The speaker series is held in room 02 of the
Peter B. Lewis Building at 8:00am on select Fridays.
David M. Pavlich Yellow Roadway Technologies
Yellow Roadway Corporation
October 29, 2004
As
Vice President of Information Solutions for Yellow Roadway
Technologies, Mr. Pavlich is a key member of the technology leadership
team and guides the management and planning of information technology
for the operating companies within Yellow Roadway Corporation. His
organization focuses on technologies that support operations and
customer service functions for Yellow Transportation and Roadway
Express specifically.
Mr. Pavlich began his
career with Roadway Express in 1993 and held various management and
director level positions before serving as Vice President of
Information Solutions for Yellow Roadway Technologies. Mr. Pavlich was
named to his current position after Yellow Technologies and Roadway
Express Information Systems merged to create Yellow Roadway
Technologies under the newly formed Yellow Roadway Corporation.
Mr. Pavlich serves on the Board of Directors for the American Trucking
Associations’ Technology and Maintenance Council as well as the
Information Technology Advisory Board of the Weatherhead School of
Management at Case Western Reserve University. He has a bachelor of
science in Computer Science from Kent State University and a Masters of
Business Administration from the Weatherhead School of Management at
Case Western Reserve University.
Location
Case, Weatherhead. Room 02 of the Peter B. Lewis Building
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 10/29/2004 - 07:35.
Over 50% of attendees have laptops. Near full house - mostly students - very international.
Roadway CIO - young and smart.
First interesting point I heard (arrived 15 minutes late) was because Roadway is union they have had an easier time implementing technology solutions - Gonick was surprised but Pavlich pointed out with longer term contracts they have the ability to plan and work with labor - they know these people will be there the next 5-7 years so they know it is worth getting them up to speed and training.
Pointed out that the obstruction of technology has typically been higher management - egos and and process owners - the core workers were seeing technology at home - their kids using computers at home and school - so they came to management asking why they weren't using computers, laptops, handhelds, etc., more at work - bottom up.
Other interesting point is that Pavlich has seen it harded and slower to get customers to embrace new technology solutions than they would like. In past customers spent 15 seconds on the phone to place an order so why bother changing their practices...
Typically because LTL is a relativey small field of companies they needed large IT shops to build customized infrastructure and applications - as the industry is becoming more consolidated they have found more opportunities to consolidate practices - look for best of breed solutions.
Q. In an ideal world, what would the entire process at Roadway look like? A. Automation - data entry...e.g. barcode, RFID (avoid garbage in) - business owners who embrace technology (which he has always had at Roadway)
Center for Logistics Management (CLM) meets quarterly and Roadway participates to make surethey understand the industry and are heard. They hold a customer advisory boards and listen to customers about their needs - that is how they realize how different are the needs of different customers - E&G vs. Mom and Pop.
Customer service is an area where their IT keeps ketting better and better...account data tracking - caller ID, etc.
Gonick asks CIO where he sees IT 5 years from now. CIO said he thinks the company will be working on the same things - automation and logistics tracking - business process automation - bigger question is where will IT be 5 years down the line. He points out 5 years ago they were considering going client-server and instead focused on web based solutions, and that was the right decision. Now they are looking at wireless devices - GIS - fleet tracking and automation - using Sat and SPS for 10 years... West of the Miss there are less wireless relay points so they need Sat.
Gonick - asks about RFID? CIO... in an ideal world RFID chips are nearly free, scanners are perfect and cheap... their customers are very excited about the tech - it challenges transportation provider as their facilities are length of many football fields and the costs to outfit facilities is high - holds great promise in long term... will not be mainstream for a few years.
Q - when will Roadway get tracking as good as FedX, etc.? and what is value proposition of going further with tracking? A. - CIO points out with some disgust what they have had realtime tracking longer than has FedX et. al. but they have more money to advertise. As for RFID, which it is disruptive they do not expect issues with their workforce (and they didn't have problems when they implemented in cab computers either). Roadway clearly finds technology helps employees work smarter and better and they all like that.
Concern with RFID is adoption and Walmart and Target are the primary drivers as they have the scale to force this on suppliers - plan is to set up a repository of all RFID codes - Crowther mentioned idea this could be in NEO and that seems to be a topic for later in the session.
Gonick is bringing up WiFi and CIO expands that to the overall expansion of wireless pipes - networks - major cellular carriers are investing heavily to make stronger mesh - 10 Mbps now and 500 Mbps within 5 years.
Roadway is conservative so they wait for IT to come off the hype curve to see how a tech in working out - "fast follower" - they won't go after bleering edge... too much risk. Waiting to see wireless stadards and service offerings normalize.
CIO is interested in voice to text and text to voice - very manual business and it is better if crew doesn't need to stop for prompts. OCR, image, scanning are valuable for document management and tracking - imaging everything you're doing is exciting. Also important with physical security and GPS is important - recover trucks and freight... make facilities more secure - RFID chips in badges.
Q. Robotics? A. Roadway invested in a robotic package handling system but data the customers provided was poor so it did not match up with actuals
Q. Would Roadway rather be an application developer or customer - they've been moving to packaged apps for non-core, back-office, etc. Core systems, especially for an LTL, are too unique and must be developed in house.
Gonick points out NEO is in the right place on roads to serve trucking and logistics - asks what the industry offers NEO and what problems there are here.
<>CIO stresses ase does a good job networking together CIOs - and there are many great CIOs here - SIM meetings, for example - CIO recommends all students participate in such networks upon graduation.
Gonick wants to identify opportunities in the transportation sector for NEO - CIO sees job opportunities for grads - people are being recruited out of his org. - mentions Hyland Software developed their image management software... FedX has their technology center around Akron... Gonick mentions Cisco Aeronet is based in NEO.
Crowther has asked if NEO could be a center for global logistics excellence and CIO believes that is possible - especially with support of Case. Points to work in Aero-logistics in Georgia
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On site at Case IT Presentation
Over 50% of attendees have laptops. Near full house - mostly students - very international.
Roadway CIO - young and smart.
First interesting point I heard (arrived 15 minutes late) was because Roadway is union they have had an easier time implementing technology solutions - Gonick was surprised but Pavlich pointed out with longer term contracts they have the ability to plan and work with labor - they know these people will be there the next 5-7 years so they know it is worth getting them up to speed and training.
Pointed out that the obstruction of technology has typically been higher management - egos and and process owners - the core workers were seeing technology at home - their kids using computers at home and school - so they came to management asking why they weren't using computers, laptops, handhelds, etc., more at work - bottom up.
Other interesting point is that Pavlich has seen it harded and slower to get customers to embrace new technology solutions than they would like. In past customers spent 15 seconds on the phone to place an order so why bother changing their practices...
Typically because LTL is a relativey small field of companies they needed large IT shops to build customized infrastructure and applications - as the industry is becoming more consolidated they have found more opportunities to consolidate practices - look for best of breed solutions.
Q. In an ideal world, what would the entire process at Roadway look like?
A. Automation - data entry...e.g. barcode, RFID (avoid garbage in) - business owners who embrace technology (which he has always had at Roadway)
Center for Logistics Management (CLM) meets quarterly and Roadway participates to make surethey understand the industry and are heard. They hold a customer advisory boards and listen to customers about their needs - that is how they realize how different are the needs of different customers - E&G vs. Mom and Pop.
Customer service is an area where their IT keeps ketting better and better...account data tracking - caller ID, etc.
Gonick asks CIO where he sees IT 5 years from now. CIO said he thinks the company will be working on the same things - automation and logistics tracking - business process automation - bigger question is where will IT be 5 years down the line. He points out 5 years ago they were considering going client-server and instead focused on web based solutions, and that was the right decision. Now they are looking at wireless devices - GIS - fleet tracking and automation - using Sat and SPS for 10 years... West of the Miss there are less wireless relay points so they need Sat.
Gonick - asks about RFID? CIO... in an ideal world RFID chips are nearly free, scanners are perfect and cheap... their customers are very excited about the tech - it challenges transportation provider as their facilities are length of many football fields and the costs to outfit facilities is high - holds great promise in long term... will not be mainstream for a few years.
Q - when will Roadway get tracking as good as FedX, etc.? and what is value proposition of going further with tracking?
A. - CIO points out with some disgust what they have had realtime tracking longer than has FedX et. al. but they have more money to advertise. As for RFID, which it is disruptive they do not expect issues with their workforce (and they didn't have problems when they implemented in cab computers either). Roadway clearly finds technology helps employees work smarter and better and they all like that.
Concern with RFID is adoption and Walmart and Target are the primary drivers as they have the scale to force this on suppliers - plan is to set up a repository of all RFID codes - Crowther mentioned idea this could be in NEO and that seems to be a topic for later in the session.
Gonick is bringing up WiFi and CIO expands that to the overall expansion of wireless pipes - networks - major cellular carriers are investing heavily to make stronger mesh - 10 Mbps now and 500 Mbps within 5 years.
Roadway is conservative so they wait for IT to come off the hype curve to see how a tech in working out - "fast follower" - they won't go after bleering edge... too much risk. Waiting to see wireless stadards and service offerings normalize.
CIO is interested in voice to text and text to voice - very manual business and it is better if crew doesn't need to stop for prompts. OCR, image, scanning are valuable for document management and tracking - imaging everything you're doing is exciting. Also important with physical security and GPS is important - recover trucks and freight... make facilities more secure - RFID chips in badges.
Q. Robotics?
A. Roadway invested in a robotic package handling system but data the customers provided was poor so it did not match up with actuals
Q. Would Roadway rather be an application developer or customer - they've been moving to packaged apps for non-core, back-office, etc. Core systems, especially for an LTL, are too unique and must be developed in house.
Gonick points out NEO is in the right place on roads to serve trucking and logistics - asks what the industry offers NEO and what problems there are here.
<>CIO stresses ase does a good job networking together CIOs - and there are many great CIOs here - SIM meetings, for example - CIO recommends all students participate in such networks upon graduation.
Gonick wants to identify opportunities in the transportation sector for NEO - CIO sees job opportunities for grads - people are being recruited out of his org. - mentions Hyland Software developed their image management software... FedX has their technology center around Akron... Gonick mentions Cisco Aeronet is based in NEO.
Crowther has asked if NEO could be a center for global logistics excellence and CIO believes that is possible - especially with support of Case. Points to work in Aero-logistics in Georgia
Meeting concludes< />