Nowadays, almost every person involved in the transportation business is fully aware of the staggering increase in paperwork.
   But Grove Transportation, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, stands as an example of an expedited shipping firm that took advantage of Technology to solve a multitude of problems and increase productivity.
   "We consider ourselves to be relatively small, yet we were having big paperwork problems," said Dave Strehle, Grove's general manager. "It took me an entire day to go through the paperwork, just to make sure it was all priced properly," he went on. "Invoicing was a 2 - 3 day process by itself. Then I would spend an entire day at the copy machine."
   After some careful thought, Grove Transportation decided to automate by selecting a system put together by ASCAR Business Systems-based in Glendale, California.
   ASCAR's Truk-Pak includes the hardware and software for automatic order taking, jobticket writing, paperless dispatching, instantaneous pricing and invoicing, and basic bookkeeping and payroll functions. Their Advantage offering includes all that and adds Human Resources functions, plus an optional full-automatic dispatching system.
   "Since we've signed up with them we've seen very definite improvements," added Strehle. "What used to take half-a-week, now only requires a matter of a few extra keystrokes."
   "The system also put a great deal of information at our fingertips, continued Strehle. It becomes easy to pinpoint where you are spending your time and money. We recently found that one customer was responsible for about 15-18% of our total revenue. But as it turns out, they were also responsible for 80% of our work load. So we parted ways."
   Thanks to modern solutions created by experts in the pickup and delivery business, technology is proving to be a user-friendly boon to anyone who takes advantage of it benefits.
   "This year we are looking at 30% growth," confirmed Strehle. "We've moved into a larger facility and consolidated some business. But at the heart of all that is the fact that we have the ASCAR system.