Ruan Transportation: Built to bring drivers home with Geotab

A company built on a promise

Ruan is a family-owned Dedicated Contract Transportation (DCT) provider with more than 90 years of experience delivering customized supply chain solutions. Its guiding principles — people first, safety focus, exceptional performance, enduring partnerships, continuous improvement — are not marketing language. They describe how the company operates day to day, from the compliance team in Des Moines to the drivers covering routes across 300+ locations nationwide.

"Everything we do, we want to do it safely," says John Holt, Ruan's Safety and Compliance Manager. "One of the most important things we talk about is we want all of our team members coming home safely at the end of the day."

That commitment demands technology that can keep up. For a fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles running 24/7 across North America, the tools in the cab and behind the desk have to be reliable, integrated and built for the scale of the work. When they aren't, the consequences travel down the supply chain — and land on the client.

Standards that outgrew the tools

Before Geotab, Ruan's teams relied on multiple systems to gather the information they needed. Maintenance teams had limited real-time visibility into vehicle performance, while compliance teams worked across separate reports to track hours of service data.

"I recall specifically when we had to push out system updates, we had to heavily communicate what the update was, what could be some of the consequences," says Holt. "We would have to do all hands on deck — bring in additional coverage to support phones for people calling in, having issues. And since the move to Geotab, we haven't seen any of that. Updates just happen without any issues."

When systems go down,drivers fall back to paper logs. Compliance teams then have to

manually backlog on-duty time — a chain of additional steps that added cost and risk at every link.

On the maintenance side, the challenge was visibility. "In the past we ran into struggles with our team looking at multiple screens and trying to figure out what the whole picture is," says Ben Steines, one of Ruan's Maintenance Operations Leaders. "With Geotab, everything is within one system on one screen, and our team is able to make better maintenance decisions based on the data that they're seeing."

The decision to go to market for a new telematics provider wasn't about finding a cheaper option. Ruan's standards had simply outgrown the tools they had.

Choosing a platform — and a partner

Ruan evaluated 11 ELD providers during an 18 month RFP process. They narrowed the field to two and ran a rigorous 16-week pilot across four locations, gathering feedback from 40 drivers alongside office staff, maintenance, compliance and safety teams.

"We put that decision in the hands of the people that would be using the systems and processes every day for their job," says Emily Dikeman, Ruan's Product Owner for In-Cab Technology and Mobility Solutions. "The drivers are the heart of our company. We wanted to make sure we selected not what was just best for Ruan, but for Ruan's drivers."

The feedback was decisive. Drivers appreciated the clear interface and the elimination of paper pre-trip and post-trip inspections. Office staff valued the map view, real-time visibility and the depth of reporting. When asked to vote for the solution they wanted to use every day, the answer was clear.

Geotab's open API platform was also a differentiator for Ruan's IT team. "The discovery process was the first time we were going to be working with a solution that was as flexible and configurable as Geotab," says Dikeman. "There was a great opportunity to explore the open API.”

Equally important was the role of reseller Gridline. The Gridline team flew to pilot locations on weekends to train with drivers, built location-specific dashboards and KPIs based on feedback from both corporate and individual sites, and stayed embedded through implementation. "They showed up to each operation, they asked for what we needed and they delivered exactly what we asked for," says Dikeman. "Gridline has been absolutely incredible to work with."

After the pilot, Geotab was the choice. Ruan spent six months building integrations before going live — deliberately, intentionally and without shortcuts. They rebuilt reporting, automated workflows, established API connections to their transportation management, warehouse management and maintenance systems, and built training plans down to the individual truck and driver. 

What Ruan built

One platform. Complete visibility.

The shift from multiple screens to a single system changed how teams at Ruan operate. Operations staff now track drivers and vehicles on a single map view, with real-time hours of service status, duty status, fault codes and vehicle data — odometer, fuel levels, idle events — all accessible without switching systems.

"Our operations staff are very pleased with the map page they land on in Geotab," says Dikeman. “They aren't needing multiple screens or having to go into various different systems to collect information," adds Ben Steines. Steines continues, pointing out how the singular system has given them more information around instances of idling. “Geotab has helped us provide that complete picture of how our vehicles are operating and where every single idle event takes place, which allows our field teams to be able to manage that idle and understand the underlying conditions of why that truck may be idling." 

For drivers, the Geotab Drive app consolidates workflows that previously lived in separate applications. Ruan's internal workflow application is accessible via add-in without a separate login. Compliance tools, inspection checklists and HOS alerts are all in one place. "Everything that they need is right there," says Dikeman. "We're not having redundant workflows, we're not going into different systems."

ELD reliability that operations can depend on

ELD uptime has improved significantly with Geotab. System updates that once required all-hands mobilization now happen without driver disruption or back-office scramble. "The technology in their truck should not be one of their obstacles," says Holt. "Drivers deal with a lot on the roadway. They have many challenges. We heard early on from drivers and back office support teams about how nice the system was and how easy it was to navigate. The overall experience has been an overwhelmingly positive one."

From reactive to proactive maintenance

For Ben Steines and Ruan's maintenance team, the shift to Geotab's fault code data changed the fundamental posture of how they manage a large fleet.

"With Geotab providing real-time fault code data, our team is able to be more proactive than reactive," says Steines. "Geotab has done a great job in helping us determine which fault codes are most at risk of causing our units to have downtime. Seeing the units that are most at risk of having a service breakdown right at the top of the list has been very helpful."

Digital DVIR — pre-trip and post-trip inspection checklists completed in the Geotab Drive app — connects drivers directly to the maintenance shop. When a driver identifies a defect, it routes immediately to the team that can act on it, cutting the manual loop of paper forms and phone calls.

"The communication is readily available through Geotab every day," says Keith O., a Ruan driver. "If a problem comes up with the equipment, there's a checklist. You can go in there and report that issue, and it relays it directly over to our shop. It's very easy to get that issue resolved."

Ruan has started using Geotab Ace to surface actionable insights at scale. "Ace has been great at calling out the locations and the operations that we want to focus more attention on," says Steines. "I see Ace becoming even more integrated into how our teams utilize Geotab — even at the technician level, where the last thing we want is a technician diving through volumes of reports. Instead, I see them prompting Ace to bring up the correct unit or identify trends in equipment.

Customer visibility as a competitive differentiator

Integrated tracking data from Geotab flows directly into Ruan's transportation and warehouse management systems, generating precise shipment-level ETAs delivered to customers via text and email notification.

"The Geotab device in the truck provides tracking information that goes back into our transportation management, warehouse management and our in-house visibility platform," says Dikeman. "It provides estimated time of arrival, notifications via text and email on when we will arrive. It can also get down to a part and shipment level detail for their order so they can see exactly when that specific item will arrive."

A centralized HOS coaching program — built on safety culture

One of the most significant outcomes of the Geotab deployment has been the transformation of Ruan's hours of service compliance program. Built on Gridline's HOS-Protect platform, Ruan's centralized HOS coaching program now actively monitors, coaches and documents violations using real-time data across more than 300 operations.

"We have created consistency across 300-plus operations when it comes to coaching and documentation," says Holt. "Significant time has been returned to our operating field — allowing our field management teams to focus more on the business side and let our compliance team handle any regulatory information."

The program has streamlined coaching conversations with drivers across those locations, and the results are clear — a downward trend in violations across groups and a measurable reduction in repeat offenders. "Driving team members are very appreciative that we're taking the time," says Holt. "We've seen those recurring instances come down, which has been great to see."

The Gridline partnership extends into Ruan's video safety program, combining telematics and video data in one unified interface through Gridline Analytics.

People first — beyond the data

In early 2025, Ruan nominated Jeff Smith, a Ruan driver for nearly 33 years who had driven three million accident-free miles over the course of his career, for the Geotab Legacy Award. Sadly, Jeff passed away before the award was presented, but his nominators at Ruan graciously accepted it on his behalf when they learned he had won.
 

Jeff had been one of the first drivers to pilot Geotab at his location. He helped other drivers log in, offered feedback graciously as the team worked through integration challenges and was first on the list for every community activity his operation organized.

"Jeff was very supportive," says Dikeman. "We were very honored to get the chance to nominate him, and even more when we had the opportunity to accept his award. He had a great impact at his operation and beyond. Knowing that the legacy award will go on every year at Geotab Connect — that started with Jeff."

The award now sits on a shelf at his family's home, next to a small Ruan semi-trailer he kept there.

The results

Steines sums up the results that Ruan has seen rather simply: “Geotab has fundamentally changed the way we view our fleet and are able to have those insights into how our fleet is performing overall.”

And the metrics speak for themselves:

• ELD reliability that field and office teams can depend on — system updates that once required all-hands mobilization now happen without driver disruption or back-office scramble.
• Meaningful time returned to field management teams every quarter, freeing them to focus on operations rather than compliance administration.
• HOS coaching conversations happening consistently at scale, across every one of Ruan's 300-plus locations.
• A sustained downward trend in violations, with a consistent reduction in repeat offenders.
• Speeding compliance ranking among the strongest performers in the broader Geotab fleet network.

But the outcome John Holt points to when asked what he would tell another safety director goes deeper than the numbers.

"If you don't feel you're being supported by your ELD provider, or that they're coming up with new ways and wanting to truly partner with you, I would explore what's out there — and I would strongly consider Geotab," he says. “Innovation is important, and they want to continuously improve and think of things that will make life easier both for you and your customers. Geotab and Gridline are both fantastic about hearing your ideas and actually implementing them. It would be the first ELD partner where we've come to the table with enhancement requests and seen the results.”

Looking ahead

Ruan is not standing still. At Geotab Connect, Ruan participated in the inaugural product advisory group — sitting with Geotab's product team to shape the future of MyGeotab and the Drive app for all drivers, regardless of the vehicles they operate. Geotab has since visited Ruan's Des Moines headquarters for two-day sessions focused on the roadmap ahead.

"When you think about the vast amount of data it can create and the different ways you can put that data together to tell a story, to fill a need you may not have been able to solve before — it becomes pretty powerful," says Dikeman. "Having that product advisory group as a place to share information, ideas and really dream about what MyGeotab and the Drive app can become is a pretty incredible opportunity."
 

For Gridline, the next chapter involves AI. "Everything that Gridline builds for Ruan in some shape or form is prescriptive," says Scott Tenney. "We're trying to eliminate buttons to push, eliminate places you have to click. What we want to do next is take that to the next step so that all this information is funneled from an AI perspective — that's how they're consuming data."

Ruan's guiding principles — people first, safety focus, continuous improvement — are not marketing language. They are the standard every outcome is measured against. For Dikeman, they show up in how teams across 300-plus locations experience the work every day. "It's how we've increased and improved the user experience — integrating multiple platforms, whether it be for our office staff and operations or our drivers," she says. "They log into one platform. Everything they need is right there. That outcome alone is time saving, it's satisfaction of people's roles. It really has had efficiency gains all over."