights they can then leverage to improve business decisions surrounding fleet size, delivery size, lease lengths and other investments."

From a big-picture perspective, Kowalski Sausage uses Roadnet to plan daily routes and utilizes dispatch tools for reporting and troubleshooting. In fact, Roadnet Anywhere Routing & Dispatching creates the lowest cost routes for each day's deliveries, all while adhering to any rules or variances the Kowalski dispatch team implements based on customer needs. They can now create routes and monitor actual execution throughout the day to spotlight exceptions and proactively address problems.

"We've built a 95-year brand heritage around a passion for quality, both in our products and across business operations; implementing Roadnet Anywhere has helped us continue to deliver on that promise to our customers," says Crystal Towery, assistant controller, Kowalski Sausage. "In contrast to our past solution, we now have monitoring resources and tools at our fingertips and everything is based on actuals, so there's nothing subjective in the process. That makes a big difference when it comes to running a company effectively and efficiently. We know exactly where we need to improve our performance for the betterment of our customers and ultimately our bottom line."

Outside of the tangible growth in terms of profitability, Kowalski Sausage also improved relations with its drivers, leading to improved employee satisfaction and longevity.

"With Roadnet, we're able to identify where our driver issues are, sit down with the driver and explain our observations, ultimately troubleshooting to determine what adjustments need to be made to reduce extended travel and service times,” Towery adds. “Now, drivers are under less stress, which creates better attitudes at customer locations and increases customer satisfaction. We have had more driver compliments over the past three months than we have had over the past three years."

Kowalski Sausage Co. is also using Omnitracs’ Mobile Premium, which provides upgraded features such as signature capture, picture notes and auto arrive/depart.