Unlike standard road maps, the red lines on the multi-colored maps at Trans Tech Services in Pleasanton do not represent major highways. These red lines stand for the most efficient routes between freight truck companies and their customers.

The map is part of a new product that may revolutionize the freight trucking industry, according to Art Songey, controller for Trans Tech.

"We expect sales to really take off," said Songey. "We have some real promising contracts in the works."

Since the company began marketing its DISPATCH/Control computer systems earlier this year, the firm has announced two contracts - a $1.5 million contract to supply four of the computer information/dispatch systems to New Jersey-based Red Star Express Lines and a $250,000 contract to provide one system to Preston Trucking Company in Maryland.

Trans Tech's program works within a framework of customer and roadway information, including traffic patterns. Pick-up and delivery orders, including package size and weight, are entered into the computer early each day. Within minutes, the computer sorts it all out, picks the most efficient routes and prints an ordered list, complete with estimated travel and stop times, for each driver.

In the trucking terminal, the same information is available on the dispatcher's computer screen. The dispatcher and driver communicate via radio. If problems or unforeseen events occur, the dispatcher can reroute or reschedule with the computer's aid.

Songey said that the computer system will solve a complex routing problem that may be as old as the truck freight industry itself. He predicts that competition among freight truck firms will intensify through use of the Trans Tech program.

"This system is a revolutionary concept," said Songey. "It helps optimize the use of the firm's resources while it allows them to compete in the marketplace."

In its developmental stage, the product was first tested during a pilot project at Viking Freight Systems Inc.’s Modesto area operations last year. Later, Trans Tech installed another system at Viking's Santa Clara office. Songey said both systems are still operating at Viking.

Founded in May 1983, Trans Tech is the product of research begun by the company President Kenneth Forbes and Vice President Larry Woon. The two men are former industrial planning engineers for United Parcel Service.

When Trans Tech officially opened in 1983, it was worth about $3.2 million. It has since tripled in value to $12.5 million. A major contributor behind the privately-held firm's growth was Redondo Beach based TRW Inc.’s purchase of 20 percent of Trans Tech for $2.5 million in January. Since then, Trans Tech has tripled its office space when it moved to an 8,400 square foot suite in a Hacienda Business Park tower.

Several Apollo computers line the walls of the office, and engineers move between the hardware and nearby magnetic maps. With precise latitude and longitude coordinates, Trans Tech engineers can enter freight customer locations, zip code boundaries and other information. When a dispatcher faces the computer screen, he sees a color-coded map of essential roads, blue and red squares, which represent customer pick-ups or deliveries, and the sequence of the driver routes, outlined in red.

"If you were to use academic models on the most powerful computers, it would take several hours to plot a route plan," said Songey. "Our system will literally run through thousands of possibilities and allows us to solve the problem in minutes."

To see a reproduction of the original article and edition of Pleasanton Pathways, visit: November 25, 1985 Pathways.