Since the inception of MRA dba Raycom, we have served the concrete industry with innovative solutions that have enhanced their operation. Our digital network serves one of the largest cement companies in So California with all of their offices being dispatched from one central location. The advantages of our network allows all of their offices to be reached from one central dispatch operation, thus significantly cutting their cost of dispatch, especially after normal work hours and on weekends. Many transportation projects need concrete at odd hours to avoid shutting down or severely impacting traffic in the area of the construction, necessitating concrete providers to work at odd hours when there normally is no one available for dispatch at an individual plant. However, having one dispatch office for all concrete plants reduces personnel requirements during day operations and allows a significantly smaller dispatch crew during night and weekend operations while maintaining efficiency.
Cellular is unreliable in many circumstances, especially when the calls go to voice mail. The ability to speak with any or all of the truck fleet at one time at the push of a button cannot be replicated by cellular. Cellular is expensive for several reasons:
- State law prohibits the use of handheld electronic devices while driving which include cellular telephones unless connected to a Bluetooth or other hands free device. Hands free devices do not work well in environments that have background noise like in the cab of a truck, bus or other large vehicle.
- Kenwood white paper regarding new law affecting mobile device use by commercial drivers does not affect two-way radio.
- The initial cost of smart phones is high and the reliability is low
- Cellular phones often need to be rebooted
- Missed calls end up going to voice mail which significantly delays message throughput
- Cellular phones almost always fail during a major emergency
- Cellular systems become instantly overloaded during a major emergency
- It takes too long to dial, wait for the phone to ring and receive an answer compared to Push-To-Talk with two-way radio.
- Only 2-3 people can discuss an issue at the same time with cellular. With two-way radio, any size group of people can be part of the same conversation
- The liability associated with a driver getting into an accident while using a cellular device can cost a company far in excess the cost of a two-way radio system
Radios are used to communicate with concrete trucks, aggregate trucks, maintenance vehicles, supervisor vehicles, or administrative vehicles in the field for many reasons. These reasons include the following:
- Address or traffic information to facilitate the prompt delivery of material
- GPS tracking of the vehicles to facilitate accountability, efficiency and productivity including departure time or arrival times and detailed travel routes
- Eliminate costly wasted time by not having field personnel use a consumer cellular device that consistently competes for the attention of personnel and is designed for consumer grade reliability
- Insure that the material is being sent to the correct location because there is little room for error. Having a load of concrete harden in the drum is not an acceptable result.
- Employee safety
Click here to view an interactive presentation on Communications Solutions for Transportation.There are many interactive features in the presentation by clicking on the arrows.
Try our Diga-Talk radios with the following great features:
- Loud and clear quality audio that can be heard under loud noise conditions with Kenwood’s noise reduction technology
- Quick access to your personnel – connection time is typically 1.0 second or less
- GPS tracking can tell you where your crew are located
- Eliminate the distraction and illegal use of cellular while driving
- The liability associated with a driver getting into an accident while using a cellular device can cost a company far in excess the cost of a two-way radio system
Remember the 3 rules of making money in real estate, Location, Location and Location. The 3 Cs of radio communications are Coverage, Coverage and more Coverage. Our customers demand coverage. Every concrete company has their own need for coverage which is never the same as another concrete company. By providing more coverage in Southern California than any other radio company, we can provide solutions when the others can’t do it. Read more…