INDUSTRY WATCH
“About 10 years ago, we’d assigned a
container to move from Montreal to Los
Angeles,” said Ramescu. “That container
wound up in Atlanta, but we didn’t know
until it arrived there. The flatcar it was
supposed to be on kept registering that it
was in the right place, but the container itself
was misdirected because it was not being
directly tracked.”
Tapping into a
long-standing partnership
As a long-time supporter of BlackBerry,
Ramescu was already aware of BlackBerry
Radar, a complete asset tracking solution
that is scalable, flexible and easy to
implement. Its rugged sensors are lowmaintenance
and long-lasting, enabling
expanded visibility into everything from a
container’s location to its contents.
“Axsun has worked with BlackBerry for
quite some time now via BlackBerry UEM,”
said Ramescu. “When they launched
BlackBerry Radar, it seemed like the most
logical choice for us. We reached out to
them in February of last year, did a brief
proof of concept and then deployed within
a few months.”
Axsun started with an initial pilot of
approximately 50 BlackBerry Radar units.
Installation was quick and easy, and
BlackBerry provided extensive support
throughout. With the success of its pilot,
Axsun decided to utilize the solution with
every new asset it deploys. Currently, it is
monitoring approximately 175 units.
Delivering better customer service
BlackBerry Radar has provided Axsun with
precisely the visibility and control it was
looking for across its assets, allowing it to
ensure that unauthorized use is no longer
a concern. It has also leveraged BlackBerry
Radar to optimize the maintenance of
its chassis units so equipment is properly
rotated for a better return on investment
across its fleet.
BlackBerry Radar has also benefited the
company in several ways it did not initially
anticipate. Since BlackBerry Radar’s asset
tracking is automatic, it means less time
spent on manually recording data. It
has also helped Axsun maximize profits
both by attracting new clients and by
providing better service to existing clients.
“With BlackBerry Radar, we can give
customers real-time updates, so they
know where their cargo is at any given
time,” said Ramescu. “We’ve had multiple
customers confirm that they’re increasing
their business with us, with one of them
representing close to three-quarters of a
million dollars a year in net new business.
When considering the upsides we have
enjoyed in utilizing BlackBerry Radar,
adopting it should really be a no-brainer
for anyone in our industry – the return on
investment has been huge.
“BlackBerry Radar also makes our
deliveries more efficient,” he continues.
“We no longer have to wait for railroad
notifications. We know right away when a
container has arrived, potentially reducing
delivery windows by a day or more.”
The future of
Intermodal Transportation
With its deployment of BlackBerry
Radar, Axsun has assumed the role as
an innovative leader in the intermodal
transport space, and Ramescu predicts the
use of this advanced sensor technology
will soon become an industry standard.
“Especially with high-value products,
a transport company with a solution
like BlackBerry Radar will be the logical
choice,” said Ramescu. “For our part,
if we hadn’t adopted BlackBerry
Radar, our assets would have become
increasingly difficult to manage as we
expanded. We’d have no clue where our
equipment was and what it was doing -
and that’s simply not acceptable.
“Visibility has always been one of the
biggest hurdles for customers when
shipping intermodally. BlackBerry Radar
allows us to provide that. In our industry,
that’s currently something nobody
else has – a tool that allows us to go
above and beyond and save us a lot of
headaches in the process.” •
74 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com