We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Samsara Connected Operations™ Awards. This year, we received more submissions than ever before, each filled with inspiring stories about how physical operations organizations are finding new and innovative ways to be safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. Our Awards Committee is grateful for each and every applicant that took the time to submit their story and share their accomplishments. 

At Samsara, we have the honor of working with organizations that keep the world moving. Our winners this year build our infrastructure, transport and deliver essential products, and fly us around the globe to connect us to family, friends, and new adventures. 

We are proud to support our customers as they work to achieve important goals, and move boldly into the future of operations. Read on to discover the winners of the 2023 Samsara Connected Operations Awards and learn about their stories.

• Safest Operator: The Rasmussen Group

• Excellence in Efficiency: XPO

• Most Sustainable Operations: Sobeys Inc. 

• Operations Innovator: DHL Supply Chain & DHL Express 

• Digital Transformation of the Year: Foundation Building Materials

• Excellence in Performance - Government: City of Memphis Public Works Division

• Excellence in Performance - Education: Gwinnett County Public Schools

• Ecosystem Partner of the Year: Drivewyze

• Technology Leader of the Year: Antonello Davi, American Airlines, Inc.

• Top Driver: Robert Chidester, RelaDyne

Safest Operator: The Rasmussen Group

The Connected Operations Award for Safest Operator recognizes organizations that have  improved safety across their business and the communities in which they operate. This year’s winner has built an exceptional safety program that not only keeps drivers safer, but also unites their company with a strong culture of safety that reaches across multiple subsidiaries. 

The Rasmussen Group comprises nine companies with operations in the construction, materials, and transportation industries across the United States. Rasmussen companies often haul heavy loads, including concrete, gravel, and cranes. To help drivers be as safe as possible hauling heavy cargo, Rasmussen uses Samsara AI Dash Cams and Site Visibility to enhance company-wide safety with timely and effective coaching, driver recognition and incentive programs, and mobile-first tools to empower both drivers and coaches. 

As a result, Rasmussen has achieved a range of safety-related benefits, including reducing running through stop signs by 70%, decreasing speeding by 71%, and lowering backup incidents by 25%, among others. The company's success with driver safety has served as a springboard for other improvements across their business, including saving more than $2.6 million in legal expenses and loss exposure.  

Finalists: Maxim Crane Works, Pike Electric, Trayecto, Duke Energy

Excellence in Efficiency: XPO

The Connected Operations Award for Excellence in Efficiency recognizes organizations that have made significant gains in operational efficiency and are raising the bar for utilization, productivity, quality, and customer service. This year's winner undertook a massive effort to digitize their entire fleet, an initiative that has delivered significant savings and efficiency gains for their maintenance and compliance programs.  

XPO is a Fortune 500 company and one of the leading providers of freight transportation services in North America. With 35,000 tractors and trailers, and 13,000 professional drivers, XPO’s expansive network covers 99% of US zip codes and reaches Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean . The company uses Samsara to track its fleet, vehicle maintenance status, and improve safety and efficiency. 

By using start-of-shift workflows on the Samsara Driver App, XPO has been able to decrease unassigned miles by 99% week over week. The company also saw a 10% increase in log certifications since implementing a new end-of-shift workflow that requires drivers to certify their logs. Moreover, XPO anticipates hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel tax refunds.

Finalists: Pitney Bowes, Aegion Corporation

Most Sustainable Operations: Sobeys Inc. 

The Connected Operations Award for Sustainability recognizes organizations that are committed to reducing their environmental impact in innovative ways while driving business policies that contribute to a better environment. This year, the winner used telematics to transform how they measure fuel consumption, which also delivered big gains toward their environmental goals. 

Sobeys Inc. is one of the largest supermarket chains in Canada. The company has an ambitious "go green" target date of 2035 to substantially lower its emissions. To help achieve this goal, it has deployed Samsara Vehicle Telematics to enable them to make data-driven decisions about fuel consumption. Based on the Samsara Driver Efficiency Report, Sobeys created a “Samsara Centre of Excellence” to help drivers learn ways to reduce their idling time and emissions. 

Sobeys has been able to save 46,000 gallons of diesel, leading to a savings of 469 metric tons of carbon emissions in four months. In addition, they performed a study to replace a number of diesel vehicles in their fleet with EVs to achieve significant fuel and emissions reductions. 

Finalists: City of Sacramento, Veritiv Corporation

Operations Innovator: DHL Supply Chain & DHL Express 

The Connected Operations Award for Operations Innovator recognizes organizations that connect data across their operations to better share information and address critical challenges. This year's winner consolidated multiple systems to gain insights into how they operate and deliver a better experience for employees and customers alike. 

DHL is one of the largest logistics companies in the world, serving over 220 countries and delivering almost 1.7 billion parcels a year. The company was using seven different solutions for telematics and other functions, but they were difficult to connect. With Samsara, DHL has a single integrated platform that gives them insight into safety, telematics, electronic logging devices (ELDs), driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs), workflows, and more, all while being easy to use. 

Now, DHL—and their DHL Supply Chain and DHL Express divisions—have been able to proactively address unsafe driving behavior with more effective coaching. Across 20 sites that have fully deployed Samsara, DHL Express has realized a 26% reduction in accidents, and a subsequent 49% reduction in related costs.

Moreover, DHL's improved operations have enabled them to attract and retain drivers. Driver turnover for DHL Supply Chain has dropped by 50%, and the company's driver vacancy is the lowest it has ever been. In addition, with the Samsara Connected Operations™ Cloud, DHL has the platform they need to ramp up their transition to an EV-focused future.

Finalists: US Lumber, Clean Harbors, Primoris Services Corporation, Fraley & Schilling

Digital Transformation of the Year: Foundation Building Materials

The Connected Operations Award for Digital Transformation of the Year recognizes companies that are using technology to drive substantial change across their business. This year's winner understands that digitizing and integrating their systems is a competitive advantage, and has achieved significant gains as a result. 

Foundation Building Materials (FBM) is one of North America's leading distributors of speciality building materials. The company implemented Samsara Vehicle Gateways, Asset Gateways, and AI Dash Cams across their fleet of 2,500 vehicles and other heavy equipment, and now has visibility into critical areas like driver performance and safety. FBM also took advantage of the Samsara ecosystem to easily integrate their existing construction management software with the Samsara Driver App to improve shipment routing and delivery. 

With Samsara at the core of their digital transformation, FBM has achieved a range of impressive results. They vastly improved driver safety, with a 44% decrease in unsafe driving behaviors, an 83% drop in accidents per million miles, from 10.9 to just 1.8. Strong data integration has also allowed FBM to improve its MyFBM digital platform while driving increased adoption and usage. 

As FBM continues to grow their business, Samsara data and integrations will help the company ensure a consistent customer experience while promoting a culture of safety at scale. 

Finalists: Coschocton Trucking Inc., Mohawk Industries

Excellence in Performance - Government: City of Memphis Public Works Division

The Connected Operations Award for Excellence in Performance: Government recognizes public fleets and operators that are using technology to provide top-notch services to their state, city, or community. This year, the winner implemented Samsara to help their drivers become safer and to empower their citizens with information about local roads. 

The City of Memphis is the second most-populous city in Tennessee. The City’s Public Works Division wanted to better serve their 633,000 citizens, so they deployed Samsara Vehicle Gateways and dual-facing AI Dash Cams in nearly 500 vehicles and assets across different City departments. 

As a result, the Public Works Division has been able to reduce distracted driving by 70% by not only tracking driving behaviors, but also incentivizing drivers with a new Safe Driving Awards program. In addition, the City allows Memphis residents to see live tracking of street sweeping services, which has helped build confidence in service delivery. 

The City of Memphis now uses Samsara across 17 different departments, and is reinvesting money and equipment that have been saved into providing additional services. 

Finalists: Road Commission of Kalamazoo, City of Columbus, Town of South Windsor

Excellence in Performance - Education: Gwinnett County Public Schools

The Connected Operations Award for Excellence in Performance: Education recognizes public fleets and operators that are using technology to provide top-notch services to their schools and community. This year's winner has made video and vehicle telematics a core part of their operations, helping to significantly improve safety and efficiency. 

Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) is the largest school system in the state of Georgia. The organization has almost 2,000 buses that transport over 128,000 students to 142 schools every school day. GCPS rolled out Samsara Vehicle Gateways and AI Dash Cams across their entire fleet, giving them visibility into activities inside and outside of buses, as well as real-time vehicle location information. 

As a result, GCPS has realized a number of benefits. The organization was able to reduce harsh braking by 60% and seat belt violations by 47% in only three months. GCPS also saw a 40% decrease in distracted driving and a 17% decrease in speeding in just 30 days. 

Moreover, the school system has reduced the time it takes to investigate incidents by 50%, from one to two weeks to 24 to 48 hours, and they are saving in settlement fees by exonerating their drivers in minor incidents. Best of all, they are building better, data-informed relationships with parents and school principals. 

Finalists: Fordham University Department of Transportation, Stroudsburg Area Schools

Ecosystem Partner of the Year: Drivewyze

The Connected Operations Award for Ecosystem Partner of the Year recognizes third-party integration partners that help Samsara customers connect systems and data to drive new efficiencies and actionable insights. This year's winner creates innovative solutions that help improve the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of long-distance transportation. 

Drivewyze developed an intelligent transportation system service that automatically verifies the credentials and safety record of commercial vehicles, allowing them to bypass participating highway weigh stations in 46 states and provinces. Their Safety+ product also provides real-time updates on road hazards and unsafe weather conditions so drivers can make better decisions on the road.

By partnering with Samsara, Drivewyze has been able to deliver a range of positive outcomes for customers, including delivering 87,000 bypasses in just one quarter, which has helped save more than 34,800 gallons of fuel and 353 tons of carbon dioxide. Drivewyze has also helped save 7,250 hours of driver time, and enabled customers to achieve an average ROI of $14,000. 

Finalists: Fleetio, Pro-Vision, National Indemnity Company (NICO)

Technology Leader of the Year: Antonello Davi, American Airlines

The Technology Leader of the Year Award recognizes individual leaders who have used new technology to spearhead digital transformation across their operations. This year's winner saw an opportunity to make finding equipment easier, which is having a big positive impact on customer satisfaction, employee efficiency, and the environment.

Antonello Davi is a Senior Fleet Specialist at American Airlines (AA), the largest air carrier in the world. Based out of Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) airport, Davi is responsible for managing Ground Support Equipment (GSE), such as baggage carts and passenger boarding stairs, across all of AA's hubs. GSE is a critical part of the airline's operations; if the GSE team can't quickly locate assets, it can cause costly delays.

To make finding and maintaining GSE faster and easier, Davi rolled out Samsara Vehicle Gateways and Asset Gateways at the DFW hub. In one year across only 13 ground power units, AA has already saved $500,000 in jet fuel spend. Moreover, DFW mechanics have saved 160,600 minutes searching for ground support equipment. Perhaps best of all, Samsara has helped Davi and the GSE team drive a reduction in delays for kickoff flights at DFW, the first flights to leave each morning that can determine whether subsequent flights are late.

Thanks to these results, Davi is moving forward with a larger rollout to more equipment at more AA stations across the country. 

Finalists: Gustavo Vildosola from Mexlog,  Tristan Nolan from Werner Enterprises, William Hopper from Performance Food Group, Chi Fang from Certarus

Top Driver: Robert Chidester, RelaDyne

The Top Driver Award recognizes a professional driver who has an outstanding record behind the wheel and champions safety. This year's winner has led by example within his company, maintaining a spotless safety record over his long career and acting as a mentor to younger drivers. 

RelaDyne is the largest lubricant distributor in the United States and market leader in fuel, diesel exhaust fluid, and industrial reliability services for industrial, commercial, and automotive businesses in North America. A company veteran, Robert Chidester has been a top-performing driver for over 45 years. Robert has always been open and receptive to change, and when RelaDyne implemented Samsara, he relished the opportunity to be an ambassador for the company’s dash cam policy and safety program.

Robert has had no at-fault accidents or roadside violations in his nearly five-decade career, and he now has a Driver Safety Score of 98 and zero safety events despite driving different vehicles in different environments every week. With his decades of experience, Robert has helped create friendly competition within his team to improve safety scores, leading drivers to proactively seek coaching from their managers and keep safety top of mind at all times. 

Not only is Robert a top safety performer, but he is also a customer favorite. He consistently goes above and beyond to help customers with any issues while he’s on-site, and he often gets calls recognizing his professionalism and outstanding service

Finalists: Kurt Roth from Kreilkamp Trucking Inc., Cody Dice from J. Rayl Transport, Timothy Presley from Satellites Unlimited

Congratulations to our 2023 Connected Operations Award Winners.

The 2023 Samsara Connected Operations Award winners are leading the way to a better, connected future in physical operations. We’re honored to support these organizations as they provide the services and products that help make the world run, and we're excited to continue our partnership with these customers as they drive even more innovation to create the future of physical operations.