4: Friend or Foe?: Technology in the Dispatch Office

Raquel Rivas, a dispatching supervisor with Vulcan Materials Company, sits down with us this week to talk about what changes technology has brought to the dispatch office. Raquel's 20 years of experience in the industry means that she has seen the evolution from pen and paper, to excel spreadsheets, and now knows what it is like to work with digital and cloud-based technology in the dispatch office. 

In today's episode, we discuss how these changes have impacted her work life, her team, and where she sees the industry going next. 

Tune in to find out how technology plays a growing role in the life of a dispatcher.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome. This is your host Elizabeth Shoals. And today we're joined by Raquel Reavis, a dispatching supervisor with Vulcan materials company. We love Raquel's energy and her enthusiasm for the industry that she's committed the last 20 years to the industry has come quite a long way in the course of her Cal's career. And we talked today about some of the ways technology has impacted the dispatch office and how it's changed the way her team operates without further delay, let's jump right into our conversation.

Speaker 2: 0:43

So we are here with Raquel. She is a supervisor, a dispatcher, and, uh, I'd love for you to introduce yourself to our audience, you know, your name, what you do, um, so that we can go ahead and get started. Yeah. Um, I am the logistics supervisor for the Phoenix area for Vulcan materials. Um, I oversee all the scheduling and, uh, the trucking of, um, uh, for the Phoenix market. Awesome. It's great to have you on today. We're so excited to have you as a guest on get a load of this. Um, how long have you been in the construction industry? Actually, I was still in high school. I was a senior in high school. I hadn't even graduated until 20 years. Um, actually a little bit over here. So I started, I didn't start in this company, but I started in the construction. Um, how I got started, my father was in the business and a lot of family members that I had were in the business. So my father recommended me and I was employing hired. Um, so yeah, so I started as a scale clerk as a dispatcher. Nice. Um, well it sounds like you've got a wealth of experience and you're not the first person I've talked with that has gotten into the industry because of a family influence. Um, in terms of your progression from going from working in the scale house to now being more on the dispatch and logistics side of things, how did that progression happen for you? Was that something that was natural or did you sort of get introduced to different parts of the business and really find, you know, a calling to be in one area versus another? Yeah, so I was in, in the scale house when they started, it was only for a couple of the years. And then I moved into another department, which was the billing side of it, completely different working at a corporate office and working from B I definitely didn't say, um, not to say, you know, that working at the office, was that going well for me, it was just a very different environment. And then shortly after I was at that company for four years, and then there was an opportunity that came with Vulcan. I was a pya for 10 years, but plan office administrator. So I went back to working from the plan, but as, as a POA, then after 10 years, I decided that it was time to change and I wanted to do something more customer service oriented. And I went into, um, I was hired for an inside sales role. So in that impact sales role, I was starting to communicate with customers a lot more, but I was still, um, a lot of my workload came from the dispatcher, the dispatcher team. So I had to put a lot of orders in for them. And, um, they were trying to change our roles. They were trying to get me more, to be, uh, more of a sales rep, then the support for it's patch. And, um, it kind of, you know, I sometimes I tend to say a little too much and I kinda gave them my thoughts and how I didn't agree. And some people, you know, I will say that I tend to push back a little bit and they do. Um, so anyways, I was pushing back in the changes that they were trying to do. And so they said, well, you know, what, um, how about we get your, your, your, um, how about we put you in dispatch and you tell us if you think they're going to be fine to take on over some of the duties that you're doing, like impose upon on sales, I've been there for about a month. They decided they were going to keep me in there for permanently. So it kind of backfired on me, which was not bad. I enjoyed working with the team originally. I was working, you know, with the sales team, but still kind of did my own thing. And then now I was in a dispatch setting where there is a bus, this individuals in there, and there was some chaos, definitely. Um, when I, when I went into that group, so they wanted some change to happen in that team. So I became a lead, uh, shortly after I was given the opportunity to go back into inside sales or to say, um, in the dispatch team and become a supervisor. So I decided to go with the supervisor role and it was definitely one of the hardest things I've done managing people. I was always used to doing things, you know, you kind of get your job done, you do a good job. And, and, um, and that's it. But now I was in charge of a group of people that had to do their role. Well, and I had to do the, you know, I had to kind of explain when anything kind of went wrong, but it was still something that I found calling for a passion. I had a passion for people at that point. I decided it was really difficult, but I had a passion for the goods that I was working with at night. And I saw that I could definitely make a difference in some of things, maybe some things that I can just coach him through. Um, so I decided to stay in the dispatch team. Um, when you first started, you mentioned that there were like, there were some changes and there were some things that needed to happen from day one to now, since you started in the dispatch function, how have things changed both with the team and maybe even some of the tools technology that you leveraged to try to get the job done or communicate better? Um, some of the things that have changed, you know, even back from when I started 20 years ago, everything was manual, not necessarily manual, but like when the orders came into central dispatch, they were put onto an Excel spreadsheet or just some kind of piece of paper, right. An order form. And those order forms were faxed to the plant where the hot print, our blazers, and that's how they knew, um, what job they were going to be ticketing, trucks that were going to be coming into the yard. So that, you know, I went into dispatch about June. I think it was like six, about six, seven years ago. And from when I started 20 years ago, it hadn't changed at all. It was still writing it down on a piece of paper, an Excel spreadsheet, vaccine it, or putting it on like a drive folder for the plant operators or the plant field to print out those orders. So that hadn't changed at all. I was really shocked, um, how technology had not coming to dispatch. Um, so when, when I went into the patch, we have just recently acquired a company, um, not necessarily acquired, but there was some, we took over the hotlines and then obviously they took over some of, um, ready-mix times that we had in another state. So when we acquired that company, they use the same program we had in the apex apex, um, is the name of that program. So the company that we, um, took over the plant, they were using, um, apex schedule. They were actually anytime a customer called in place the orders, they were putting it in a system so that all the hotspot operators, all the managers, whoever had access to the dispatch center, everybody can view those orders. So when, uh, the first day that we, I guess, merged, uh, we decided to put that into effect for our team as well. We CA we, at that point, I believe we only had about five plants. We had five plants and we were acquiring about five more. So it was a time for change. Definitely. And there was a lot of pushback because people don't like change. People are, you know, whether they're afraid of technology, I was one of them. Oh yeah. I would just see him in. And Sean can tell you two years ago, it kind of makes you uncomfortable. It kind of makes you, you know, you don't know what change is coming. And so I think, um, that definitely is what made, um, a lot of people in the group uncomfortable. And I was there more to kind of help them kind of move forward and try to coach him through it. It took a lot, there was a lot of pushback because there was still, like I said, they were, they were putting all these orders in for the Phoenix valley. At this point, we had about 10 different plants and all the orders that were coming in, I was saying, it was roughly about maybe anywhere from 60 to a hundred pages worth of orders. And they were scattering them on, on a desk and that's how they did touch. And so, um, there's a lot of things that happened that took place. We got rid of that desk and we got, we have to lock the file folders on the drive. Yeah. We had, it took a big change. Um, and it made a lot of people uncomfortable, certainly a leap of faith now that like, you know, you, you've definitely incorporated some technology into the dispatch office. It's been a little while that you've been doing that now between, you know, the different platforms that you leverage, those people, those same people that were maybe nervous or afraid or whatever the word is. Do you feel like their position has changed now? Like those people that were always gravitating towards, well, let's print it out, let's get it manual. Like, are some of them now feeling much more comfortable using technology or do you think there's still an element of some people that are like, you know, really latching on to the traditional kind of pen and paper? We still have some people that use it in a paper. Um, but, um, and I think it's, it's like one of those things that it makes people comfortable, I'm actually training an individual today. And I took them out to a few of our fans yesterday and some operators, um, are using pen and paper to write, you know, truck ID down the truck IDs, and then the job that they're associated with, they send for training. So something that kind of just shocked me why they still do that. Um, but this is a video that I'm training. I was like, well, I'm a pen and paper kind of person. I'm like, well, let's give technology a try first. And then maybe you maybe you'll use the pen and paper. And so just kind of trying to kind of persuade them and show them the advantages. I think sometimes people get frustrated and it's, you know, technology does have hiccups here and there. So if it's, you know, at one point it falls on them, they kind of go back to their old ways. And so this individual I've been showing them, it's only been a few hours that I've been training them, but I've been showing them, you know, I can put everything property in the system, the system plug in that truck. I can show you, it's going to automatically populate. You don't have to write anything down, writing things down is it works. Yes. But when it's chaotic and he uses that to keep going really fast, writing things down, it's not going to make your job easier. And sometimes it makes it a little bit more complicated. And so if you use technology to the fullest, but it could be used, I'm like, you'll go a lot faster and things will go a lot smoother and you'll be a lot less stressed. So like, I think you're right. You know, I just got to make my way back to those individuals that have gone back to the paper pen and paper. Yeah. No. And your, your point about training is great too. I think one of the things that people so used to, especially in the construction industry is on the job training, there's safety trainings, there's compliance trainings. But when you think about technology, that ongoing training element is not always there. So the fact that you're thinking about going back to certain people and kind of introducing that to them again and reiterating, you know, why did we bring this on, what are we leveraging the technology for? How can it help you? I think that's one thing that, you know, I could certainly see being beneficial for the industry kind of going forward is building that culture around ongoing training in every facet of the job, not just certain areas on the job site. Yes, absolutely. Awesome. You know, even with our team, we have to continuously just kind of to refresh and be done with technology that not necessarily trucks, but other like the apex program. Again, technology can have some bugs, can them, they're not, they're not going to get fixed. And sometimes I think that has to happen. Then people get frustrated and they just go back to their old ways. But I think it's, if people address those issues, it's not working, how do we improve? And they talk, and they're communicating with, you know, with their managers or supervisors, or, um, simply these, the support groups that they have for that software. I think it, things can get fixed and people can address those issues. Um, I think people can definitely move forward and they can definitely see the advantages of using technology. So one of the guys in our group that push back the hardest, he definitely he's one of the one that uses his, you know, to the fullest of what the technology does now. So you[inaudible] part of that is because he asked the questions. You know, he probably was one of those people that was most involved in saying like, well, how do I, how am I going to be able to do this? Or how am I going to be able to do that? And once he actually got the education about how it could help him now, he's one of the people that's using it the most. Um, so in day one, you're talking manual processes, pen and paper, that kind of traditional model. Now you've got technology in place. You got some people that are really on board with it. Some people that maybe continue need to, you know, get some reinforcement and some, some training going on in like another 10 years. What do you think the picture's going to look like? Like if you could like wave a magic wand, it'd be like, all right, what is 10 years from now look like in a dispatch office? What does that look like? You know, I don't that's, I think that's a hard, I think we've, I don't know, I guess, because we've come such a long ways and just, you know, where we were at 20 years ago, when just in the last couple of years we have had a band so much. I didn't know. I think, um, I always tell my group, I think you guys can do a more, it's just, you guys should not have to do a lot of data entry. You should have, you should be able to monitor all the jobs, you know, make sure that the progress of the job are we servicing the customer and properly talking to the customer, communicating, instead of, they're still busy, still doing some things that are manual. Um, and I think where do I see ourselves 10 years from now? I think, you know, kind of your, I like to say, like, there'll be on cruise control, just managing, making sure everything's running properly. Um, I don't know. I guess we'll wait and see. No, but I think that's a great point. And it's interesting that you say that too, because, you know, you mentioned that getting more involved in the customer service side of things was even one of the reasons that you started to look to get into this type of a role and being able to cut out some of that data entry and the manual components of the job. Maybe that will be one of those things that helps allow the team to get back to that as a whole, um, you know, really focusing on that excellence, focusing on getting the customer, what they need and being able to be present there versus typing in numbers and cross-referencing things and doing double work in technology and then doing it on paper too. Um, you know, when you first started in the industry versus today, um, you know, do you feel like there've been more women that have started to kind of come into the industry or come into your specific role? Um, so I think in the industry, I think that happens changes and I think where we're moving towards that direction to continue to have more diverse in the workforce, whether that's, you know, gender ethnicity, just job role, you know, hiring people with different, different backgrounds. I think at least Ghanaian history Institute is what I see when I go out to the job sites. I have seen, um, some improvement. I don't think where we're, where we should be at right now. I think as far as like in, um, dispatch dispatch position, I've always seen female and male kind of, um, an equal amount of both on both genders. I mean, I think it's still the same way. Um, as part, as like management roles, I still feel like there's a lot more male. It's still a large portion are, are male where in the past it's always been a male dominated kind of type of role, but I will tell you that in, um, our company, we actually had, I think now we only have one VP, that's a female, but just a couple of months ago we had two VP that were, sorry, I think they said male, but we had, um, two VPs that were females. I've never seen that ever in the industry. I think we're definitely moving towards the right direction. And I think the company in the industry is trying to make the changes. I don't, I think, um, we still have a lot of, I think, some time and room to grow in that area. Yeah, absolutely. I think honestly, probably every industry does, um, construction or otherwise, but it's, it's great that you're seeing that, you know, at various levels of the company that, you know, your role has been kind of split equally across the board since you started and you've been in the industry for a while. So that's awesome to hear and knowing that there are more and more positions that are available, um, for people is, is great. When you think about hiring and you're thinking about people in your dispatch, um, office, what are the qualities that you're looking for? Like what do you really think makes a great dispatch? Sure. Well, I'm always looking for someone who has, um, whose customers, customer service oriented, not necessarily looking for someone who's been in the industry, just, you know, someone who is, um, like I said, customer service oriented, who is patients can multitask, um, to be analytical and definitely a team player. Awesome. I think, you know, there's so much more that goes into dispatching than people realize sometimes. And all of those qualities like gives you a nice even keel. Like it's a hectic place to be. And if you can stay even keeled through all of that, you're probably going to be successful. Um, for people that are, you know, interested in getting started in the industry and are thinking about it, what would you tell them? Um, when it comes to like getting started, you've, you've been in multiple roles, like what do you think the best avenue to get to get started? As you said, you're not necessarily looking for people that even maybe have construction experience at the dispatch level. Do you think that's a good entry point into the industry or would you recommend people kind of get a little bit more exposure, um, in some other areas and try things out to see where that, where do they fit in? I think this had to definitely, um, a good entry to the industry. I've some people, I think view dispatch as low I'm starting from, you know, the I'm starting from the bottom. And I would say that I've actually, um, there's a lot of growth within ID diligence team. I mean, you know, again, I started 20, 20 years ago in dispatch and here I am, again, I, I never would have told you I was going to end up back in this. I love it. I love cause I, you know, we, we interact so much with the operations team with quality control, with sales and, and the customer. I personally liked this role versus the sales. I think the sales team has a, um, I think it takes a lot to fill the shoes of a salesperson. Um, and you know, they have to answer when things don't go right this time you're kind of in between you're in limbo, but you do get a ton of exposure to a bunch of different departments and a ton of different areas of the business. So yeah, I think that's, that's great feedback. Um, I know we only have a few minutes left, but I did, we have a couple of questions that we've been asking all of our podcast episodes and I'd love to run through those quickly with you. It's more of a rapid fire round. Um, but, um, in terms of, um, influence in mentorship for you in the industry, has there been somebody that over the 20 years you've been in the industry has been a mentor to you and helped you throughout your career? Um, not necessarily. I've, um, I think I've had some great, great, uh, managers, um, that were, that had really great leadership skills. And I, you know, I tried to, to, to learn from, from all of them that, that was just, they gave really good, they communicated well. Um, and I'm not going to say that we're perfect because nobody's perfect, but I try to, um, get a lot of the good qualities and just learn from their experiences. But I've, I've been, um, I've had the opportunity to go back to school and I completed my bachelor's a year and a half ago and I'm currently right now, um, trying to get my master's in leadership. That's amazing. Thank you. Thank you. It's hard. It's a lot of work, but that, that has helped me so much in my career. I think without that, I wouldn't be where I'm where I'm at right now. Absolutely. That makes complete sense to me. Good. Good for you doing that while working is no easy task. Um, that brings us to our next question. What keeps you in the construction industry? What is it about the construction industry that keeps you sticking around all this time? Um, I think the challenges, the, um, the adrenaline it's it's every day is something different. Usually it's the same, you know, you have the same customers, same product that you're selling, but every day is something different than you're dealing with the different, um, fire that you're having to put out a different challenge that has presented itself. So I think that that's what keeps me, keeps me in attendance. And I heard this, um, not too long ago, right. Actually I read it in a book that said, um, people in the construction industry, it takes a different type of personality because it is it's really fast paced kind of job and not everybody can do it. It's not that they can't do it. I don't think that everybody likes that enjoy that atmosphere or that kind of environment. I truly do. Absolutely. I think that's a great answer. Um, what piece of technology could you not live without now that you have it totally fair? I think we would all be lost without it. Awesome. Well, it's really been a pleasure talking with you. I appreciate you hopping on the call with us. Um, we look forward to hearing all the great things coming out of your dispatch office in the future. And, uh, in 10 years, if you're still in the industry and I'm still in the industry, I will be pinging you to see just how different things are in, in ways. We I'm sure I could not even imagine today.

Speaker 1: 23:47

Awesome, glad repel was able to chat with us today from her experience as a scale clerk to a POA, to sales, and then dispatch, she really has seen it. All technology has had some significant impacts on the way the dispatch office functions, allowing dispatchers to place more emphasis on customer service, allowing them to take time, to plan ahead and even moving away from many of the manual processes that they've been tied to for so long, that translates to some huge time savings, but it also makes a huge impact on communication between different departments. And as we know from Raquel, the dispatch office really is connected to so many other areas of the business. Sure. There may be some initial growing pains when introducing technology, but what we've learned today is that sometimes the people with the most questions and the most concerns initially may actually turn out to be some of the biggest internal advocates and people that kind of help lead the charge when it comes to changing the process and adopting technology within your organization. If you're interested in starting to think about the way technology could play out for your business, look to your team, talk with them, figure out some of the questions that people have ahead of time and see if that's something you can build right into the process. As you explore technology to bring into your organization. If you liked this episode, please be sure to leave us a review and subscribe. So you're notified when new episodes are released, we will be releasing a new episode next week. So be sure to stay tuned for that. And, uh, that's it for me, your host Elizabeth signing off until next week.