Tri-State Forestry Services Case Study

Taking Back Control With Automated Fleet Maintenance

About the Customer

Tri-State Forestry Services, headquartered in Straughn, IN, specializes in forestry production services, including tree clearing and mulch processing.

Client Situation

The company’s new President/Owner purchased Tri-State Forestry with visions of growing the business. Before pursuing that goal, however, he knew he needed to focus his attention on the company’s largest investment - its assets.

Tri-State’s existing preventative maintenance program required retooling in order to minimize high repair costs and reduce costly downtime. It also needed to succinctly and accurately track and plan for regular service and repairs.

Additionally, the company needed to address rising insurance premiums.

How Gauge Made a Difference

Streamlining Tri-State’s preventative maintenance program started with asset visibility; we first set up a numbering system, relabeled the equipment with asset numbers, and implemented vehicle and equipment GPS tracking. We then set up a robust work order system linked to the tracked assets through the Gauge Smart Hub and trained Tri-State staff on its usage.

With these improvements, the company was well positioned to revisit their insurance premiums with their insurance provider. Going the extra mile, Gauge’s CEO led the charge in explaining how the new technology would enable Tri-State to manage fleet costs and claims.

Results

Tri-state Forestry was able to see immediate ROI on their engagement with Gauge. Staff was now able to perform daily inspections, regular steam cleaning of equipment, oil leak maintenance, and much more. With a user-friendly maintenance program in place and visibility into real-time equipment utilization, they were able to:

• Renegotiate 2019 insurance premium increase - lowering it from 11% to 4%
• Improve job site productivity
• Reduce breakdowns and unexpected repair costs
• Reduce costs in repairs in interrupted production. The savings they received in just one year of insurance premiums paid for the cost of the Gauge solution.

Quotes 

“Instead of reactively spending time, energy, and money on handling maintenance issues, we can now use those critical resources in support of the company’s growth.” ” - Matt Lohmeyer- President & Owner

Numbers/Stats to Highlight

• Insurance premium increase reduced by almost 3X