Superior Ready Mix, a producer of concrete, asphalt, and aggregates out based in southern California, understands that using technology in the right way allows them to serve its customers better, to keep a closer eye on operations, and to give drivers and plant operators the best tools to do their jobs. Superior Ready Mix is a family-owned concrete and material supplier since 1958 with more than 19 locations across San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial counties.
Intending to eliminate waste, using tablets in their concrete, aggregate, and powder trucks to track orders, communicate with drivers, and do mixer driver scheduling, Superior has been a longtime customer of Digital Fleet. They've recently also partnered with BCMI for their cloud-based Material Pro platform for sales and quoting. They are also starting to roll out the Material Now app to give its customers shared visibility into jobsite activity, order statuses, and performance tracking.
"By partnering with BCMI, we can pull in our data from Digital Fleet, Integra (our dispatch system) and Jonel (our concrete plant controls) into Material Pro to show us a 360-degree view of what is happening in our concrete operations," Superior Ready Mix Director of Technology and Automation Jeff Cooper says. The BCMI platform gives them better visibility into ready-mix operations company-wide. "With the integration of BCMI and Digital Fleet, we have the critical real-time information we need about production and delivery — and we can share it with our customers," he adds.
Superior Ready Mix
Wanting more data from trucks so they can better monitor the concrete quality and driver performance, the ready-mix supplier is still in the initial stages of testing Digtial Fleet+. The combination of the two technologies will not only allow Superior to capture data in real-time, but offer some telematics data for tracking. "Digital Fleet has been a great technology for us to track trucks, communicate with drivers, and schedule our drivers," Cooper says. "BCMI has been able to give us a better 360-degree view of how our concrete operations are performing. Everything from loading times, to unloading times, to sales prices per yard are easily visible within one application."
BCMI Co-founder and President Craig Yeack explains that BCMI was able to create picture of orders and provide real-time updates on the status of each ticket. Adding, "This information is instantly available on mobile devices for field personnel and contractors — dramatically improving communication, collaboration, and the ability to address issues promptly when it is most crucial."
The combination takes care of so much of the heavy lifting ahead of time. Because the solutions can work and communicate directly with each other, this technology can relieve some of the anxiety regarding switching to new systems. "You get the benefit of these teams that are already working together,” says Digital Fleet President and CEO Tim Oakes.
According to the official Feb. 5, 2024 announcement, BCMI and Digital Fleet share a common vision for the industry, arising from the recognition that traditional processes and tools were inadequate for modern business operations.
Yeack adds, "Our commitment lies in propelling digitization throughout the industry, empowering decision-makers with cutting-edge tools, especially in the realm of mobility. Furthermore, we both advocate for customer ownership of data and advocate for seamless sharing among the various technological alternatives."
Individually, each solution is geared toward helping producers automate their processes, eliminate waste and run more efficiently, which ultimately saves money. But the combined, integrated solution goes beyond that.
Oakes sees the partnership as a modern solution - one that will continue to evolve. "It's extremely powerful to say not only can we save you money, not only is the product evolving, not only do we have a great vision for the future, but you're going to be happier and you're going to be supported in your day to day versus the alternative."
