Leading safety management system that brings current industry news that your company to use to stay updated & informed in todays fast pace world.

Nussbaum Transportation

Vertical Alliance Group would like to congratulate one of our clients, Nussbaum Transportation, on the announcement this week that their director of human resources and safety, Jeremy Stickling, was awarded Heavy Duty Trucking magazine’s 2015 Safety & Compliance Award.

“Grant Parish School Board initially purchased the Infinit-I Workforce System for use in the transportation department.  Then we quickly realized that the program could be utilized system wide.  The Infinit-I Workforce System has made recordkeeping for state mandated training, for every employee, extremely easy.  Our human resource department no longer has to keep up with thousands of completion certificates and who has not completed their training.  Now we just print a report!  That easy!

“As for the transportation department, Infinit-I Workforce System offers numerous training modules for school bus drivers and attendants.  Trying to get bus drivers and attendants together at each school every month for safety training is a thing of the past.  With Infinit-I Workforce System modules and testing, I KNOW the drivers and attendants are getting the needed information.  We also count those minutes/hours toward our annual certification time requirements.

“Grant Parish has just begun to use Infinit-I Workforce System, system wide; however, the transportation department started using it this last school year.  There are many ways that this program can be used to make training and verification so much easier, such as posting notices on the main page where everyone logs in, verification of receipt of documents, messages, etc.  We are using the Infinit-I Workforce System to document receipt of handbooks, policy manuals and documents that are required to be given to each employee every year.

“We have transitioned into using the Infinit-I Workforce System  fairly easily.  The support and help from Infinit-I Workforce System is unequal to any software support team I have dealt with previously. I highly recommend Infinit-I Workforce System!” ~Kecia Nugent Transportation Supervisor, Grant Parish School Board

Infinit-I Bootcamp

On July 7th and 8th, safety directors and trucking company owners from across the United States descended upon the Stockyards in Fort Worth, TX to participate in the Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program.  The two day event is a unique experience for the trucking industry that couples the hospitality of Texas with training on safety, best practices for communicating and training drivers, and hands-on experience creating custom content videos and utilizing an online learning management system.

Day 2 started off with users creating custom content videos and exploring a new tool for the trucking industry that allows all paper forms and reporting options to be done electronically.

Additionally, one of the topics attendees enjoyed discussing and getting ideas from featured Steve Kessler discussing ways for trucking companies to implement online training and ensure drivers participate in training.

“The most common way is to tie the safety training to a safety bonus. If they’ve earned the bonus, but they have not completed the safety training that’s been assigned, they don’t get their check,” Steve explained. “Some companies have training where their employees get points, and they can use those points to buy things in the company store.”

Piggy backing off of a presentation done the previous day by Dean Huth on mitigating risks associated with punitive damages, Steve reminded attendees about the importance of ensuring all drivers are participating in safety training regardless of the system a company is using.

“Like Dean talks about, if it’s supposed to be mandatory and it’s not getting done, you’d probably get rid of them because they’re a punitive damages claim waiting to happen,” Steve said. “I know it’s easy to talk about spending other people’s money on bonuses, but if it keeps you out of court or saves you paying punitive damages, it’s worth it.”

Steve shared multiple ideas to help ensure driver participation in all aspects of training.  One idea that peeked the interest of attendees involved a motorcycle.

“We have one company that has an annual safety bonus and if the driver has met all of the training requirements for each quarter, their name goes into a hat. At the end of the year they have a drawing for a Harley Davidson Motorcycle,” he said.

To learn more about how to get a free ticket to the next Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program, where you can explore online training and the Infinit-I Workforce System in more detail, click here.

At the start of July's Vertical Alliance Group's Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program, attendees learned a lot of neat things about utilizing the custom content feature of the Infinit-I Workforce System.

"We have a client that utilized custom content to reduce driver turnover by 85%.  We have companies saving $8000 per week in fuel by using custom content. We have companies reducing orientation cost and getting drivers on the road quicker by using custo

Drivers fueling up their trucks


ing to an article published in the Commercial Carrier Journal this week, there’s good news for trucking companies.  Fuel prices have gone down. Diesel fuel in many parts of the country dropped 1.1 cents during the 4th of July holiday weekend, bringing the price down to $2.832. Drivers in California and the Rocky Mountain region were not as lucky, though. California fuel prices increased by 1/10 of a cent, making the average cost in that area $2.712. While the Rockies increased by 9/10 of a cent bringing that average regional total to $3.073. The fuel price drop seen across most of the country is great for trucking companies looking to save money, but as its been shown in past fuel patterns, this dip will not last forever.

Vertical Alliance Group’s  Infinit-I Workforce System includes over 350+ video selections, including a 26 part video series designed to help companies improve fuel efficiency. To explore our complete training library, and to learn more about how the Infinit-I Workforce System can help your trucking company, schedule a demo.  During the demo be sure to ask about our fuel efficiency training program, which has saved some companies as much as $8000/week in fuel costs.

Commercial Carrier JournalThis week the Commercial Carrier Journal again featured the Infinit-I Workforce System in their publication. In the article, Aaron Huff wrote, “Whether fleets decide to use old school or high-tech training methods, experts say it is critical to document every aspect of the training process.”

This is a point Vertical Alliance Group works hard to educate trucking companies about.  At our bi-monthly Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program, former safety director Dean Huth preaches, “If it’s not in writing, if it’s not signed, if it’s not dated, if you can’t find it, it simply didn’t happen.”

Dean often refers to a story that has now become known as the $64 Million Mistake.

The Infinit-I Workforce System was designed to allow trucking companies an easy way to create, manage, distribute, and track training. In addition to providing a comprehensive content library that features new training videos added on a monthly basis, the Infinit-I Workforce system also allows companies to develop their own custom content to use on the system.

Additionally, the system provides a unique driver resource area where all documents your driver needs access to can be placed for easy access from anywhere they are in the world. In his article, Aaron Huff also talks about the benefits of utilizing an online learning management tool like the Infinit-I Workforce System. “One way to streamline driver training is with software designed to manage and monitor the progress of drivers through every stage in a formal training program,” Huff writes.

If you would like to learn more about online training, you can schedule a demo.  One of our account executives will reach out to you and help you explore online training in detail.  Additionally, you can claim a free ticket to our Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program and learn more about that event.

NATMI Accredited Event

Vertical Alliance Group recently announced their Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program has been approved by the North American Transportation Management Institute (NATMI) and earns certified safety directors two recertification points. Learn more about the accredidation here.

The two day event provides attendees with a unique opportunity to explore the benefits of implementing online training within their company. As a hands-on event, attendees are given the opportunity to learn “Best Practices” related to a successful online training program utilizing, the Infinit-I Workforce System, while enjoying a unique Texas setting and great southern hospitality.

Additionally, event goers spend time learning how to create customized safety training content in quick and affordable ways. During this portion of the event, each attendee has the opportunity to create their own customized safety training video that can be utilized in all of their future safety training efforts.

The event features a keynote address by a former safety director, Dean Huth, who shares firsthand the challenges of relying on a traditional paper method of tracking driver training and how costly it can be when it fails companies who wind up in an audit or a courtroom. His talk centers around educating safety directors on how to mitigate large and costly judgements associated with punitive damages. “You will go to court if you do this a long time. It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.

When it comes to your training: If it’s not in writing, not signed, not dated, or you can’t find it, it simply didn’t happen,” Huth explained during a recent keynote address at the event.

To learn more about attending an Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program, or to learn more about the NATMI certification, call 866-775-4669, ext. 103.

Brad Bradley, David Sprowl, and Tom Milby  from Home Run, Inc. out of Xenia, OH, along with Mithc Davis from Nussbaum Trucking out of Hudson, IL attended the Trucking Business Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program in Fort Worth, TX at The Stockyards this week.

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Steve Kessler enjoys a cup of coffee during a break at the 2 Day trucking industry event. Steve is one of the main presenters at the event.  He teaches about online trucking and online assessments.

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The Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program is a hands-on event that gives trucking companies the ability to not only learn about, but to also actually try out online training during the event.  Attendees at the June 2015 Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program are pictured using their laptops to learn more about the benefits of online training.

This week members of the Vertical Alliance Group sales team met up in Fort Worth, Texas at The Stockyard’s for a two day sales meeting.

The meeting was focused on how the sales team could provide more value to our clients and prospects. It featured the sharing of ideas, networking, and fun enjoying The Stockyards in Fort Worth.

2015 Vertical Alliance Sales Meeting

The Stockyards is also the home of our Infinit-I Engage Evaluation Program – a unique 2 day event designed to help trucking companies learn more about the benefits of online training. Click here to learn more about the event.

In an article published this week by the Commercial Carrier Journal, Aaron Huff featured the Infinit-I Workforce System.

“4 ways to make driver training count”

By Aaron Huff on June 9, 2015

Companies like… Vertical Alliance… provide online LMS with a library of driver training materials. Clients are increasingly asking for custom content to better engage drivers in their company culture and to cover specific training topics, they say.

Recording Everything
Vertical Alliance Group, which provides a web-based LMS called, Infinit-I Workforce System and training content, is wrapping up development of a tool called Assessment Deck. Fleets will be able to use the tool to convert paper forms into electronic forms to capture and document information and create reports for things like vehicle inspections, internal audits, cargo claims, and more.

Like the web-based LMS, the online Assessment Deck has an administrative portal to assign forms to different groups and people in an organization. An e-mail can be sent to the appropriate people with a link to complete a form online.

While technology is being used to automate many aspects of driver training, the fact that it can also document that the training took place may be just as important. Without this modern convenience, the training never happened as far as the courts are concerned.”