How A-p-a Measures Productivity

 

Experts say A-P-A is the most productive trucking company in the industry. And one of the major reasons why the New Jersey-based trucker consistently leads the pack is reproduced above. This fragment of an actual computer printout (with names deleted) measures the productivity of A-P-A drivers for one day in February.

August E. Pagnozzi, the company's chief industrial engineer, says the numbers actually recreate the events in each driver's workday. For example, when he translates the first line into English, it reads as follows: The driver of truck 908, assigned to the Wayne, N.J., run, delivered 21 bills at 19 stops. The total weight of his load was 5,100 pounds and it consisted of 274 pieces.

He successfully completed all of his deliveries and had no returns. He also picked up 17 bills at 10 stops. The pickups weighed 4,059 pounds. He made one pickup stop where no freight was tendered.

During the day, the driver was unavoidably delayed for 42 minutes. He traveled 173 miles at an average rate of 27.3 miles per hour. The driver's total work load should have been completed in an acceptable standard time of 11 hours. This driver's actual time of 10.2 hours was even faster. His efficiency rating was, therefore, 108%.

Productivity is measured every day, Pagnozzi says, and every day 96% of the drivers and dockworkers meet or exceed the acceptable standard time.