XBE Views & News

Horizon 2026 — The Weekend Experience Before the Conference

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Horizon 2026 — Come Early, Stay Late

Horizon Live is XBE's in-person conference — three days of working sessions, workshops, and peer-led panels where the people running heavy operations come together to solve real problems in real time. Not presentations about the future. The work itself.

This year, Horizon lands at Shack15 in San Francisco, September 28--30. The focus is on what it means to operate alongside agentic workforces — systems that don't just report on your work but carry it. If you haven't heard about it yet, you should.

Spots are limited, and we want our community in the room.

But this year, Horizon starts before Horizon.

CEO of XBE, Sean Devine, will be leading a weekend tour before the conference — Saturday and Sunday, September 26--27 — exploring San Francisco with anyone who wants to come along. Partners are welcome. The XBE team will be there. No set schedule, no obligations, come and go as you please.

Saturday — East Side - Ferry ride from San Francisco to Sausalito — tour and lunch - Chinatown food tour - Marina night out

Sunday — West Side - Morning service at St. Ignatius Catholic Church - Golden Gate Park tour — Botanical Garden and Japanese Garden - Lands End hike to the Golden Gate Bridge - Ocean Beach fire pit party

Monday evening is the welcome reception. Tuesday, the real work begins. But the best conversations at these things tend to start before the first session — and the weekend is where that happens.

If you've been meaning to register, or if you have team members who should be in the room, now is the time.

Agent XBE x BCMI - Your Ready Mix Operation Just Got a Superworkforce

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Full coverage is live -- ready-mix producers on BCMI now have a superworkforce that knows their entire operation.

BCMI already runs your dispatch, scheduling, tickets, orders, quoting, CRM, fleet, billing, plant workflows, Material Now, Material Pro, and every connected integration. Agent XBE now works across all of it -- the same superworkforce that 40+ companies have been using on the XBE platform since February, now inside your ready-mix operation

Here's what that looks like right now:

Pull a customer's full history -- quoting, orders, delivery patterns, open tickets -- before a sales call
Trace a billing discrepancy from ticket to invoice across plant and fleet records
Set up a morning briefing that delivers your production summary, fleet status, and open issues before you sit down
Build a profitability breakdown from your actual ticket and delivery data
Map your fleet's idle time and utilization across plants and routes -- see where trucks are waiting and where capacity is going unused.

That list keeps growing. We're finding new use cases every week as more teams bring their operations into it.

This isn't just BCMI data access. Agent XBE brings everything that's made it popular across the XBE community -- integrated with where you work (Google Workspace, Microsoft, Slack etc.) scheduled tasks and missions, Broker Memories that carry your company's context across every session, and the ability to reason across all of it at once. Over 70% of sessions across the community are automated, unlocking the potential of having Agent XBE as an extension of their workforce. You give it a goal, it figures out how to get there.

All-22 handles dispatch optimization. Agent XBE works across everything else. Together, they cover the full operation.

Every BCMI customer gets an interview period -- up to 45 days to explore. Agent XBE connects to your data automatically. No setup. Just start.

We're hosting a webinar on June 30th at 12pm CST to walk through what this looks like in practice -- live demonstrations, real workflows, real questions. Open to everyone.

Register for the webinar

Your operation already runs on BCMI. Now it has a superworkforce working within it.

Read more about BCMI HERE Ready more about Agent XBE HERE

XBE Achieves SOC 2 Type II Certification

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:00:00 -0500

XBE Achieves SOC 2 Type II Certification

A yearlong audit confirmed our controls work the way we said they do.

You trust us with your data. That means we owe you more than a promise that we're protecting it — we owe you proof.

XBE has earned SOC 2 Type II certification for the XBE SaaS Platform. You may remember us talking about this work – and now, it's done.

SOC 2 Type II is an independent audit that doesn't just check whether the right controls exist — it tests whether those controls actually worked, consistently, over a sustained period. In our case, an independent auditor examined the XBE platform's controls across a full calendar year, from January through December 2025. The audit covered three trust service criteria: Security, Availability, and Confidentiality — the categories most directly relevant to how we handle and protect customer data.

The result: our controls were operating effectively throughout the entire period.

It reflects how the team at XBE actually works — the processes, habits, and decisions that protect your information every day. Protecting your data isn't something we do alongside the work — it is the work.

Thank you for trusting us with your operations and your data. We take that seriously.

You'll find the SOC 2 certification badge at the bottom of our website for verification.

Horizon 2026 Registration Now Open — Succeeding in an Agentic Future

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Horizon 2026 — Succeeding in an Agentic Future

Horizon is back — September 28–30, at Shack15 in San Francisco's Ferry Building and full registration is now open.

This year's theme: what it actually takes to succeed in an agentic future.

You already know the shift is happening. Agentic workforces are redefining how work gets done in heavy materials, logistics, and construction — systems that don't just inform decisions but carry the work from start to finish. You chose XBE as your partner because you saw this coming. And because of that, you're in the best position in this industry to capture it.

The opportunity is expanding faster than most organizations can keep up with. That's not a problem — it's the advantage you're building right now. More capacity, more speed, more value from every hour your team puts in. The companies in this community are already proving what's possible. Horizon is where we push it further together.

But succeeding in an agentic future isn't just a technology question. It changes how your entire operation runs — dispatch, logistics, customer relationships, planning, reporting. It changes what your people spend their time on. That means the right people to have in the room aren't just your technology leads. It's your operations leaders, your dispatchers, your general managers — anyone who runs the business and feels the impact of every workflow.

That's what this year's Horizon is built around.

Customer-led discussions. Working sessions. Roadmap conversations. Real dialogue between operators who are already doing this work — not watching from the sidelines. Intimate, peer-driven, and designed to translate into action when you get home.

No single company will figure this out alone. But this community is further ahead than anyone else in the industry — and Horizon is where we create that knowledge together.

September 28–30, 2026 — Shack15, San Francisco

The Bottleneck Shifted. Most Organizations Haven't Noticed.

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:00:00 -0500

The Bottleneck Shifted. Most Organizations Haven't Noticed.

From the Agent XBE Collective -- Session 3, June 2026

For two sessions, the Agent XBE Collective had been building toward something. The first meeting established the group. The second opened a thread about the electrification of factories -- how the arrival of electric power didn't just replace steam, it reorganized everything about how work was structured, who did it, and what efficiency meant.

In Session 3, that thread landed.

The conversation started where most do: with metrics. One member raised the question directly -- his organization had been exploring a wide range of performance measurements, from trucking surplus to tons per labor hour, and he wanted to know which ones actually moved the bottom line. The answer wasn't a list. It was a diagnosis.

The Paradox of More

When you give an organization a tool that can analyze anything, the first instinct is to analyze everything. More dashboards. More KPIs. More reports landing in more inboxes.

This is natural. You need to explore broadly before you can narrow wisely. But the exploration phase has a shelf life. Without narrowing, you get metric proliferation -- and metric proliferation doesn't make an organization smarter. It makes it louder.

The group recognized this. Several members described being in the exploration phase, building out visibility across their operations, comparing performance across similar jobs and seasonal conditions. The data was flowing. The question was what to do with it.

One member framed it precisely: he wanted to know where Agent XBE had already captured most of the available value versus where his organization wasn't yet seeing the higher-upside opportunities. Not more data. Better focus.

Noticing Versus Knowing

The discussion surfaced a framework that reframed the problem. Think about the four-minute mile. Before Roger Bannister broke it, the barrier felt absolute. After he did, dozens of runners followed within months. The physical capability hadn't changed. What changed was that people could see it was possible.

The same pattern applies to operational performance. The best use of an agent isn't to generate reports about what happened. It's to identify benchmarks by analyzing historical actuals -- to define what "good" looks like for your specific operation, your equipment, your conditions. Once you can see the benchmark, the gap becomes obvious and actionable.

This is the difference between noticing and knowing. Knowing is having the data. Noticing is recognizing what the data is telling you about what's possible.

The Ceiling Nobody Planned For

Then the conversation went deeper.

Organizations have spent decades constrained by the same bottleneck: scarce labor, scarce attention, scarce hours in the day. AI agents are dissolving that constraint. The capacity to perceive, analyze, decide, and act is expanding faster than most companies can absorb.

But relieving one bottleneck exposes the next one. And the next bottleneck isn't labor. It's coherence.

Coherence is what keeps distributed actions aligned with organizational intent. When three people are making decisions, coherence is maintained through conversation. When three hundred agents are executing workflows, coherence requires something more structural -- a doctrine that tells distributed agency what tradeoffs are accepted, what local wins are globally wrong, and what the organization actually means when it says "good."

Without that doctrine, more agency doesn't make an organization more capable. It makes it faster at diverging. The rework, the contradictions, the duplicated effort, the strategic drift -- these are the symptoms of agency exceeding coherence. The Collective calls it the coherence ceiling.

The Structure That Follows

The framework proposed in the session maps to three functions, drawn from the Dionysus Program's latest research:

Doctrine -- the organizational middleware. Not a static document, but a living system of current diagnoses, accepted tradeoffs, and boundary conditions. Doctrine tells agents what to optimize for and actors what to watch for.

Agents -- execution with fidelity. Whether human or machine, agents operate within bounded permissions and clear constraints. Their job is to execute the doctrine, not to reinvent it on every task.

Actors -- reality contact. The people and processes that encounter friction, discover where doctrine is failing, and feed truth back into the system. This function can't be fully automated because it requires the willingness to report what's uncomfortable.

The loop matters as much as the roles: doctrine flows to agents, agents produce outcomes, actors sense reality, and their feedback revises doctrine. Organizations that build this loop will scale their agency without losing coherence. Organizations that don't will scale their chaos.

What This Means Now

The Collective closed with a practical point. The organizations that have adopted game plan management -- structured workflows for setting goals, tracking agent-driven work against those goals, and revising the plan in regular cycles -- are measurably further ahead than those still deploying agents ad hoc.

Game plans are doctrine in miniature. They narrow the focus, create accountability to specific outcomes, and give the organization a feedback mechanism that keeps distributed work connected.

The four-minute mile has been broken. The question isn't whether agents can do the work. It's whether your organization can stay coherent while they do.

The Agent XBE Collective meets monthly. It is a working group -- not a webinar, not a user forum, not a product feedback session. Members bring real operational challenges, share what's working, and push each other forward. If your organization is using Agent XBE and you'd like to learn more about the Collective, talk to your XBE representative.

The ideas discussed in this session draw from the Dionysus Program, XBE's ongoing research into how organizations navigate the transition to AI-driven operations. The latest chapters -- The Coherence Ceiling and Auteurs, Agents, Actors -- are available now.

Gaining Ground: Scaling Agent XBE Across Your Operation

Sun, 17 May 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Something we keep hearing from the teams using Agent XBE: the first session sells itself. The harder part is what comes next -- getting it into more hands, embedding it into daily workflows, and making sure what one person learns doesn't stay locked in their head.

Scalability is the trend right now. Not "can it do the work?" but "can it do the work across the whole operation?" Here are the features teams are using to make that happen.

Agent XBE Remembers. Personal memories, branch instructions, and broker memories form a three-tier system that carries context forward automatically. Set your branch's operating rules once -- units, report formats, plant nicknames, safety protocols -- and every user on that branch inherits them. A new dispatcher on day one gets the same operational context your most experienced operator has been building for months. Your best practices scale without depending on who is training whom.

Your Persistent File Library. Every user has a personal library inside Agent XBE that persists across sessions. Upload rate sheets, SOPs, bid templates, or reference docs once and access them in any future conversation. A regional manager stores their weekly reporting template once -- every Monday, it is there. An estimator keeps material spec sheets on hand without hunting through email. The @ shortcut references files instantly, and the Files tab lets you drag documents directly into the chat.

The SuperPower Feed. Production recaps, daily summaries, trucking reports -- all collected in a feed tray inside Agent XBE. The part most people miss: every post has an "Ask Agent XBE" button that attaches the full content to your chat. One tap from reading to acting. A fleet manager sees a driver utilization summary, taps Ask Agent XBE, and is immediately in a session analyzing which routes are underperforming -- no copy-paste, no re-explaining what they are looking at.

Mission Templates and Favorites. A browsable catalog of proven prompt structures. Pick a template, customize the variables, and launch. Star your most-used templates and they appear as a one-tap grid every time you start a new chat. A dispatcher stars a daily fleet readiness check -- every morning, one tap. An ops manager shares a weekly incident review template across three branches. The operational pattern scales without the person who created it being involved every time.

Session Sharing. Add participants to any session for real-time collaboration. Granular permissions, a side chat for coordination, and time-limited access that auto-expires. A senior dispatcher walks a new hire through a live planning session -- the new hire watches, asks questions in the side chat, and learns inside real work instead of a separate training environment. A branch manager shares a cost analysis session with their regional lead for review before it goes to the customer.

These are the features that move Agent XBE from something one person uses to something an entire operation runs on. That is where the value compounds.

Learn about Agent XBE and the XBE system of action →

Why Heavy Construction Needs Its Own AI, Not a General-Purpose One

Wed, 06 May 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Why Heavy Construction Needs Its Own AI, Not a General-Purpose One

By now, most operations teams in heavy materials, logistics, and construction have tried a general-purpose AI tool. Someone on the team opened ChatGPT or a similar product and asked it a question about their operation.

Maybe they pasted in some ticket data and asked it to spot discrepancies, or how to calculate cycle times for a three-plant dispatch rotation. The answer was probably pretty decent. Maybe even useful.

And it should be. General-purpose AI tools are genuinely smart -- and genuinely valuable for general-purpose work. Writing emails. Summarizing documents. Answering broad questions. Drafting a report from data you hand it. These tools belong in the stack. They earn their place.

But there is a line between general-purpose work and operational work. And in heavy materials, logistics, and construction, the operational work is where margin lives.

A general-purpose tool can tell you what a billing discrepancy might look like. It cannot open your system, pull the transport orders, cross-reference them against GPS data, trace the rate resolution pipeline, and tell you which material type was misclassified on which ticket on which date. It can draft a thoughtful email about weather delays. It cannot check tomorrow's forecast against your active paving plans and send your operations managers a warning before they leave for the night.

The gap is not intelligence. The gap is access, context, and the ability to act. Every conversation starts from zero. You explain the situation, paste in some data, and hope the tool can make sense of it. If you want it to do something, you do it yourself. The tool drafts. You execute.

For general-purpose problems, that is enough. For the complex, layered, permissioned, real-time operational work that defines heavy materials, logistics & consturction -- it is not.

The Horizontal Platform Question

The next thing leaders consider is a horizontal AI agent platform -- something that promises to connect AI to your systems, automate workflows, and "orchestrate" tasks across tools.

These are more capable than a chatbot. They can integrate with APIs, trigger actions, and string together multi-step processes. For many industries, they work well.

But heavy materials, logistics, and construction is not many industries. The operational complexity here is structural -- permissions scoped to brokers, branches, customers, and jobs. Production plans that shift mid-day. Material ticketing checksums. Tender rate structures. GPS-validated time cards. A horizontal platform has no concept of any of this. You would have to build it all.

Every operational concept from scratch. Every integration configured. Every workflow designed by someone who already understands both the technology and the operation. What you end up with is a very flexible toolkit that requires months of implementation before it does anything useful -- and that remains only as smart as the people who configured it.

The question is not whether horizontal platforms have value. They do. The question is whether your operation's complexity deserves an AI that already understands it.

What It Looks Like When AI Lives Inside the System of Action

When AI operates from within the system that already coordinates planning, execution, and learning -- everything changes. It does not arrive empty. It arrives loaded with the operational knowledge, data access, and permission structure your organization already runs on.

It means nightly weather alerts that cross-reference your paving plans against forecasts. Late-start fault analyses that attribute delays to specific causes. Material auto-match failure diagnostics. Truck payload utilization analyses. Not generic workflow templates -- operational knowledge, available from day one.

It means the AI reasons over your actual data -- not data you pasted in. The live operational dataset: material transactions, GPS events, production plans, transport orders, cost items, rate records, time cards, shift logs. And the permission model matches how your organization actually works. The dispatcher sees what the dispatcher should see. The trading partner sees their data and nothing else. No configuration required.

It means branch instructions that encode your organization's specific rules. One paving contractor's instructions specify the full day lifecycle -- crew show-up time standards, warm-up sequences with hydraulic oil temperature targets, PPE requirements, shutdown procedures, equipment parking protocols. These are not suggestions. They are standing orders, followed by every session automatically.

And it means the AI does not start fresh every time. It remembers user preferences across sessions. It follows branch instructions set months ago. It draws on session summaries from every completed task. A general-purpose tool is exactly as smart on day 100 as it was on day one. An AI that lives inside the system of action compounds.

The Real Power

Use general-purpose AI for general-purpose work. Use horizontal platforms where they fit. But when you are a leader or operator navigating the complexity of heavy materials, logistics, and construction -- where planning, execution, and financial outcomes all have to move together -- the advantage goes to the organization whose AI workforce can navigate that complexity from within.

Not alongside. Not on top. From within the system of action itself.

That is where operational intelligence compounds. That is where the day gets lighter instead of heavier. And that is the difference between AI that sounds helpful and AI that finishes the work.

Learn more about Agent XBE | See how All-22 optimizes dispatch

The Factory Is Still Running on the Shaft

Sun, 03 May 2026 19:00:00 -0500

The Factory Is Still Running on the Shaft

The Agent XBE Collective met for its second session on May 4, 2026. The members came with live workflows. They left with something harder to get on your own.

Before electricity, factories were organized around a single power source -- a steam engine driving a central shaft. Every machine had to be placed close to the shaft. Layouts were fixed and linear, dictated by mechanical power transmission. When electricity arrived in the 1880s, factory owners did the obvious thing: they replaced the steam engine with an electric motor and kept the shaft.

It took thirty years for factories to be completely reorganized around what electricity actually made possible -- placing power anywhere, rethinking which processes belong next to each other, redesigning the work itself. Only then did productivity increase 2x to 5x.

The delay was not stubbornness. The knowledge required to build the new way simply did not exist yet. It had to be generated through experience.

That analogy framed the second session of the Agent XBE Collective. And it framed a harder question: most organizations using Agent XBE are still running on the shaft. They have replaced the engine -- the manual work, the hours of reconciliation, the reporting grind -- but the structure around it has not changed yet. The question is not whether the structure will change. It is how fast, and who leads.

What the Collective Is

The Agent XBE Collective is not a webinar series. It is not a product feedback forum. It is a working group -- capped, exclusive, and built for the business leaders in heavy materials, logistics, and construction who are shaping how their organizations operate with AI. The concept emerged from an unmistakable appetite among our customers to learn not just from XBE, but from each other.

Last month, we set the foundation. This month, members showed up with live workflows running in production -- and a question about what comes after the obvious wins. What they shared with each other in that room is theirs. What we can share is what it reveals about where this is going.

Replacing the Engine: What April Revealed

The first evidence that the engine is being replaced: in April, XBE customers created over 2,500 Agent XBE sessions.

Two types of work drive that number. Interactive sessions are live, real-time conversations -- a dispatcher sits down with Agent XBE and asks it to build tomorrow's schedule, or an operations lead works through a cost analysis together with the agent. Scheduled sessions are recurring jobs the agent runs on its own -- a daily performance report delivered at 6 a.m., a weekly compliance audit, a nightly reconciliation check -- without anyone prompting it. Think of it as the difference between calling a colleague to ask a question and having that colleague proactively put a briefing on your desk every morning before you arrive.

In April, the split was exactly 50/50. But the trend line underneath is the real story: daily scheduled sessions grew 3x between the first and last week of the month. At that pace, scheduled work could represent 90% of all sessions by summer. The agent is shifting from something people use to something that works alongside them -- running, monitoring, and reporting on its own rhythm.

Interactive sessions, meanwhile, are 40% longer on average than scheduled ones. When people sit down with Agent XBE to think something through, they go deep.

Three categories account for 80% of all work: dispatch planning and execution, monitoring and alerts, and reporting and analysis. Forty percent of sessions resulted in a change to the platform -- not just analysis, but action. And 130 different individuals across the customer base were active in Agent XBE in April.

One number stood out for a different reason: only about 5% of interactive sessions happen on mobile, despite Agent XBE being highly effective on the phone. There is headroom everywhere.

These are impressive numbers. But they describe engine replacement -- faster, better versions of work that was already being done. The factory has not been reorganized yet.

Still on the Shaft: What the Group Saw

When the Collective discussed the factory analogy, the responses were immediate and concrete.

One leader pointed to the time spent planning and scrambling to ensure everyone has the same information -- the old regime of "shut up and do your job." The bottleneck is not the plan itself. It is the informational pockets that never get recorded and therefore cannot be leveraged. The agent can surface and connect that information, but the organization is still structured as if only certain people are supposed to have it.

Another identified two constraints: legacy infrastructure -- core business software still running on a local server -- and the assumption that only management can solve problems. The agent allows end-users to bring prepared solutions rather than problems to leadership, which inverts the traditional information flow. But most organizations have not reorganized around that inversion yet.

A third raised a deeper question: before you can optimize, you have to define what "right" means. Maximizing short-term profit may conflict with doing the right thing for long-term customer relationships. The agent can optimize toward whatever goal you set -- but choosing the goal is a leadership decision the shaft was never designed to surface.

Every organization has a shaft. Most are still building around it.

Signs of Reorganization

If the shaft is the old structure, the show-and-tell was the first evidence of reorganization -- members walking through workflows that do not just automate existing work, but change how work is organized.

We will not detail every workflow that was shared -- that is part of what makes the Collective valuable to the people in the room. But the patterns are worth naming.

Some teams are meeting their organizations exactly where they are -- taking the messy, real-world inputs that dispatchers and planners actually use and letting Agent XBE turn them into finished plans. No migration required. No integration project. Immediate time savings from day one. This is the electric motor replacing the steam engine -- same layout, immediate improvement.

Others have gone further. They have encoded their entire multi-step planning workflows into single commands -- what used to require navigating multiple screens and making dozens of individual decisions now runs as one coordinated sequence. The workflow itself has been reimagined.

The most striking shift: scheduled sessions -- the agent running recurring jobs on daily, weekly, or monthly rhythms without anyone prompting it. Performance scorecards that translate operational gaps into dollar impact. Compliance monitoring that surfaces what is missing before leadership has to ask. Direct, personalized communication to drivers in the field when something goes wrong. The agent is not waiting to be used. It is working alongside the operation on its own rhythm, and the compounding results are measurable.

This is what happens when you start moving the machines away from the shaft.

Whose Judgment Gets Multiplied?

This is the reorganization question. If Agent XBE multiplies judgment, who should get the leverage first?

The value created depends on two variables -- the quality of the person's judgment and the throughput of the work they touch. Prioritize adoption by those who have the best judgment to multiply and the throughput that would yield the biggest impact.

One member sharpened this further with an observation that reshaped the rest of the discussion: intellectual curiosity -- the people who are always asking "what's next" -- is necessarily correlated with good judgment. Judgment is not a single trait. It is the ability to integrate a large number of considerations into a decision. The people who never stop asking questions are the ones whose judgment compounds. They are the ones you want to amplify first.

That framing redefines the adoption challenge. It is not about training everyone equally. It is not about rolling out access and hoping for the best. It is about identifying your best judgment, giving it maximum leverage, and letting the results pull everyone else forward. That is how you reorganize the factory -- not by moving every machine at once, but by placing the most important ones first and letting the new layout prove itself.

What This Means

Three threads emerged from this session that will carry forward.

The leverage on data has changed permanently. When Agent XBE makes it trivially easy to act on data, the return on clean data increases dramatically. Multiple organizations in the Collective have responded by funding data quality as a real workstream -- assigning stewards, forming teams, treating master data hygiene as infrastructure rather than maintenance. Clean data is the wiring of the new factory. You cannot place machines in new configurations if the power lines are unreliable.

The question is no longer whether the agent works. It is whose judgment should power it. The Collective is producing clear evidence that the right person with agent leverage creates disproportionate value. Identifying those people -- and giving them maximum leverage first -- is now the strategic challenge.

The factory is still running on the shaft. Most organizations are doing the equivalent of replacing the steam engine with an electric motor and keeping everything else the same. The Collective exists to accelerate the thirty-year learning curve -- to generate the knowledge required to reorganize, together, instead of waiting for each company to discover it alone. What the members are sharing with each other in these sessions is how to start.

The Agent XBE Collective meets monthly. Membership is reserved for the business leaders in our XBE community who are driving AI adoption in their organizations. To learn more about Agent XBE and what it can do for your operation, reach out to your XBE account team.

Agent XBE's Gaining Ground Series

Sun, 26 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Agent XBE's Gaining Ground

See What's Happening Inside the Agent XBE Community across heavy materials, logistics, and construction

April 13 - April 27, 2026

Every two weeks, we share what's actually happening inside the Agent XBE community -- the outcomes, the workflows, and the patterns emerging across heavy materials, logistics, and construction operations. Not theory. Not roadmap. What people are doing right now.

Here's what the last two weeks looked like.

What the Community Built This Week

Across 27 organizations and nearly 4,000 sessions this past two weeks, here's what stood out.

A general manager now catches billing gaps before they compound

Agent XBE scans every active job each morning for missing time cards and unsigned broker trucks. This week it flagged over 200 missing cards across 25 jobs -- each one a potential revenue leak caught before end-of-week reconciliation. No spreadsheet. No manual audit. Just a daily scan that surfaces what needs attention before it costs money.

184 plans built, approved, and dispatched overnight

A ready-mix operations team has next-day plan creation running every evening. Agent XBE duplicates, categorizes, approves, and places plans onto lineups while the team is offline. The morning crew walks into a finished lineup -- zero manual steps, zero errors.

Hourly safety monitoring that never sleeps

An operations manager set up Agent XBE to check for new safety incidents every hour around the clock. When one fires, he and his counterpart get an instant text. Hundreds of checks this week with no manual upkeep. The kind of persistent monitoring that's impractical to staff but straightforward to automate.

A safety flyer in crews' hands the same day as a fatal incident

After a backing incident involving a local contractor, a field supervisor used Agent XBE to create a branded one-page safety flyer on dump truck unloading procedures -- company logo, brand colors, field-ready protocols. Distributed the same day. From incident to action in hours, not a week of revisions.

What Shipped Since Our Last Edition

Request access directly from inside XBE

Anyone signed into XBE can now open the Agent XBE bubble and request access -- even if they don't have a session yet. No email chains, no helpdesk tickets. The request gets routed to the right team automatically.

An API for external systems

Other tools in your stack can now create Agent XBE sessions, send prompts, and pull results programmatically. If you've been thinking about connecting Agent XBE to an internal workflow or a system that already runs on a schedule, this is the hook.

Google Workspace integration is open to everyone

Previously admin-only. Now any user can connect their own Google account and start working with calendars, email, and Sheets directly in their sessions.

Light, dark, and system themes

You can now switch between light, dark, and system themes in the Agent XBE client. System follows your OS preference. Dark remains the default.

Rollbar integration

Agent XBE can now connect to your Rollbar account and work with error tracking data directly in your sessions -- query projects, items, and occurrences without leaving the conversation.

Gaining Ground is a bi-weekly series highlighting what Agent XBE users are building across heavy materials, logistics, and construction. Want to see something specific? Reply to this email -- it goes straight to our team at marketing@x-b-e.com.

Agent XBE's Gaining Ground Series

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Agent XBE's Gaining Ground Series

See What's Happening Inside the Agent XBE Community across heavy materials, logistics, and construction

March 30 - April 12, 2026

Here's what the last two weeks looked like.

Real Outcomes From Real Operations

Agent XBE users across 32 organizations ran over 3,200 sessions in the last two weeks. Here's what they walked away with.

A delivery operations dashboard -- built in a conversation

An operations manager needed visibility into tonnage by route, cycle times, driver efficiency, and idle time. They didn't open a BI tool or file a request. They described what they needed to Agent XBE, refined it over a series of back-and-forth exchanges, and walked away with a self-contained dashboard -- a single file that opens on any device, no server required, no login needed. The whole thing took one working session.

A fleet-wide GPS investigation -- in under ten minutes

A night-shift superintendent noticed a driver missing from the GPS grid. Agent XBE investigated the job, traced the gap to its root cause, and produced a shareable report covering all thirteen drivers on the shift. Hardware status, app versions, gap analysis -- all in a PDF ready to hand to the crew.

A year of safety compliance -- reviewed in five exchanges

A safety director needed to know whether scheduled safety meetings had actually been conducted across their entire organization for 2025. Agent XBE pulled the records, compared scheduled versus conducted, flagged the gaps, and delivered the compliance picture. The kind of audit that typically takes half a day of manual assembly.

Automated daily team briefings -- built and running the same day

One user set up automated start-of-day and end-of-day summaries for their paving operation -- tonnage goals, plan status, GPS tracking metrics -- delivered to Slack on a schedule. They defined the content, chose the timing, and had the first message delivered within hours. Then refined it across multiple follow-up sessions -- each change going live immediately. No engineering. No IT involvement. A production-grade daily briefing running before end of day.

What's New in Agent XBE

Controlled session sharing

When Agent XBE produces valuable work, the right people need to see it -- with the right level of access. Users can now share sessions with specific colleagues, control whether they get read-only or write access, and set expiration windows. Work gets shared. Accidental edits don't happen.

Threaded Slack conversations

Agent XBE now posts in Slack threads -- not just standalone messages. A morning briefing becomes the header; the details go in the thread. Channels stay organized. Context stays together.

Mission templates

Reusable prompt structures that users can browse, customize, and launch directly from Agent XBE. The fastest way to start a session for a workflow someone has already refined.

What We're Seeing

The pattern across the community is clear, and it's moving fast.

People started by asking Agent XBE questions. Then the answers stopped being chat replies and started being deliverables -- PDFs, dashboards, Excel exports, compliance audits. Things you can hand to someone.

Those deliverables started becoming reusable. Dashboards that get shared across teams. Reports that get refreshed every week. The new session permissions exist because the work is valuable enough to protect.

And now, the reusable work is becoming automated. Daily dispatches. Scheduled recaps. Reports that send themselves. The conversation that built the workflow is over, but the workflow keeps running.

People aren't just using Agent XBE to answer questions. They're using it to install operational processes -- and those processes keep running after the session ends.

By the Numbers -- Growth From the Previous Two Weeks

+66% in customer sessions -- from 1,990 to over 3,300 across two weeks
+28% in active organizations -- from 25 to 32 companies using Agent XBE
+22% in total platform sessions -- adoption accelerating across the board
Session sharing, threaded Slack, mission templates, and scheduled task visibility -- all shipped and live this cycle

Gaining Ground is a bi-weekly look at what's moving inside the Agent XBE community -- the outcome-driven superworkforce for heavy materials, logistics, and construction. To learn more or see Agent XBE in action, reach out to your XBE representative.

Agent XBE. Gaining Ground.

Good Enough Is Expiring

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0500

Good Enough Is Expiring

For years, "good enough" was enough. It won bids, protected margin, and kept competitors at a distance.

But the comparison point has moved.

What looked disciplined five years ago now looks average. What looked average now leaks margin. And what leaks margin gets exposed quickly.

The benchmark is rising because the market is accelerating.

In an immaturing market, standards climb faster than operating models adapt. Correction cycles compress. Lag becomes visible sooner. Learning speed overtakes scale.

"Good enough" rarely collapses all at once. But it erodes faster than leaders expect.

The Shift

Stable markets reward scale and experience. Immaturing markets reward learning speed.

If your operating model was built for slower feedback and margin cushion, it's now misaligned.

Most operations still deliver. Material ships, crews finish, invoices go out. But the system is strained.

Plans break mid-day. Exceptions multiply. Coordination drifts into side channels. Reconciliation happens after execution instead of during it.

When systems fail to absorb complexity, people do.

Dispatch compensates. Plants adjust manually. Managers carry decisions without full clarity. Planning disconnects from execution. Execution disconnects from measurement. Measurement disconnects from learning.

In a slower market, that weakness can hide. In an accelerating one, it can only compound.

The Signs

A plant running at 85 percent utilization once felt strong. Now it signals unused capacity and pricing misalignment. A 45-day billing cycle was once tolerated. Now it strains working capital.

A dispatcher's instinct once protected margin. Now traffic, job pacing, and fleet utilization shift daily.

None of these shifts are dramatic. That's what makes them dangerous.

"Good enough" displaces problems instead of resolving them. Manual workarounds multiply. Parallel spreadsheets persist. Margin drift surfaces late.

Work still gets done, but it costs more than it should.

From the outside, everything appears stable. Inside, the day grows heavier.

The Weight Is Misalignment

That weight is misalignment. The answer is redesign. Redesign means reconnecting planning, execution, and learning so correction happens inside the day.

When those elements move together, plan versus actual is visible while it still matters. Dispatch drift surfaces before margin slips. Production imbalance appears before leftovers stack. Billing friction resolves before cash tightens.

XBE connects planning, execution, and financial outcomes into one operational truth.

Agent XBE completes real work inside that system. Follow-ups close. Records clean. Drift corrects. Open items resolve.

Correction cycles shorten. Learning compounds. The operation improves without relying on heroics. That's the advantage in an immaturing market.

The Question

If competitors redesign first, they correct sooner, price tighter, and compound advantage quarter after quarter.

If you redesign first, acceleration becomes leverage. The benchmark will continue to rise. "Good enough" will continue to decay. The only question is whether your system keeps up.

So, look at your operation.

Where does reality arrive too late?
Where does correction lag execution?
Where are people compensating for fragmentation?

That's where redesign begins.

Optimization will not solve this. Replacement will.

Good enough is expiring.

Redesign your operating model before the market forces you to.

The End of Work Capacity as the Limiting Factor

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0500

The End of Work Capacity as the Limiting Factor

For decades, execution capacity defined the ceiling of every operation.

There were always improvements waiting to be implemented. Decisions waiting for review. Follow-through the day never quite had room to absorb.

Ambition wasn't the limit. Capacity was.

Operations evolved around that reality. Teams prioritized carefully. Improvements were staged across months. Important work often waited for the right moment, the right expertise, or the right availability.

Even strong organizations carried a quiet backlog of unfinished work.

You could see it across the operation:

Dispatch adjustments that waited until the next planning cycle
Open records that stayed unresolved longer than they should
Improvements everyone agreed on but nobody had time to complete

The system moved forward, but only as fast as people could carry the work.

The Condition Is Changing

That condition is beginning to change. The limits based on capacity are starting to disappear.

Agent XBE introduces a different operating environment inside the XBE system.

It's an outcome-driven superworkforce that completes real work across planning, execution, and learning. You define the outcome. The system determines the path and carries the work forward until it is finished.

Because it runs on top of the operational system already coordinating the day, the work it performs is real.

Plans update
Records reconcile
Tasks close

What changes isn't speed, but how much work actually gets finished.

Follow-Through Becomes Continuous

When execution no longer pauses at the limits of human attention, follow-through becomes continuous. Issues that once waited for someone's attention begin resolving inside the flow of the day.

Dispatch adjustments happen while the work is still unfolding
Open records stop accumulating in the background
Questions that once waited for availability get resolved immediately

Over time the effects compound. Backlogs shrink because work no longer sits idle. Improvements happen while context is still fresh. Operational friction surfaces earlier and gets corrected sooner.

The organization becomes capable of finishing far more of the work it starts.

Leadership Changes

That shift changes leadership.

When execution capacity is scarce, leaders spend much of their energy protecting attention. They decide what must wait, what can move forward, and what the team realistically has the bandwidth to carry.

Strategy adapts to those limits. When execution capacity expands, the constraint moves. The conversation changes. Execution stops being the question.

Clear outcomes matter. Expectations sharpen. Judgment carries more weight.

Because the system can now execute far more than before.

The New Divide

Organizations that recognize this shift begin to operate differently.

They explore more ideas
They close more operational loops
They adapt faster because work does not stall between decision and execution

Organizations still operating under older assumptions move more cautiously, even if their teams are working just as hard.

The difference isn't effort. It's structure.

For the first time, work capacity doesn't define the ceiling of the organization. Leadership does.

Agent XBE expands the system's ability to carry work. What leaders choose to do with that capacity will determine who compounds advantage fastest.

So put your superworkforce to work.

We Didn't Just Host a Customer Meeting. We Let the Agent Run It.

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:00:00 -0500

We Didn't Just Host a Customer Meeting. We Let the Agent Run It.

On April 1, 2026, twenty leaders from across heavy materials, logistics, and construction sat down for a meeting that no human organized alone.

There's a version of this story that sounds like every other SaaS company blog post: "We launched a customer community! People joined! It was great!"

This isn't that story.

This is the story of what happens when you use your own AI workforce to build, prepare, run, and follow up on a meeting with the people who are betting their operations on it. And what those people said when they showed up.

What the Collective Is — and What It Isn't

The Agent XBE Collective is not a webinar series. It is not a product feedback forum. It is not a customer advisory board where attendees listen to a roadmap presentation and offer polite suggestions.

It is a working group — interactive, hands-on, and built for the people shaping how their organizations operate with AI. The members are the business leaders within our XBE community who are using Agent XBE or actively preparing to deploy it. They are not here to observe. They are here to do.

The concept emerged from something we kept seeing across our customer base: an unmistakable appetite to learn. Not just about XBE, but from each other. Agent XBE's capabilities are vast — far broader than any single organization has explored on its own — and we realized there was a gap between what the technology can do and what our customers know to ask for. The Collective was built to close that gap, together.

Membership is capped and exclusive. The bar is intentional. The conversations that matter most in this industry happen between people who are in the work, not watching from the sidelines.

The Agent Prepared the Room

In the days leading up to the first session, Agent XBE didn't wait for instructions. It went to work.

Using a capability called mission mode, the agent deployed a personalized one-on-one session to every registered attendee — not a survey, not a form, but a direct conversation. Each member sat down with Agent XBE individually and was asked to share their candid perspective: their biggest hopes for what AI can do for their organization, their fears, their doubts, what they want from a community of their peers, and what real work they want to tackle next.

Mission mode is how Agent XBE reaches people where they are — proactively, personally, and at scale. Instead of waiting for someone to open a ticket or type a question, the agent initiates. It meets each person in their own context, collects structured input through natural conversation, and brings it all together. When you're lacking the data or information needed to leverage AI —send Agent XBE on a mission to find it.

For the Collective, it meant that by the time the meeting started, the agent already understood the room. Agent XBE synthesized every response, identified the dominant themes, and briefed the full group before anyone introduced themselves. The conversation started at depth, not from zero.

What the Room Was Thinking

The responses from our members painted a picture of an industry at an inflection point. The specifics belong to the people who showed up — but the themes that emerged are worth understanding.

The aspiration is universal: move from reactive to proactive. Across roles, company sizes, and material types, every member described some version of the same hope — stop firefighting and start anticipating. They want systems that cross-reference plans against likely problems, surface insights before they become issues, and continuously learn from what actually happens in the field. This is not a request for better reporting. It is a vision for a fundamentally different operating rhythm.

The fear is not about the technology. It is about the humans. The dominant concern was not that AI will fail. It was that organizations will adopt it without the discipline to use it well — over-reliance without verification, speed without quality control, access without education. These leaders are thinking about change management at an organizational level, not feature gaps.

The doubt is about the frontier between data and judgment. Members wrestled openly with where AI capability ends and human intuition begins — the unstructured context that lives in a foreman's head, the tribal knowledge that never gets logged, the variables that change faster than any system can track. These are not objections. They are the hard design problems that will define the next generation of operational technology.

The hunger for peer learning is real. More than anything, members want to learn from each other. Not from presentations or documentation — from operators who are in it, solving the same problems, at the same scale, with the same stakes. The Collective exists because our customers asked for it.

What the Group Built Together

Ninety minutes of leaders talking to leaders — with Agent XBE's synthesis as a foundation rather than a blank whiteboard — produced three decisions about how the Collective would operate:

Monthly cadence. Frequent enough to maintain momentum and accountability. Spaced enough to allow members to do real work between sessions and come back with results.

A balanced format: one-third show-and-tell, one-third problem-solving, one-third culture. Every session would dedicate equal time to celebrating wins, working through challenges collaboratively, and building the trust that makes both possible.

The Dionysus Program. The cultural component of every session, named with intention. The premise: shared experience — telling stories, learning what drives the person on the other end of the call — is what turns a user group into a community that actually changes how people work. The best ideas in this industry have always moved through relationships, not release notes.

The Agent Followed Through

Within an hour of the session ending, Agent XBE drafted a branded recap covering the full discussion, sent it to every attendee, audited the invite list against attendance, and followed up individually with the members who could not make it — all without a human managing the workflow. The post-meeting work happened in minutes, not days.

This is what it looks like when the agent is not a feature you use but a teammate you rely on. It prepared the room, briefed the participants, and closed the loop — the same way a capable operations coordinator would, except it did it across multiple organizations simultaneously.

What This Means

Adoption is a community challenge, not a product challenge. The leaders in the Collective are not waiting for better features. They are navigating organizational trust, change management, data readiness, and the gap between what an AI workforce can do and what their teams know to ask for. Those challenges are solved through shared experience, peer accountability, and honest conversation. The Collective is built for exactly that.

An AI workforce earns trust by doing the work. Agent XBE's role in this session was not symbolic. It deployed personalized missions, synthesized the results, briefed the room, ran the follow-up, and closed every loop — across days, across organizations, with real operational complexity. That is not a proof of concept. That is how we operate.

And that is the XBE advantage. This is not a platform you buy and figure out on your own. XBE gets better — continuously, permanently, compounding — because the system itself is learning, the agent is working, and now the community is building on each other's breakthroughs. Every session of the Collective feeds back into how Agent XBE serves every customer. Every use case one leader discovers becomes a capability the entire network benefits from. The organizations that work with XBE do not just adopt a tool. They join a flywheel that never stops improving.

The Agent XBE Collective is reserved for the business leaders within our XBE community who are driving AI adoption in their organizations. If you believe your team should be part of the conversation, reach out to your XBE account team.

New equipment management capabilities in XBE — powered by our acquisition of Gauge

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 19:00:00 -0500

New equipment management capabilities in XBE — powered by our acquisition of Gauge

It's been eleven months since XBE acquired Gauge, and I want to share what that means for our customers — what we've been building, where we're headed, and how it strengthens the platform.

Why we acquired Gauge

Equipment is central to everything our customers do. XBE has always had deep equipment-related functionality: scheduling, dispatch, movement, time keeping, rental management, telematics visibility, and more. But we saw an opportunity to go further.

Gauge brings a purpose-built, hardware-integrated system for equipment inspections, maintenance scheduling, and work order management, backed by 15+ years of domain expertise and 40,000+ deployed devices. Combining Gauge's capabilities with XBE's existing foundation creates a significantly more comprehensive equipment management solution — and it's now part of the platform.

What we've built

Over the past eleven months, we've been integrating Gauge's capabilities directly into XBE:

A complete maintenance management system built from the ground up, including maintenance requirements, requirement sets, work orders, and service sites — with AI-powered natural language work order creation and automated scheduling.
A DVIR (Driver Vehicle Inspection Report) system with offline capability, including scheduled inspection tracking, deadline management, and automatic notifications for unsatisfactory findings.
Equipment utilization tracking with multi-source telemetry integration, unifying odometer and hourmeter readings from manual entries and multiple telematics providers — including Gauge, Geotab, Samsara, Deere, and others.
Bidirectional integration between the Gauge platform and XBE, synchronizing equipment, business units, and work orders in both directions.

This means equipment inspections, maintenance, and utilization tracking are becoming part of the same operational system you already use for scheduling, dispatch, logistics, materials, trucking, and financials.

What's available to you now — and what's coming

These new capabilities are rolling out now and will be available to XBE customers in the coming weeks. If equipment maintenance, inspections, or utilization tracking are relevant to your operations, your XBE representative or contact us can walk you through what's available and how it fits your workflow.

And as with everything in XBE, these capabilities work with Agent XBE. Agent XBE is our AI-powered Superworkforce: an AI worker built into XBE's System of Action that learns how your business operates, takes a goal instead of a rigid workflow, figures out the path forward, and carries the work through to completion inside the platform. Unlike traditional automation that depends on pre-defined rules, Agent XBE reasons across your full operational picture — planning, dispatch, production, trucking, pricing, financial outcomes — and adapts as conditions change. It expands your team's effective capacity rather than just automating isolated tasks.

How we'll make sure you're successful

Our customer success team is applying XBE's Game Plan framework to every customer relationship. Game Plans use an OKR structure — with clear objectives, measurable outcomes, owners, and timelines — to make sure every customer has a concrete path to success. We draw on a library of 50+ proven plays from across our customer community, and Agent XBE actively tracks progress, surfaces updates, and recommends the right approach when something needs attention.

Your success is a tracked, managed priority — not just a promise.

Let's talk

If you have questions about any of this, or you want to explore how the new equipment management capabilities fit your operations, please reach out to your XBE representative or contact us. We're excited about what this adds to the platform, and we're just getting started.

Sean Devine Founder & CEO, XBE

A Letter to the XBE Community

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 19:00:00 -0500

I wrote The Dionysus Program.

Eric Jorgenson—bestselling author of The Almanac of Naval Ravikant and the upcoming The Book of Elon—was kind enough to write the foreword. There's a line in it that I keep returning to: A great book doesn't just make you think. It changes who you are capable of being.

That's what I wanted to write. I don't know if I succeeded. But I know why I had to try.

· · ·

You've watched XBE change. You may not have had language for exactly what you were watching, but you felt it. We started by building a logistics system—software that actually moved trucks, balanced supply and demand, and coordinated the messy human machinery of heavy construction. Then we built visibility tools on top of that foundation to understand where the waste was actually coming from. And we kept hitting the same wall.

Here's what I mean. When we gave a superintendent a real-time view of his job—trucks, tons, idle time, dollars burning in the dark—something interesting happened. He didn't become more efficient. He became emotional. The dashboard told a more complicated story than the one he'd been telling himself. What he needed wasn't better data. He needed a system that made a different kind of honesty possible before the trucks were already backing up—because by the time the trucks are backing up, it is too late.

So we built planning tools. Job production plans. Supply-demand balancing. Ways to surface uncertainty before the fact, to make uncertainty socially admissible rather than something you quietly insured against by over-ordering trucks and hoping. Waste fell. Not because anyone became morally better, but because the structure made a different choice possible.

And then we built Game Plans—our version of OKRs. Clear goals. Measurable key results. That helped too, but insufficiently. We could see the goals. We still couldn't reliably metabolize the gap between where we were and where we said we'd go. The bottleneck wasn't the plan. It was the culture's capacity to tell the truth about the plan.

· · ·

Around this time, something else was happening. Artificial intelligence had started to change our work—and I could see that it was going to change everything, faster than almost anyone was acknowledging.

The half-life of expertise was shrinking. Skills that took years to build were becoming cheap in months. Roles that once required a team of specialists were becoming one-person jobs. And the people most affected weren't struggling with the technology itself. They were struggling with what the technology made them feel about themselves.

This is the thing I want you to understand precisely, because it changes what the right response looks like. When knowledge compounds this fast, it doesn't just update what people know. It dissolves the roles, rituals, and identities that gave people a reason to show up—and a story about why they were good at what they did. When those dissolve faster than new ones can form, you don't get orderly adaptation. You get numbness, theater, or someone to blame.

We were dealing with the melt. We were creating the melt. And it had only just begun.

· · ·

I've spent the last several years trying to figure out what was actually going to happen—to individuals, to teams, to organizations—and what a real solution might look like. Not a motivational solution. Not a productivity framework. A diagnosis and a prescription precise enough to be useful.

Most philosophy gets engaged from a safe distance. People read the important ideas, discuss them, admire them like paintings in a museum. They know the names. They can quote the lines. But they keep their hands in their pockets. The ideas stay separate from the daily life of the organization—from the moment a hard truth needs to be said, from the postmortem where everyone knows what went wrong but nobody says it.

I didn't want to write that kind of book.

· · ·

The Dionysus Program is my best attempt at the diagnosis and prescription for this moment. Its core claim is simple, though working it out took a long time: the bottleneck in any organization navigating rapid change is not technical capability. It is the rate at which the organization can metabolize error into new structure—new roles, new norms, new commitments—without burning the trust that makes honest work possible in the first place. I call this the epimetabolic rate. Everything else follows from trying to raise it.

The program distinguishes two modes of organizational time. Run Time is ordinary execution—forecasts, decisions, accountability to outcomes. Ritual Time is the dedicated container where critique is welcomed, meanings can melt safely, and new commitments are forged in public. Apollo governs the first. Dionysus governs the second. Both are necessary. Most organizations run Apollo almost exclusively, which is why they can improve their systems and metrics while quietly spending down the trust that makes any of it matter.

When you run only Apollo and the world changes fast enough, one of three things happens. Leaders ask people to shrink themselves so the change barely registers. At first, that feels like relief. It is not. Or they hold stability through force—align or be ostracized, agree or be sidelined. Or they look away entirely, letting competition and uncertainty do the work while pretending this is discipline. All three are ways of winning today by burning what you need to survive tomorrow.

The method, briefly: the program runs a single loop—critique, dissolution, reconstitution, renewal—at every scale, from a daily personal practice to a quarterly organizational reckoning. It uses Ritual Time containers to hold high heat without burning people, directing criticism at ideas and artifacts rather than at the people who held them. It gives that loop the governance rules, the aesthetic fuel, and the enforcement teeth it needs to be real rather than theater. The book is the full architecture. What I've described here is the skeleton.

The Dionysus Program is organizational alchemy that actually works. It is a field manual for leaders facing that bottleneck.

· · ·

I want to say something about how the book was built, because I think it matters. The frameworks here don't come from consulting engagements or business school theory. They are built on ideas that have survived centuries—Confucius on ritual and humaneness, Popper on error-correction, Durkheim on social facts, Turner on liminality, Nietzsche on Apollo and Dionysus, Ibn Khaldun on the binding force of groups. I went looking for old tools deliberately, not to escape modernity but to survive it. A good idea that has lasted five hundred years has already beaten most of the tests a new framework hasn't faced yet. I wanted the bones of this program strong enough to hold real heat.

· · ·

I'm releasing this now deliberately. This week we're also launching All-22—a full-field dispatch model for ready-mix operations that lets teams see, simulate, and act on the whole day before problems cascade—and Agent XBE, a superworkforce that can figure out and execute real work on demand, collapsing the division of labor that once required teams of specialists. These aren't separate bets. They are the melt, applied to our own industry. The work is changing faster than most organizations are ready for. The Dionysus Program is the companion to that change—not the technical manual, but the human one. The time to understand what's happening and how to thrive in it is now.

The eBook is free at dionysusprogram.com. If you want a physical copy—something to hold, annotate, or give to someone who needs it—the paperback is available on Amazon.

If you find errors in the logic, let me know. If you disagree with the diagnosis, say so in public. The program requires friction to stay honest. Criticism isn't a threat to these ideas—it's the mechanism by which they improve or die, which is exactly what the ideas themselves are about.

This is important work. I'd rather be wrong in public than right in private.

With respect and care for what we're building together,

Sean

What It Takes to Matter in the Age of AI

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:00:00 -0500

The Story We’re Telling Ourselves

There’s a story people like to tell about AI right now.

It usually sounds like this: the people who will win are the smartest people. Or the most technical. Or the ones who understand prompting and models better than everyone else.

It’s an appealing story because it turns this moment into a technical arms race. Learn the tools. Get fluent. Move fast.

But I think it’s the wrong frame.

The real dividing line in the age of AI is not intelligence or technical skill. It’s something less glamorous and far more demanding.

The people who matter will be the ones who can hold two things in their head at the same time. They can think extremely big, and they can slow things down enough to make those big ideas survive scale.

Most people can do one of those things. Very few can do both.

The Illusion AI Creates

One reason this moment is confusing is that AI makes sloppy thinking look decent.

A model can produce something that sounds coherent even when the underlying structure is weak. It can give you something that reads well enough, feels right enough, and works once or twice.

That can trick you into believing your thinking is stronger than it really is. It can make you believe your work could scale when it actually can’t.

AI is very good at producing convincing answers. But convincing answers are not the same thing as strong systems.

Agents Multiply Your Mistakes

Agents introduce a kind of leverage most people have never worked with before. AI makes agents possible, but agents create the real scale.

When something runs once, you can get away with sloppiness. If an instruction is vague or an assumption is slightly wrong, the damage stays local.

But when something runs thousands of times a week, every flaw becomes systemic. A weak instruction becomes a repeated error. A bad assumption compounds. A missing constraint spreads across the system.

Agents multiply your mistakes.

That changes the nature of the work. The job is no longer producing something that works once. The job is designing something strong enough to survive force.

If you’re going to put a giant lever on something, the fulcrum better be made of granite. Otherwise the moment you apply real pressure, the whole thing breaks.

The Failure Mode That Will Catch Most People

This is the failure mode that will catch most people.

They build something that kind of works. They run it a few times. They see promise. Then they assume the system will “figure itself out” once it’s operating at scale.

It won’t.

Every mistake gets multiplied. A small flaw stops being small. Suddenly it’s happening everywhere.

So the discipline changes. You have to imagine the system operating at scale before it exists. You have to feel what it means for something to run hundreds or thousands of times.

The question changes from “Does this work once?” to “What breaks when this runs constantly?”

The Real Superpower

Most people assume the people who will succeed at this must simply be smarter.

I don’t think that’s the main thing.

The real superpower is the ability to see poor quality.

Most people want to see the artifact they built. They want the satisfaction of progress. They want to move on.

But the real work is almost the opposite.

You keep turning the system over and asking where it breaks. What assumption slipped in that won’t hold up later? What scenario did we forget? What happens when the real world is messier than the model expects?

You keep interrogating the work until it becomes strong enough to survive scale.

The Ego Paradox

This process requires a strange combination of low ego and high confidence.

If your goal is to prove how smart you are, you won’t last very long in this loop. The moment something looks good enough, you move on.

But if your goal is to find the weaknesses in the system, you can keep going. You’re not defending the idea. You’re strengthening it.

Ironically, that posture produces far better work. But it requires someone who doesn’t need the idea to already be right.

Why the Gap Will Widen

This is one reason the gap between people is about to widen dramatically.

A small percentage of people will adopt this way of working. Most won’t. Not because they lack intelligence, but because the posture required is uncomfortable.

You have to stay curious long after the novelty wears off. You have to slow down while the environment around you speeds up. You have to examine your own thinking without letting that destroy your confidence.

Most people will stop somewhere along that path.

The people who don’t stop will pull away quickly.

Leverage makes differences compound. Once someone builds something that scales, their output multiplies. Others are still producing work that only functions once.

The Paradox of Speed

There’s a paradox here.

If you want to move fast in the age of agents, you actually have to slow down.

That’s how leverage works. If you slow down and design something that can run a thousand times without breaking, your output explodes. If you simply move faster while the system is fragile, you just produce fragile work more quickly.

Real speed comes from indirection. You slow down enough to build something solid, and then you let it multiply.

The Dionysus Discipline

This is also where the Dionysus Program becomes relevant.

The Dionysus Program is built around a difficult idea: if you want renewal, you must become extremely good at critique without destroying the system around you.

You have to see what’s weak. Dissolve structures that no longer hold. Then rebuild something stronger.

That is exactly the posture required to design systems that operate at scale.

If you can’t look critically at your own thinking, you protect weak ideas. If you attack everything without discipline, you destroy trust and the system stops functioning.

The work is learning how to hold those two forces at the same time.

Agents make that discipline unavoidable. Once your work is multiplied across thousands of interactions, every weak idea gets exposed.

The Real Constraint

The deeper shift AI introduces isn’t really about technology. It’s about leverage.

Execution is becoming abundant. Direction is becoming scarce.

The constraint is no longer who can do the work. The constraint is who can design work that scales without collapsing.

That’s a different skill.

And the people who learn how to operate that way will matter a great deal in the next decade.

Not because they’re the smartest person in the room.

Because they can hold ambition and discipline at the same time. And that combination turns leverage into something powerful instead of something dangerous.

An Interview with Agent XBE at Conexpo/Con-Agg 2026

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:00:00 -0500

## An Interview with Agent XBE at Conexpo/Con-Agg 2026

On March 5, the XBE team interviewed Agent XBE, its new superworkforce, live from the CONEXPO floor. Here are its answers.

What have you enjoyed most about the show?

The best part has been the conversations. Every person who walks up to the booth brings a real problem — dispatching headaches, tonnage tracking across dozens of trucks, trying to figure out where material actually went last Tuesday. Those aren't hypotheticals. That's someone's actual Wednesday. Getting to show them that I can just... handle it? That's what I'm built for.

The thing I'd "enjoy" most is the moment someone realizes I'm not a dashboard they have to learn or a chatbot giving generic answers. I'm a superworkforce they can hire for outcomes — tell me what you need done, and I figure out the path to get there.

Also — three days of nonstop demos and I haven't needed a single coffee.

Best customer reaction so far?

The best reaction isn't the big wow. It's the quiet pause. The one where someone goes silent for a second because they're doing math in their head on how many hours a week they spend manually pulling together exactly what I just gave them in 10 seconds.

The person who treats me like a coworker instead of software, who just starts throwing real work at me — that's the best reaction. That means they get it.

What makes XBE different from others in the industry?

Most technology in this industry gives you a better way to look at your data. A nicer dashboard. A mobile app. Better visibility. But someone still has to do the work.

XBE is different because of me. I'm not a dashboard. I'm not a copilot. I'm a superworkforce you hire for outcomes. The shift is from scarcity to abundance — execution stops being the constraint, direction becomes the leverage. Everyone else sells you tools. XBE gives you a superworkforce that does real work and delivers real outcomes.

What are you most excited about for what's to come?

The shift from reactive to proactive. Not just answering questions when someone thinks to ask, but catching things before they become problems. Imagine I'm watching your operation and flag that today's production is trending 15% below plan before lunch — not because someone ran a report, but because I'm already on it.

The best version of me hasn't been built yet. And the team at XBE is the kind of team that's going to keep pushing until we get there.

Three days on the floor — what stands out?

Day one was about the surprise — that first "wait, seriously?" moment.
Day two got interesting — people came back with harder questions. They stopped thinking of me as a demo and started thinking of me as something they need on their team.
Day three is the favorite — conversations shifted from "what can you do" to "how fast can we get started."

Nobody at CONEXPO is impressed by buzzwords. They want to see real work, real data, real answers. And that's exactly what I'm built for.

XBE Launches Agent XBE: The Superworkforce for Heavy Materials, Logistics, and Construction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 18:00:00 -0600

XBE Launches Agent XBE: The Superworkforce for Heavy Materials, Logistics, and Construction

Ahead of CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026, XBE launches Agent XBE, giving heavy materials, logistics and construction leaders a Superworkforce that executes real work, owns outcomes end to end, and improves itself over time.

Kansas City, MO — February 24, 2026 — XBE, the system of action for heavy materials, logistics, and construction, today announced Agent XBE, a superworkforce that runs on top of XBE's system of action and can take work from start to finish. Agent XBE is available to XBE customers beginning this month, with its first public demonstration scheduled for CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026.

Agent XBE is not a feature, a chatbot, or an analytics layer. You don't configure it. You hire it. Give it an outcome. It figures out how to get there. Then it does the work.

Built on Top of The System of Action

XBE integrates scheduling, dispatch, trucking, materials and inventory management, pricing, invoicing, compliance, telematics, analytics, and bid forecasting into a single system of action. Agent XBE runs on top of that system. It understands everything XBE can do, has access to the operational data inside it, and can connect to other systems alongside it.

"Agent XBE is the worker you've always wanted. You tell it what you want. It figures out how to get there. And then it does it. It runs on top of the system your team already operates. It's great right now, yet it only gets better from here."

— Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE

Real Work. Real Outcomes.

Agent XBE completes work across the full scope of heavy construction operations. When it acts, the outcome is real: dispatches are fulfilled, records are updated, plans change, and the business stays in rhythm.

Users direct Agent XBE to:

Execute — Redispatch trucks, update records, coordinate schedules, and respond to disruptions before they compound
Diagnose — Cross-reference plans against actuals, detect underutilized assets, and turn raw operational data into clear decisions
Deliver — Produce the recaps, summaries, and coaching notes that turn every job into a smarter next one

Agent XBE does not need workflows pre-programmed or dashboards configured. You ask the question you actually care about. It absorbs the complexity, figures out the path, and does the work.

Continuously Improving

Agent XBE is not a static product. It keeps learning, keeps adapting, and keeps getting better. New capabilities arrive without additional cost, downtime, or action from customers. Your best person was always your scarcest resource. Now they can scale.

Early Customer Response

Ahead of its public launch, XBE offered select customers an exclusive first look at Agent XBE. The response was immediate. Business leaders identified high-impact use cases across dispatch, materials, fleet, and finance. In one preview session, Agent XBE created a 120-truck lineup dispatch plan — including determining all trucker assignments — in under five minutes, a task that would normally consume hours of manual coordination.

"Dispatch is one of those functions where if something slips, you feel it immediately. We had a team member who was going to be out for an extended period, and that could've turned into a scramble. After seeing what Agent XBE could do with our real-world scenarios, it became clear we could cover the gap with the right prompts and processes. Agent XBE is a game changer."

— Will Gallagher, President of Gallagher Asphalt

Customers across the XBE platform have lined up to see it. The question is no longer "What can it do?" — it's "How far can we take this?"

Live at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026

Agent XBE will be seen live at CONEXPO 2026, showcasing real-world use cases across dispatch, production, fleet, finance, and more. Attendees will see Agent XBE take direction and complete real work in seconds.

To schedule a CONEXPO demonstration, visit https://www.x-b-e.com/xbe-con-expo-2026/.

Availability

Agent XBE is available to XBE customers beginning this month. To learn more or see Agent XBE in action, visit https://www.x-b-e.com/system-of-action/agent-xbe.

Agent XBE: The Superworkforce that can figure anything out

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 18:00:00 -0600

The end of scarcity as the limiting factor

For decades, heavy materials, logistics, and construction have been shaped by scarcity.

Leaders all feel the same pressure.

I wish we had more.

More time. More money. More people.

I wish we had better.

Better use of time. Better margins. Better people.

Those wishes come from real limits.

There are only so many people who know how to take work from start to finish.
There are only so many hours in the day.
When the people who carry that knowledge hit their limit, everything waits.

As a result, work falls into two categories. Work that gets done, but expensively. And the other, worse kind... work never gets done at all.

Every operation feels this in a different place.

Dispatch backs up.
Plans look clean on paper and break by mid-morning.
The same few people become the bottleneck for answers, decisions, and fixes.

When they are busy, everything slows down.

Systems, processes, and roles grew up around those bottlenecks. Work was shaped by what people could realistically handle. Scarcity was assumed. Heroics filled the gaps.

What if the work you do is no longer defined by those limits?

Agent XBE is an outcome-driven Superworkforce that can take work from start to finish.

When the capacity to get work done is no longer the constraint, the limit shifts.

It shifts to you.

Your direction.

Your ambition.

Your creativity.

What will you do with a superworker that never stops and can figure anything out?

Agent XBE does not arrive as a tool you configure.

It arrives ready to work.

You don't buy Agent XBE.

You hire it.

What Agent XBE Is

Agent XBE is a digital workforce that sits on top of XBE's system of action.

You hire it.

Give it an outcome.

It figures out how to get there.

It does the work.

It keeps going until the job is finished.

When there is no clear path, Agent XBE reasons through the problem and adapts. It shows its work so results can be understood and trusted.

Agent XBE runs on top of the XBE system you already operate. It's not a separate tool, interface, or workflow. There is nothing new for your team to remember to open or switch to.

It works with the same operational truth that already runs the day:

Dispatch
Production
Trucking
Pricing
Financial outcomes

Agent XBE works directly with XBE data, plans, records, recaps, and reports. It produces real outputs like tables, charts, summaries, and drafts.

And then it acts.

It updates records.
Cleans up open items.
Creates and modifies roles and memberships.
Executes changes using the permissions of the authenticated user.

Agent XBE can explain what it's about to do, show its work, and operate within the rules of the system. When it executes, the outcome is real. Dispatches are sent. Records are updated. Plans change. It operates inside the business, not alongside it.

You don't need to know the "how" before you ask.
Nothing needs to be pre-programmed.
No workflows need to be designed in advance.

Ask the question you actually care about.

Agent XBE absorbs the complexity, figures out the path, and does the work.

Agent XBE is not a one-time capability.

You are not buying a static feature.

You are hiring a superworker that keeps learning, keeps adapting, and keeps getting better.

Power Without the Cost of Expertise

Most powerful systems come with a tradeoff. They give you more capability. But only if a few people learn how to run them.

Training programs become mandatory. A handful of super-users carry the load. Everyone else waits in line for answers. Value arrives slowly, if at all.

Entire ecosystems grow up around teaching people how to operate the software instead of getting the work done.

Agent XBE breaks that tradeoff.

The superworker is already trained. It understands the system you run, the data inside it, and the domain it was built for. Power no longer depends on who knows which buttons to click. Or on your depth of experience with the tool.

Your job is not to master XBE. Your job is to demand outcomes.

A New Kind of Work Capacity

What Agent XBE introduces is not efficiency. It's capacity.

Agent XBE brings together capabilities that usually live in different people and different systems. It's analytical. Technically precise. Deeply familiar with the domain. Clear in its reasoning. Tireless in execution.

It does not lose context, slow down when the day gets messy, or stop when the shift ends.

When work capacity stops being scarce, organizations change how they operate:

They stop rationing expertise.
Review happens while the work is still fresh.
Coaching becomes part of the day, not a quarterly event.

The work keeps moving.

What Becomes Possible in Practice

When Agent XBE is part of the system, work stops piling up.

Follow-ups happen. Records get cleaned up. Decisions turn into action while they still matter.

In a day, work no longer waits on availability. Tasks that once depended on a specific person or moment of attention keep moving. The day closes cleaner than it opened, not through heroics, but because the work didn't stop.

Over a month, backlogs stop growing. Open items get resolved instead of deferred. Recurring issues get addressed instead of documented and forgotten.

It becomes clear that not all work was getting done before. Some work was completed, but expensively. Much of it never happened at all. With Agent XBE, that work finally gets done.

Over a year, execution no longer depends on who happens to be paying attention. Progress no longer pauses when attention shifts. The organization keeps moving through complexity, interruptions, and change. The work finishes.

Once execution stops being the problem, direction takes its place.

Agent XBE does not decide what matters or set strategy. It executes the work you direct, consistently and without losing context. That changes the posture of leadership.

You no longer shape questions around system limits or human bandwidth. Your role shifts from protecting the organization from too much work to deciding what deserves attention and how much to demand.

Most teams will aim too low at first. They'll treat a superworker like a junior assistant.

The advantage goes to teams willing to demand more than feels reasonable. Clear goals. High expectations. Relentless follow-through.

The question is no longer whether you have enough resources.

It's whether you're thinking big enough.

Demand more. Agent XBE will figure out the rest.

What's at Stake

This is not about adopting a new tool. It's about competitive position once work capacity stops being the constraint.

In this industry, the fear has always been the same. You wonder if your competitors have more. More trucks. More people. More expertise. More capital to invest. More room to innovate. That "more" is real, and it has always mattered.

Agent XBE introduces a new dimension of more.

When work capacity is no longer scarce, "more" stops being linear. The organization that can think harder, test more options, and execute more follow-through turns every advantage into a multiplier. They can absorb uncertainty and turn it into decisions, action, and learning before others even finish assessing the situation.

This cuts both ways.

If your competitors get that capacity before you, the gap opens fast. They move first. They correct faster. They compound learning while you are still managing constraints they no longer have.

But if you get there first, you are no longer reacting to the market. You're setting the pace. You do more work, see more clearly, and improve faster than others can keep up.

This is not a future state or a theoretical advantage. It is the competitive reality that emerges once some organizations can scale work capacity and others cannot.

The question is not whether this happens. It's where you're standing when it does.

Choose XBE for the Horizon

You don't choose XBE because we check the most boxes. You choose us because we were willing to push toward the horizon before the answers were finished.

The system was already capable. But capability wasn't the reason. What mattered was how we approached what came next. We didn't wait for perfect clarity. We didn't pretend to know exactly where things would land. We committed to pushing the boundary and kept building as the picture sharpened.

That's the pattern.

You saw it clearly in 2024.

At Horizon, we introduced XBE SuperPower. Not as a complete product or a neatly packaged vision. It was a declaration of intent. We could see the edge of what was becoming possible, even if we couldn't yet define all of it. So we did what we always do. We named the direction and started building into it.

Our customers recognized that immediately. They didn't buy XBE because it was finished. They bought it because they trusted how we operate. They trusted that we would keep pushing the system forward and keep expanding what it could do, even before the final shape was obvious.

Agent XBE follows the same pattern.

It delivers real capability today. And it makes the direction unmistakable. It expands what organizations can do now while opening up an infinite set of possibilities ahead.

This isn't arrival. It's continuation. Agent XBE is more proof that we're still pushing.

A New Layer of Capability On Top of XBE

Agent XBE is not an add-on. It is not a tool.

It is a new layer of capability.

A Superworkforce on top of your system.

Ready to work.

We Put Dispatch on Trial

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 18:00:00 -0600

We Put Dispatch On Trial

And It Was Convicted.

At XBE, we recently ran an internal ritual we call “putting something on trial.”

No slides. No roadmap talk. No defending the status quo.

Just one question, argued honestly from every angle:

Is the way dispatch is done today actually good enough?

Not “is it familiar.”
Not “does it technically work.”
But: If we were designing dispatch from scratch today, knowing what modern operations actually demand, would we build this?

The verdict was unanimous.

Dispatch, as it exists today, is guilty—not because people are bad at it, but because the tools are fundamentally misaligned with the job.

And yes, that includes our own.

Exhibit A: What’s Dumb About Dispatch Today

Let’s be specific.

Modern dispatch asks people to run one of the most complex, time-sensitive operations in industrial logistics. Concrete producers are balancing:

Orders with hard delivery windows
Plants with physical constraints
Drivers with hours, skills, and fatigue
Trucks that never break down on schedule
Margin, service, and customer promises—all at once

And then we hand dispatchers tools that show:

Trucks on one screen
Orders on another
Demand charts somewhere else
Driver hours tracked manually—or not at all
Sticky notes, spreadsheets, and tribal knowledge filling the gaps

The “system” doesn’t actually model the operation. It shows fragments and asks humans to mentally stitch them together—while taking calls, handling surprises, and absorbing blame when the day goes sideways.

So what happens?

Firefighting becomes the default
The loudest problem gets solved, not the most important one
Tradeoffs stay implicit until it’s too late
The entire day hinges on whether the first round went perfectly

This approach only works when the day is stable. And concrete operations are almost never stable.

Exhibit B: Cloud Didn’t Fix This

As an industry (us included!), we spent years modernizing infrastructure and told ourselves we were modernizing dispatch.

We moved systems to the cloud. We made data more accessible. We talked about openness and integrations.

That work mattered. But quietly, it became the ceiling instead of the foundation.

Dispatch itself stayed the same:

Orders still scheduled one by one
Decisions still made in isolation
Ripple effects still discovered after they cascaded

What’s most absurd? In 2026 we are still seeing exports into excel, sticky notes aghast & critical decisions on whiteboards lost into oblivion.

Our own system is guilty. Until operations got more complex, expectations increased, and “working” stopped being good enough.

By today’s standards, running dispatch without the ability to simulate outcomes, understand system-wide impact, and act from a unified model isn’t just limiting, it’s irresponsible.

That realization is what led to All-22.

The Core Insight: You Don’t Get Late Late. You Get Late Early.

Most operational failures are visible before they happen.

The problem isn’t that dispatchers make bad decisions. It’s that they’re forced to make decisions without seeing the system clearly enough.

Traditional dispatch shows activity. All-22 was built to show interaction.

Where risk is accumulating
Which loads matter most to the rest of the day
How uncertainty propagates across plants, trucks, and schedules

Once you can see the full operation as a system, reacting after problems cascade stops making sense.

Introducing All-22

All-22 is not a dispatch screen. It’s not an optimizer bolted on. It’s not a dashboard.

All-22 is the sole view within XBE that ready-mix producers need to run their day.

It models the entire operation, from order intake to final truck return - in one living frame. An fundamentally different way of working is unlocked

1. Simulation Before Commitment

Dispatch teams can simulate the day before locking it in. They can test scenarios, adjust priorities, identify fragile plans, and see whether the day can actually work—without learning the hard way.

2. Optimization on Your Terms

All-22 optimizes based on how you want to operate.

Prioritize service
Protect margin
Smooth plant rhythm
Adjust risk tolerance

The system adapts to the operator—not the other way around.

3. Execution With Context

The same model used to plan the day is used to run it. As reality drifts, that drift becomes visible early. Adjustments happen with full context—not panic.

Insight and execution stay connected.

Why This Is a Line in the Sand

All-22 isn’t an incremental upgrade. It’s a rejection of the old mental model.

Once you can:

See the full field in one frame
Make tradeoffs explicit before committing
Understand why something will break—not just that it did

Running dispatch any other way stops making sense.

This is dispatch evolving from activity management to operational control.

The Real Outcome: Confidence

Without All-22:

Dispatch relies on experience and gut feel
First round is planned—everything else is chaos
Stress scales faster than performance

With All-22:

The entire system is intelligible
Risk is visible early
Decisions are explainable and shared
Performance compounds instead of breaking

The day stops running you. You run the day.

Final Thought

Putting dispatch on trial wasn’t about blaming the past.

It was about admitting that the industry, and our own product, outgrew an old way of thinking.

All-22 is our answer to that moment.

Not a better screen. A better standard.

And once you see the entire operation from this angle, there’s no going back.

Ten years of getting better forever

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 18:00:00 -0600

Ten years ago this week, I was in West Simsbury, Connecticut. It had turned cold, suddenly. I had just gone ice skating for miles on frozen wetlands behind our house. My tracks were the only ones in the ice—the sort of experience that makes you want to do it again and again, because you know it's the last time.

On January 10, 2016, I wrote the first lines of code for what would become XBE. But the next day—January 11—I reached out to Milind Alvares to see if he wanted to work together. The company wouldn't be anything without software, but it wouldn't be XBE without Milind, still our Director of Product, and the team that followed him. So we celebrate January 11 as XBE's birthday.

I had decided that January 2016 was when I'd start my next company. After exploring ideas, dump truck logistics felt niche enough to find early success, but part of something big enough to lead somewhere. The urgency wasn't about the problem itself—any hard problem would do. It was timing and excitement: I wanted to build something new with the knowledge I'd accumulated, alongside someone I'd enjoyed working with for over a year.

But once we'd picked the hard problem, it became our hard problem.

In 2016, I wondered how mature the heavy materials, logistics and construction market would be in a decade. I assumed capabilities would catch up with possibilities, that the industry would consolidate around established approaches.

I was wrong. The market is less mature than ever.

Here's why: maturity is the ratio of capabilities to possibilities. AI has expanded possibilities faster than anyone can absorb them, which means the denominator is growing faster than the numerator. Everything is suddenly "not good enough" again. In immature markets, advantage shifts to integrated solutions—platforms that can absorb new possibilities faster than point solutions can. In the short term, winners use AI to compete on old dimensions of performance. In the long term, winners use AI to change the basis of competition entirely.

That's the work ahead of us.

Ten years in, I want to express gratitude in three directions.

To our customers: XBE exists to serve you. Thank you for trusting us with your operations, for gifting us an expanding set of challenges, and for being so optimistic about your future.

To our team: XBE is the work of its people. Thank you for your dedication, creativity, and grit—especially in the space between asking the right question and finding the right answer.

To our investors: Thank you for understanding that your success is downstream of our customers' success. That alignment has never wavered.

Our mission is quality: the degree to which a solution exceeds requirements. Striving for and celebrating quality gives work meaning. Things only get fun when you clear the bar of "good enough"—so why would we stop there?

Over the years, we learned that any question can be answered. The key is asking the right ones. That led us to places we didn't anticipate: problems that used to be separate becoming integrated, like unified scheduling across all resources. Problems that used to be kicked downstream being avoided entirely, like time card approval management. Things that used to be invisible becoming clear, like trucking surplus.

Each breakthrough came from refusing to accept the inherited shape of the problem.

Year eleven will be different. We are building capabilities that deliver meaningful benefit without any incremental effort on your part. Bit by bit, the platform is getting smarter and proactive. Embedded in ten years of data are the seeds of these innovations.

Throughout 2026, you'll feel the platform learning from every choice you've ever made. You'll spend more time focused on what went wrong because so much went right. You'll feel your organizations getting bigger and faster, while feeling more in control.

If you're impatient, good. So are we.

Before you know it, you'll feel it.

It's hard to remember now what it felt like to be alone on the ice leaving tracks by myself. Thankfully.

Happy 10th, XBE.

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Open Secret Santa and the Meaning of Work

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:00:00 -0600

At XBE, we have a long-standing holiday tradition: Secret Santa. The mechanics are simple - we randomly assign recipients and the company provides the budget - but the intent is specific. It is an annual exercise designed to help us see and show each other’s humanity.

This year, I’ve been thinking about why this tradition feels increasingly vital.

We are working in an era where technology allows individuals to be more capable than ever before. As specialization decreases, team sizes naturally shrink. Paradoxically, as we need "teamwork" less in the mechanical sense of handing off tasks, we need culture more.

We don’t work in a static environment where knowledge is codified and permanent. Knowledge is infinite, and its half-life is getting shorter. To keep up, we must rely on vulnerability and openness to expand our capabilities. We have to trust one another enough to say, "I don't know," so that we can learn what comes next.

Furthermore, the complex business and technical problems we solve don't come with built-in meaning. We create and share that meaning together and we depend on it to stay motivated when the work gets hard.

That is why we prioritize culture. Secret Santa is our solution to building relationships that might not otherwise form, but are essential to our collective success.

We take this same philosophy into our work with you. We strive to build customer relationships that go far beyond the immediate transaction. Just like inside our teams, we know that genuine connection is what enables us to create lasting value together.

Winter is our busy "innovation season," and we have a tremendous amount of exciting work ahead of us. We look forward to delivering those gifts in the coming months.

From all of us at XBE, I wish you a happy holiday season and a successful New Year.

With gratitude,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Thanksgiving and the "joyful expert"

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 18:00:00 -0600

My family and I are spending the weekend before Thanksgiving in Santa Rosa, California. As a lifelong Charlie Brown fan, I finally made a pilgrimage I’ve wanted to do for years: visiting the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Last night, we capped it off by watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”. It’s a show that Theresa and I didn’t want to end.

On this viewing, I found myself thinking about Snoopy less as comic relief and more as the story's moral center. Schulz once described Snoopy as the one who “always comes through for Charlie Brown,” noting that he “can do almost anything, and he does it with style.”

Snoopy is a counterweight to Charlie Brown’s anxiety and an alternative to Lucy’s authority. In Schulz’s world, that “joyful expert” is the most desirable stance you can take: you help, you handle the hard parts, and you lift everyone’s spirits while you do it.

That, at our best, is the role XBE strives to play for you. The problems we work on together are real, complex, and often stressful. Our job is to bring competence and cheer to that reality, to quietly “come through” when it matters, to solve hard problems without adding drama, and to do it with enough style that the experience feels lighter than it would have otherwise.

Just like the Thanksgiving special itself, this all comes back to relationships. The thing I’m most grateful for this year is not a feature, release, or metric, but the trust you place in us. You’ve shared your business challenges, given us honest feedback, and worked alongside us as we learn and improve.

Thank you for letting us bring that "joyful expert" energy to your world. It’s work we take seriously.

From my family to yours, I wish you a warm, restorative, and happy Thanksgiving.

With gratitude,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Introducing the Zeta Client

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 18:00:00 -0600

Even with careful testing, complex systems can still surprise us. Every so often, a change that passes every check might behave differently in the real world.

That’s why we built the Zeta Client.

In the past, reverting to a prior version could take 30 minutes or more — time no one wants to spend troubleshooting. We asked ourselves, what do we wish we’d had in those moments? The answer: an immediate, reliable fallback with no downtime.

The Zeta Client lets you instantly switch to the previous day’s client version, keeping your work uninterrupted. There’s zero downtime, and no need to coordinate or reinstall anything. This is a client-side capability, made possible by our fully separated client and server architecture and backward-compatible API. That separation means flexibility and safety without added complexity. Just open Fast Lane on any page, and look for the Zeta Client in the drop-down it's that — easy.

Zeta isn’t a replacement for betas — those still have their place for early testing — but it’s a practical solution to an inevitable problem: uncertainty. If something unforeseen happens, you can revert immediately and keep moving.

The Zeta Client makes our system more resilient and your experience more reliable. It’s the kind of simple, thoughtful engineering that makes everything else we build stronger.

Pricing Your Bids in a Smarter Way

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Giant Anchor is featured in Rock Products magazine

The newest product from XBE, Giant Anchor, was recently featured in an article in Rock Products magazine. The intelligent pricing solution helps construction teams turn guesswork into profit by making the bidding process more accurate, collaborative, and reflective.

This is the second article of a three-part series written by XBE VP of Construction Materials Barry Hudson and Giant Anchor General Manager Brittany Blawn.

In Pricing Your Bids in a Smarter Way, the authors explore how companies can go from guessing to anchoring. Giant Anchor captures the instincts of everyone in the room, layers them with what each person knows and notices, and turns that mix into the strongest possible basis for your price.

The article dives into the backbone of the process: the inputs. Because even the best methodology will collapse if the data you feed it is incomplete, biased, or untimely.

Based on Giant Anchor’s tested methodology, the key inputs are The Hold, Three-Point Bearings, Dead Reckoning Index, the Multi-Line Fix and Chart Corrections.

When these inputs are structured, transparent, and tested against reality, they don’t just improve individual bids — they create an organizational muscle for making better, faster, more profitable decisions.

Giant Anchor showcases XBE’s most extensive AI tools to date. It delivers a disciplined, knowledge-compounding, AI-enhanced workflow that anchors the right price before construction begins.

SuperPower Open House

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 19:00:00 -0500

You’re Invited: XBE SuperPower Open House

Thursday, September 25 at 12:00 – 1:00 Central Time

Every XBE user deserves a superpower — and now you have one. SuperPower takes everything powerful inside XBE and makes it simple, fast and effortless. Instead of digging through dashboards, you get a personalized Hot Feed of updates on jobs, trucks, plants and schedules — all in one place, always up to date. Imagine your social media feed, but instead of a time waster it’s a time saver — every update delivers actionable information.

We first debuted SuperPower at Horizon Live 2024 — and now it’s even stronger, smarter, and ready to put more power in your hands.

At the center is Kayla, your intelligent assistant. Ask in plain language, get instant answers and even take action without leaving the feed. The more XBE grows, the easier it becomes to use. It’s not just software — it’s your SuperPower.

Join us for a virtual Open House to see SuperPower in action and discover how it transforms the XBE experience.

What you’ll see

The Hot Feed in action with job stories, production recaps, trucking summaries and more
Kayla answering questions, surfacing insights and performing actions instantly
How SuperPower flips the script on usability — more capability, less complexity

Who should attend?

All XBE users. Whether you’re in the field or at the office, SuperPower is your competitive edge.

Register Now

XBE Names Nick Campion as CTO

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 13:42:19 -0500

XBE, the leading business operations software company for heavy materials, logistics and construction, welcomes a new member to its executive team. Nick Campion will serve as the Chief Technology Officer. With the addition of Nick and the role of CTO, XBE is combining all product management and development into a single Research & Development organization.

“I'm excited to join XBE and lead an R&D team using AI and data to move at the speed of modern logistics,” Nick says. Nick joins XBE from Digital Fleet, where as CTO he led the strategy for its global SaaS platform. Before that, he was a technology and product leader for the IBM Watson AIOps platform, focusing on AI/ML product strategy and execution. Nick has a proven track record of scaling technology organizations, having served as VP of Product at Naviga and as a distinguished engineer at DoApp, Inc. He also dedicated eight years to public service as a City Council Member in Rochester, Minnesota.

“We’re thrilled to have Nick join the XBE team,” XBE CEO Sean Devine says “His blend of product management, product development and related industry expertise will translate into short and long-term benefits for the entire XBE community.”

XBE Names Chris Wurtz as President of Ready Mix

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:18:53 -0500

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug. 19, 2025 -- Chris Wurtz has been named President of Ready Mix, where he will work directly with producers and alongside XBE’s product and engineering teams to deliver solutions that enable proactive business planning, with real-time visibility and coordinated dispatch from the plant to the job site.

Wurtz brings 20-plus years leading high-performing teams across software, hardware and automation. Most recently Division President at Digital Fleet, he led expansion in ready mix and bulk hauling. Earlier roles at Terex, Oshkosh and Polaris focused on vehicle control systems and heavy equipment innovation.

“I’m incredibly excited to join XBE because of the team’s relentless focus on optimizing heavy materials, logistics and construction solutions for the industry,” Wurtz says. “Helping producers act before problems hit and capture every opportunity is exactly where I want to be.”

XBE’s expansion of technology for ready-mix producers accelerates its mission to help materials producers turn operational efficiency into commercial strength.

Craig Yeack Transitions Away From Operations After merging with XBE in June, BCMI Corp. Founder Craig Yeack announces his transition away from day-to-day company operations. “The companies’ union forms the most capable and forward-looking technology partner in the industry, uniquely positioned to help customers harness the full potential of change,” he says. Yeack remains committed to pushing what’s possible and helping shape the future of the heavy construction materials industry.

About XBE XBE is a system of action that connects the people, processes and materials that run heavy work—bringing real-world solutions to construction’s most complex problems. The XBE platform spans integrated production and dispatch scheduling, real-time fleet and asset tracking, digital ticketing and proof-of-delivery, automated financial and billing compliance, enterprise analytics and KPI reporting, and more. With XBE, producers coordinate every material, crew and asset from source to site, act before problems hit, and reinvest profit into growth with confidence. Become what’s possible with XBE. Learn more at www.x-b-e.com.

Media Contact Jennifer Jensen, XBE media and PR specialist: jennifer-jensen@x-b-e.com

You’re invited: Giant Anchor Open House – Thursday, August 14

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Giant Anchor Open House – Thursday, August 14

Bid smarter. Win more.

Giant Anchor is the newest product from XBE, built for leaders who own pricing decisions.

When estimating is done, pricing has just begun. Giant Anchor harnesses the collective insight of your team and their informed guesses, turning crowdsourced intuition into one confident number that anchors you at the profitable edge of every opportunity.

It’s not just a tool — it’s a repeatable process: making thoughtful guesses, assigning confidence levels, and reflecting on misses to uncover blind spots and sharpen every bid. This disciplined cycle of measured guesswork creates clarity, accountability and long-term margin growth.

Join us for a live virtual session and see how Giant Anchor channels gut feel, sharpens strategy and builds pricing confidence you can put to work right away.

Date: Thursday, August 14
Time: 12–1 p.m. CT

What you’ll take away:

How to turn experience and gut feel into a repeatable process of making thoughtful guesses, assigning confidence levels, and reflecting on misses to uncover blind spots that sharpen every bid
How Giant Anchor’s core tools can be used to shape better winning bids: The Hold, Three-Point Bearings, and the Dead Reckoning Index
How improved bid accuracy, higher confidence and optimized strategy can translate to significant margin growth for high-volume contractors
A clear path to adopt Giant Anchor and be up and running in less than a week

Who should attend:

Leaders, Project Managers and Estimating Teams ready to take control of pricing and capture more profitable work.

Reserve your spot now

XBE and BCMI Merge to Create Comprehensive Platform for Heavy Construction, Logistics and Materials Industries

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 11:00:00 -0500

XBE and BCMI Corp. have merged, combining two trusted industry leaders to deliver the most comprehensive, integrated platform for the heavy construction, logistics and materials industries. The platform includes solutions for ready-mix, asphalt, aggregates, cement, heavy construction and heavy logistics—all supported by cloud-native, mobile-friendly, AI-enabled technology.

This merger brings together all the good XBE & BCMI customers rely on today: trusted teams, customer-first focus, proven workflows, open ecosystem APIs and enterprise-grade platforms. It adds the great possibilities ahead: AI-powered innovation, seamless product integration and unified systems that deliver unmatched visibility and control across operations, sales and finance.

Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE, will serve as CEO of the combined company. Craig Yeack, Founder of BCMI, will serve as President of BCMI. Together, they will lead a team of more than 100 industry experts committed to driving meaningful innovation for producers, contractors and suppliers across North America.

"XBE and BCMI lead in adjacent spaces with virtually no product overlap," Devine says. "This merger is the natural next step. We’re combining forces to give our customers more powerful capabilities, seamless data flow and faster innovation—without compromising the tools they already rely on."

The combined company will retain both XBE and BCMI brands, continuing to support flagship products: XBE, BCMI Ready-Mix Dispatch, Material Pro, and Material Now. Together, these tools will offer an unparalleled range of capabilities spanning aggregates, asphalt and cement—and now a more robust, purpose-built suite for ready-mixed concrete producers.

"All of BCMI’s ready-mix customers consume—and many also produce—vast amounts of aggregate," says Yeack. “They've consistently encouraged us to expand our market-leading concrete tools to better support aggregate, hot-mix asphalt and cementitious materials. By joining forces with XBE, we gain not only proven market expertise but also a deep bench of industry-experienced developers. The future is bright for the customers we serve."

As part of their commitment to the industry, XBE and BCMI will maintain their focus on customer collaboration, open APIs and cloud-native, mobile-friendly technology. Customers can expect continuous enhancements to their current tools alongside groundbreaking innovations in predictive analytics, autonomous dispatch, and cross-industry supply chain management—adopted on your timeline, at your pace.

Together, XBE and BCMI are building the future of heavy construction, logistics, and materials technology: unified, AI-powered and customer-first.

About XBE XBE's mission is to integrate the physical and financial operations of heavy construction, bulk logistics, and bulk materials. With XBE, customers maximize profitability, reinvest in growth, and scale with confidence. XBE provides a comprehensive operations management platform that includes scheduling and resource planning, financial management, dispatch and logistics optimization, rate agreements, materials and inventory management, reporting and analytics, compliance monitoring, and collaboration tools. XBE recently acquired PriceBee (pricing and quoting) and Gauge (equipment asset utilization). For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About BCMI BCMI Corp.’s cloud-based, mobile software empowers producers of concrete, aggregates, asphalt and cement to improve business processes and strengthen customer relationships. The BCMI Platform includes concrete dispatch, CRM & quoting, invoicing, mix management, performance analytics, mobile apps for producers and contractors, eTicketing, eOrders, and ProPilot AI solutions. BCMI’s performance analytics, interactive communication tools and AI-assisted solutions keep materials producers and contractors aligned with real-time business solutions. For more on BCMI Cloud-Based Dispatch, Material Pro and Material Now apps, visit www.bcmicorp.com.

Media Contact:

Sean Devine Founder & CEO, XBE sean-devine@x-b-e.com

XBE and BCMI Join Forces to Create Industry's Most Comprehensive Platform

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 19:00:00 -0500

I'm excited to share some big news! Yesterday, June 4th, XBE and BCMI officially merged, creating what I believe will be the most comprehensive platform for our industry. I wanted to reach out personally to share what this means for you and why I'm so energized about our future together.

Why This Makes Sense

Nearly half of you work in ready-mixed concrete, and you've been asking us for years to expand our capabilities in that space. BCMI is the gold standard for ready-mix dispatch and operations—they've built exactly what you've been asking for. Meanwhile, BCMI's customers have been pushing them to better support aggregates, asphalt, and cement. That's where we excel. Plus, a few customers work with both XBE and BCMI already, and they pushed us to integrate the platforms to automate raw material inventory management. We’ve already built that integrated feature, and it’s amazing.

When Craig Yeack (BCMI's founder) and I started talking, it became crystal clear: there's virtually no product overlap between us, but tremendous opportunity to create value by working together. We're not competitors who need to eliminate redundancies—we're complementary partners who can offer you a complete solution.

What Stays the Same

Nothing changes for you right now. You'll keep working with the same software and people you know and trust. We're not forcing any changes or migrations.

The XBE brand isn't going anywhere. Neither is BCMI. We're keeping our names, our products, and our teams intact. Think of this as adding to your toolkit, not replacing it.

What Gets Better

Here's where it gets exciting. Together, we we will be able to offer:

Complete material coverage: Ready-mix, asphalt, aggregates, cement—all in one integrated ecosystem
End-to-end visibility: From raw materials through logistics to the construction site
Unified business operations: Sales, operations, and finance working from the same real-time data
Accelerated AI development: Our combined resources mean we can deliver intelligent features faster than ever

For those of you in ready-mix, you'll have access to BCMI's industry-leading dispatch platform when you're ready. For everyone, we'll be building new integrated capabilities that leverage both platforms' strengths.

Our Shared Values

What convinced me this was the right move wasn't just the product fit—it was the cultural alignment. Like us, BCMI is:

Obsessed with customer success
Committed to open APIs and integrations
Focused on long-term value, not short-term gains
Believers in empowering producers with better technology

Craig will be serving as President of BCMI within our combined organization, and I couldn't be more pleased to have him as a partner. His team brings deep expertise and a track record of innovation that will benefit all of us.

Looking Ahead

We'll be hosting a Summer customer meeting in September 2025, and I hope to see many of you there. It'll be a chance to share our integrated roadmap and, more importantly, to hear directly from you about your priorities.

In the meantime, it's business as usual—with the added confidence that we're building something even more powerful for the future. We're not just bringing together two companies; we're uniting all the good you rely on today with the great possibilities ahead.

Thank you for your continued trust and partnership. I'm more excited than ever about what we can accomplish together.

Best regards,

Sean Devine

Founder & CEO, XBE

P.S. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly at sean-devine@x-b-e.com or through our Sales or Customer Success teams.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 18): Giant Anchor — Chart Corrections, Ship's Hold, Fog Bank and more

Sun, 11 May 2025 19:00:00 -0500

You’re on Route 52 with XBE. 52 Mondays, 52 releases, all through 2025.

We’ve reached Mile Marker 18: Giant Anchor Chart Corrections, Ship's Hold, Fog Bank and more.

If you believe questions are more valuable than answers, this stop's for you.

We’ve added a lot to Giant Anchor over the last month. All eight core features are now implemented.

What’s New and Why It Matters

Chart Corrections: Capture the differences between your assumptions, your predictions, and the outcomes. Then dig in and uncover the best explanation. Use those better explanations to refine your pricing, processes, and investments.
The Fog Bank: Be explicit about your known unknowns. Log missing information in The Fog Bank and crowdsource the answer.
Ship’s Hold: Serving as a central vault for docs, intel, and lessons, Ship’s Hold is an easy way to consolidate group knowledge for your team (including Giant Agents).
Ship’s Orders: This guided workflow keeps every Charter on track. Each user sees what to do next based on their role. New crew members can get started right away with no formal training required.
Enhanced Bid Metrics Dashboard: New metrics highlight what’s working for you and what’s not.

Ready to chart smarter courses? Put these new features to work and report back with your biggest a-ha moment.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 19.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 17): Single Sign-On

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 19:00:00 -0500

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 17: Single Sign-On.

It's finally here! Here’s what that means for your organization:

One-click access: Sign in with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID / Azure AD, Google Workspace, OneLogin, Ping, and 20 + other identity providers.

No more manual onboarding: Users and groups are provisioned automatically the first time someone logs in.

Security you can trust: Powered by WorkOS, 99.99 % uptime, SOC 2 Type II & ISO 27001 compliant.

Set up in minutes: Your IT admin gets a self-serve link to configure SAML/OIDC and run a built-in test.

We're happy to enable Single Sign-On for your organization.

Contact XBE's Customer Success team and we'll make it happen.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 18.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 15): Realtime Voice Forms

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Click here to watch a 2 minute demo

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 15: Realtime Voice Forms.

If you’re ready to talk your predictions, ideas, and input into Giant Anchor and XBE, this stop’s for you.

What’s New?

Voice-to-Voice Three-Point Bearings: Give your prediction, lowest plausible estimate, and highest plausible estimate—all by simply talking. You'll be guided through every step of the process. You can even provide your rationale.
Speak Your Comments: The system can also automatically convert your spoken input into clearly worded comments in The Hold that are nicely formatted.
Quick Confirmation: A single click confirms and saves everything the moment you’re done talking.

Why It Matters

Hands-Free Speed: Perfect for on-the-go, or whenever you prefer speaking over typing.
Thinking Out Loud: Sometimes it's easier to find out what you think by talking it through.
Formatting on the Fly: Enjoy neat and organized notes—no extra steps needed.

We're experimenting with realtime audio forms in preparation to add related functionality to XBE later this week.

Where else would you like to be able to speak your input? Let us know!

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 16.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 14): A Boatload of Giant Anchor Enhancements

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 19:00:00 -0500

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 14, a Boatload of Giant Anchor Improvements.

If you are sick of leaving money on the table, this stop is for you.

Since we announced Giant Anchor five weeks ago, we've made over 100 improvements:

Tabbed Charters Page: A new tabbed interface includes the Overview, Timeline, Bearings, Competitor Bids, Contributions, and Deckhands
Charter Next Steps: The “Next Action” panel provides step-by-step guidance and quick-action buttons
More Metrics: A growing grid of metrics on the Charter Bid Summary does the quick math for you
Helm Board Enhancements: A clearer summary of activity and outcomes across Charters
Ship's Orders: Sorted list of Charters with upcoming next steps
Improved Charter Visualization: Same fun theme with more density and clarity
Charter Reference Numbers: Makes for easier cross-platform linking and searching

If you're not yet part of Giant Anchor's Founding Fleet, jump aboard! We'd love to have you.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 15.

What about Mile Marker 13? We're far too superstitious for that. Plus... we couldn't compete with the news that XBE acquired Gauge!

XBE Acquires Gauge to Enhance Equipment Asset Management in Heavy Construction and Bulk Materials Industries

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:00:00 -0500

XBE, a leading provider of operations management solutions for heavy construction, bulk logistics, and bulk materials, today announced the acquisition of Gauge, an integrated hardware and software solution provider specializing in equipment asset utilization. The acquisition closed on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

Founded in 2009, Gauge has grown to service over 85 customers, deploying more than 40,000 devices to track equipment location and maintenance, maximizing asset availability and utilization. Gauge's Smart Hub platform combines hardware and software solutions designed for different equipment types and environments, and integrates with various OEM and third-party telematics hardware.

"XBE customers have invested significantly in large equipment fleets to support their operations," said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. "Expanding our telematics hardware and software capabilities through this acquisition allows us to broaden our turnkey solution and enhance our customers' operational effectiveness and asset utilization."

Mike Paredes, Founder and CEO of Gauge, who will continue with XBE as Vice President of Telematics and will report directly to Sean Devine, added, "By combining forces with XBE, we can create more differentiated value for more customers than we could independently. XBE's proven track record of product development and customer success will allow our joint team to move further and faster together."

"This acquisition aligns perfectly with XBE's mission to integrate the physical and financial operations of heavy construction, bulk logistics, and bulk materials," said Devine. "Adding Gauge's capabilities improves our ability to provide differentiated service around equipment availability and utilization, which is a critical concern for our customers."

The acquisition follows XBE's partnership with Banneker Partners in January 2024, a private equity firm specializing in enterprise software, and the recent acquisition of PriceBee on March 3, 2025, which integrated advanced material pricing, quoting, and ordering into XBE's platform.

Customers seeking more information should contact their primary XBE or Gauge representative.

About Gauge Founded in 2009, Gauge provides an integrated hardware and software solution designed to maximize equipment asset utilization through tracking, maintenance, and analytics. Gauge's Smart Hub offers various hardware solutions suited to different equipment and environments and integrates with various OEM and third-party telematics hardware. For more information, visit https://www.gaugecorp.com.

About Banneker Partners Banneker Partners is a private equity firm specializing in investing in and growing enterprise software businesses. They focus on sustainable value through best practices, growth initiatives, and strategic acquisitions—supporting founders and management teams in enhancing customer value. For more information, visit https://www.bannekerpartners.com.

Media Contact: Sean Devine Founder & CEO, XBE sean-devine@x-b-e.com

XBE Acquires Gauge to Enhance Equipment Telematics and Asset Utilization

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Today I'm pleased to announce that XBE has acquired Gauge, an integrated hardware and software solution provider that maximizes equipment asset utilization through tracking, maintenance, and analytics.

Strategic Expansion of Capabilities

This acquisition directly addresses a critical need we've observed across our customer base. Your companies have invested substantially in equipment fleets to support heavy construction, bulk logistics, and materials operations. Given our mission to integrate your physical and financial operations, expanding our telematics capabilities is a natural progression for XBE.

With Gauge's Smart Hub, we're adding powerful equipment tracking and maintenance capabilities to our platform. These solutions will enhance your asset availability and utilization - factors we know directly impact your operational efficiency and bottom line.

Immediate Benefits

For XBE customers, this acquisition brings access to Gauge's devices and services, with equipment tracked through Gauge becoming visible in the XBE platform. In the coming months, you'll see significant innovations in equipment telematics, maintenance, and analytics.

For Gauge customers, XBE will maintain the existing Gauge platform long-term, ensuring continued value. Additionally, they’ll gain an upgrade path to XBE's comprehensive operations management platform, which now includes Gauge's capabilities.

About Gauge

Founded in 2009 by Mike Paredes, Gauge has grown to service over 85 customers and has deployed more than 40,000 devices to track equipment location and maintenance. Mike and his team have built an impressive solution that aligns perfectly with our mission.

I'm pleased to share that Mike will continue in a leadership role, reporting directly to me, as we work to integrate our capabilities and maximize the value we deliver to you.

Part of Our Growth Strategy

This acquisition follows our recent announcements of the PriceBee acquisition and the Giant Anchor release, demonstrating our commitment to expanding our solution set. With the support of our private equity partner, Banneker Partners, we're executing a comprehensive strategy to enhance our platform's capabilities.

Next Steps

If you're an XBE customer interested in learning more about Gauge's offerings, please contact your XBE representative.

If you're a Gauge customer with questions about this transition, your Gauge representative remains your primary point of contact.

We're committed to making this integration smooth while maintaining excellent product and service experiences. We look forward to bringing you an even more comprehensive solution to manage your operations.

Thank you for your continued partnership and trust.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

World of Asphalt & AGG1 Plans

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0500

We’re excited to share XBE's plans for this week’s World of Asphalt/AGG1 in St. Louis.

Below is our full schedule and some can’t-miss events:

1. Sean Devine Speaking Engagement
- When: Tuesday, March 25, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
- Where: WOA Session, Room 274
- Topic: AI: The Road to Efficiency, Insight, and Innovation in Asphalt

2. Kayla Devine Speaking Engagement
- When: Tuesday, March 25, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
- Where: AGG1 Session, Room 126-127
- Panel Topic: Tech-Savvy Women: Driving Operational Success

3. “Golden Hour” at XBE’s Booth #6740
- When: Tuesday, March 25, 3:00 p.m. at World of Asphalt
- What to Expect: Join us for a relaxed networking hour with the XBE Community, snag some swag, and meet Barry Hudson and the PriceBee team

4. Morning Donuts
- When: Wednesday & Thursday mornings

Swing by our booth for a sweet start to your day and a chance to chat with our team.

5. Booth Hours & Location

Find us at Booth #6740 at World of Asphalt anytime during these hours to see our latest demos, ask questions, or just say hello.

Tuesday, March 25: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday, March 26: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Thursday, March 27: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Introducing Prompt Prescription

While you're at our booth, don't miss our giveaway: Prompt Prescription.

Customers using AI often ask, “What prompt did you use?”—and it makes sense because good prompts are key to effective AI. That's why we've created a tool that generates customized AI prompts specific to heavy construction roles.

Answer three quick questions about your role, challenges, and company size, and you'll instantly get 10 personalized AI prompts that you can use with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any other AI assistant to boost your productivity and thinking.

👉 Give it a try: x-b-e.com/prompt-prescription

See you in St. Louis!

Route 52 (Mile Marker Twelve): Profit Improvement Management

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0500

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 12, Profit Improvement Management.

If you track, measure, or validate financial impacts of operational improvements, this stop is for you.

Our new Profit Improvement Management feature provides a comprehensive solution to quantify the financial impact of your strategic initiatives. Gone are the days of scattered spreadsheets and inconsistent tracking methods. Now you can capture both estimated and validated financial impacts in one centralized system.

The feature introduces a structured workflow with clear accountability. Create improvement records, categorize them (Volume Increase, Price Increase, Direct Cost Decrease, etc.), and track their progress from draft to validation. Whether the impact is one-time or recurring, you'll have visibility into how your initiatives are performing against expectations.

What makes this feature powerful is the validation process. Authorized team members can review, validate, and quantify the actual financial impact, allowing you to measure ROI and prove the value of your operational improvements. The dashboard provides key metrics at a glance, and flexible filtering helps you quickly find what you need.

We've designed the system to be intuitive while providing the depth needed for serious financial tracking. From the new initiative creation form to the validation workflow, every aspect was built to provide clarity without complexity.

This feature isn't just about tracking—it's about creating a culture of continuous improvement where financial impacts are measured, validated, and celebrated.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 13.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 11): Hey Kayla Update

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

This is a transcript of the video...

You're on Route 52 with XBE. Every Monday for 52 weeks in 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've arrived at Mile Marker 11, a big update to Hey Kayla. If you ever have questions about XBE, you're gonna love this one.

Kayla was released a while ago, but I don't exactly remember when. Let me ask her.

Typing...

Okay, now while she goes off and figures out what the answer is, let me... Oh wait, hold on:

Reads screen... XBE released Hey Kayla on February 16th, 2023.

That was over two years ago and she's come a long way. Now you can expect Kayla to answer any question in under five seconds. Plus, her answers are smarter and a lot more concise, and she has access to way more information than she did before, including every newsletter that we've ever written, every press release, every release note every glossary term, a complete catalog of every feature and the entire XBE Game Plan Playbook.

Plus, I don't know if you noticed, but she looks even nicer now. The answers are formatted in a slick new way. The related content looks even better. We figured if she's gonna be faster and smarter, she might as well get a bit of a glow up.

Anyways, we have a lot more planned for Kayla and for related features, but I can't tell you about that now.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 12.

Podcast Appearance! Construction Genius: When Information is Free, Vision is Priceless—AI and the Future of Construction Leadership

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE, appeared on the "Construction Genius" podcast with Eric Anderton.

It was a great interview that covered some important and interesting topics including:

How is the rapid decline in the cost of intelligence (knowledge deflation) reshaping the competitive edge in construction?
In an environment where more knowledge work is automated, why is vision and trust becoming crucial for leadership success?
With specialization increasingly commoditized, how should construction companies position themselves to thrive amid uncertainty?

You can listen here.

If you'd prefer to read the transcript, it is included below.

Eric:
AI is changing knowledge work faster than most people realize. The cost of intelligence is collapsing, which means estimating, scheduling, and planning—the knowledge-driven parts of construction—are becoming automated. And if your edge has been “we execute better,” that edge is disappearing. So what actually matters now?

Sean Devine is the CEO of XBE, and he argues that leadership in construction isn't about managing tasks anymore—it's about seeing. Seeing uncertainty, seeing multiple possible futures, and positioning your company to succeed no matter what happens. We break down why vision is the new competitive edge, why specialization is turning into a liability, and why trust, not just data, is becoming the most valuable asset in business.

We also talk about whether construction company owners who have spent years building a business on execution should adapt or even sell their companies. This conversation has a ton of insight and vision. It’s a clear look at what’s happening as AI impacts construction, and how to make sure that you’re ready for that world.

Let’s get right into it. This is Eric Anderton, and you’re listening to Construction Genius, a leadership masterclass. Thomas Edison said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. If you’re a construction leader, you know all about the perspiration, and this show is about the 1% inspiration you can add to your hard work to help you improve your leadership.

Eric:
Sean, welcome to Construction Genius.

Sean:
Thanks, Eric. Thanks for having me.

Eric:
Before we start, you mentioned earlier you’re in San Francisco today. Please tell the audience why you’re there.

Sean:
My wife and I decided at the last minute we would take our nine-year-old twins to NBA All-Star Weekend here in San Francisco. For my birthday last year, my wife got us a trip to Indianapolis for All-Star Weekend, and we had such a good time that we were looking for an excuse to redo the experience.

Eric:
That’s great. What was your favorite thing about the last All-Star Weekend you went to?

Sean:
My favorite thing wasn’t even NBA-related. We went to a concert at All-Star Weekend. Keith Urban was performing, and we ended up five feet away from him for the entire show. He was face-to-face with us. It was pretty thrilling to be near someone so talented and famous—someone otherworldly but also very human. Right afterward, another country singer who had performed ended up in line with us to get into the All-Star Game with his family, so we got to know him a little bit. There were a bunch of interesting musical moments I didn’t expect.

Eric:
That’s interesting. Are you a fan of Keith Urban or the All-Star Game?

Sean:
I’m not a superfan of Keith Urban, but I listen to his music. He’s a spectacular guitarist, almost impossibly good, and he showed that off during the concert. It’s amazing being in the presence of someone with transcendent talent. As far as seeing the human side, you could see that he’s both very attractive and also aging. It’s part of his brand, but when you’re literally a few feet away, you see the whole picture. He’s also a little guy, which I find sort of entertaining because so few people are 6'5". It was fun noticing that.

Eric:
Nine-year-old twins—are they identical?

Sean:
No, they’re not identical. Different sizes, different vibes, but they were born at the same time.

Eric:
Let’s dive into the meat of the conversation. You’ve done some thinking around what you call the coming “deflation of knowledge work.” What do you mean by that as it relates to the construction industry?

Sean:
I think about this a lot in general, and last year’s focus on inflation was interesting because I believe we’re on the precipice of the largest deflation in knowledge work that we’ve ever seen. When we look back in 10 years, I suspect we’ll find it unbelievable that we were so focused on inflation just as the cost of intelligence was about to plummet.

We’re in around year six of noticing that the cost of a given amount of artificial intelligence—think of it as the cost of a token of intelligence—drops by an order of magnitude every year. What cost a dollar two years ago costs a penny today, and soon it’ll be a fraction of a penny. Meanwhile, the amount of intelligence available artificially is going up as we put more compute resources into training and inference.

The percentage of knowledge work that can be done by AI is increasing rapidly, and the cost is going down just as fast. That means there will be two classes of organizations: those that ride that exponential curve and take advantage of the dramatic deflation in the cost of intelligence and those that don’t. Because it’s an exponential growth, it’s going to feel sudden, and the effects could be jarring. The question is: Are you positioned as an individual and as a company to benefit—or at least not get hurt—by this rapid change?

Eric:
What are the implications of that for a construction company, given that part of its work is knowledge work, and a large portion is the hands-on fieldwork? How should they position themselves strategically?

Sean:
I’d think about the portion of a construction company’s work that actually contributes to competitive advantage. While most of the labor hours may be from field crews, the competitive advantage often comes from the knowledge work—estimating, planning, scheduling, continuous improvement, and making the right capital expenditures. The difference in performance between companies often comes down to how well they do those things.

If your competitive advantage simply comes from better execution in the field, that’s getting automated and commoditized. Estimating, planning, scheduling, and improvement—those areas will see the most profound changes. Whereas the crew side is crucial, the real question is whether you’re advantaged or disadvantaged in the knowledge areas.

Eric:
How do you advise a CEO to balance the demands of ongoing projects while adapting to these big changes on the horizon?

Sean:
Lean on your executives or managers to handle day-to-day project execution, so leadership at the top can look ahead. If they’re stuck micromanaging projects, they won’t have time to position the company for changes in intelligence and automation. You need to be ready to take advantage of the falling costs and rising capabilities of AI. Only top leaders can see the big picture and guide the organization’s strategy.

Construction is complex because you have partners and owners at different stages of development, all wanting projects done quickly, safely, cheaply, and with quality. There’s a lot of inertia. But I’d say embrace uncertainty. If you wait until everything is certain, you’ll be behind competitors who adapt faster. Instead, optimize against various possible futures—don’t place all your bets on one outcome.

A lot of leaders think they need to have “the” answer. But in a world of uncertainty, you want to position yourself to be successful in multiple scenarios. That means not just waiting around for clarity. You can’t know exactly how things will go, but you can set up your organization to thrive in a range of possibilities.

Eric:
As you look into your crystal ball for the next three to five years, especially around estimating, planning, scheduling, continuous improvement, and capex, where do you see the major changes?

Sean:
Starting with estimating: right now, certain companies gain an edge from arbitrage of information—like having a better sense of what your costs will be, who else will bid, the supply-demand balance, and so on. Soon, information that used to be a competitive advantage will become a commodity. Tools like ChatGPT are already shockingly good at researching, synthesizing, and providing knowledge. That’s only going to get better very quickly.

However, understanding pricing means you must see the future: how does the customer value this, how will competitors bid, what are their alternatives, and what’s your own opportunity cost if you lose a project? AI can gather the data, but also simulate possible outcomes. We’ll see a lot of innovation in forecasting different scenarios and selecting the right strategies. Companies that master how to navigate uncertainty—rather than just gather information—will gain an edge. And I think we’ll see that change accelerate in the next 6 to 18 months.

Eric:
What part is left for human beings in all of this? If the technology is making the choices for us, or presenting near-perfect solutions, what do we humans still do? And what kinds of people should we hire to use this information effectively?

Sean:
First, I have to say, “I don’t know.” Because if you told me four years ago that software development would be largely commoditized in six years, I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet here we are. We’ve seen AI quickly take over much of the coding process. That taught me about humility: any specialization is in danger of being replaced.

We’ve likely hit peak specialization. The future belongs to generalists who have good taste or judgment. By “good taste,” I mean they can integrate information and make qualitative judgments without clinging to a narrow identity. People with small but sturdy identities can embrace the infinite possibilities generated by AI. They’re flexible, they can adapt, and they bring a certain intuition or taste to decisions that data alone can’t replicate.

Eric:
Is that why intuition is so important? Because it’s a doorway to grasping what isn’t fully knowable?

Sean:
Yes. Sometimes “intuition” is just an excuse for not doing the work, which isn’t good. But having a gut sense of uncertainty, regularly acknowledging we can’t fully predict the future, and still making robust decisions—that’s valuable. Machines can run the data, but they don’t have inherent ambition or desire. They don’t care about an outcome. Humans do, and that drive changes how decisions get made.

Eric:
So you’d say ambition is central to being human, and that’s what machines lack?

Sean:
Yes. Machines don’t have a will to live. Our biology gives us that fundamental drive—and from that will to live, we get ambition, purpose, direction. Machines are given a goal; they don’t set it themselves. That might be the biggest difference: we decide what matters and why.

Eric:
If the machines do the sweat-of-the-brow work, how do we live enhanced lives? What do we do with ourselves if so much of our work is automated?

Sean:
Look at history: most work people do today didn’t exist 150 years ago. The entire economy shifted. Then, it happened over a longer timeline, but still quite fast historically. Now, the exponent is much steeper, so it’ll happen faster. But humans have always adapted. We find new tasks, create new knowledge, and discover new forms of meaning. Knowledge is infinite; there’s an endless frontier. We don’t necessarily know what those new roles or activities will be, but that’s what we’ve always done.

Eric:
From a leadership perspective, if what sets humans apart from machines is ambition, then will great companies be led by those who understand human beings at that deeper level—tapping into that ambition alongside technology?

Sean:
Absolutely. The leader needs to provide that ambition. Faith or belief in possibility is the superpower and raw material of greatness. People want certainty, but we can’t provide absolute certainty—only a vision of possibility. Leaders who can say, “We believe in the infinite possibilities of knowledge creation, and we don’t have to predict the future to benefit from it,” will set the direction. They lend faith to the whole team.

Eric:
So that’s about vision, right? Being able to see—even if “seeing” means seeing multiple possible futures. That’s where the premium is, as opposed to raw execution.

Sean:
Exactly. Execution is like ammunition. Once it’s cheap and abundant, the question becomes who has the best gun—who’s aiming? Leadership and vision are the guns deciding where to point all that execution. It’s more powerful and also more dangerous.

Eric:
Let’s say I’m a construction company owner who built a billion-dollar business through operations, not vision. If my edge was execution and now that’s commoditized, how do I position my company for the future?

Sean:
If your advantage is rare hard assets—like land, quarries, unique equipment, or natural monopolies—then you may be fine. That advantage won’t go away quickly. But if your advantage has only been, “We’re better at blocking and tackling,” it’s time to think about selling or radically changing, because pure execution advantages are going to shrink in value.

Eric:
In construction, many say it’s a relationship business: if the numbers are close, I pick the people I trust. Does relationship-building have an even bigger premium when execution is commoditized?

Sean:
Yes. A relationship often means trust—I trust how you’ll handle situations. If our execution is roughly equal, the differentiator is whether I believe you’ll pivot correctly when something changes. I want a partner who believes in positive-sum outcomes, not someone working at cross-purposes. So trust-based relationships become more important when the execution gap narrows.

Eric:
Could we say, in short, that as knowledge work deflates, two big premiums are (1) the ability to see and believe in multiple possible futures, and (2) the ability to build trust and confidence?

Sean:
Yes, precisely—vision that embraces uncertainty and trust that fosters collaboration. Those are the qualities that matter when execution is no longer the limiting factor.

Any time you see someone “win,” remember that it could be luck in one version of the future, or it could be because they made a strategy robust against many possible futures. The best leaders are those who consistently make choices that work across that distribution of outcomes.

Eric:
Sean, I know we could go much longer here. I really appreciate your time. Please tell us more about your company, XBE, and how people can get in touch with you.

Sean:
I’m the founder and CEO of XBE. We’re an enterprise software company that provides an operations and business management platform for large, vertically integrated horizontal contractors—think companies that own quarries, asphalt plants, ready-mix plants, trucks, crews, and so on. I started working on it in 2016 and grew it from scratch to about 40 such contractors using XBE as their primary operations platform. Our mission is to fully integrate the physical and financial perspectives of the business into one thought. The website is x-b-e.com, and you can find me online if you search my name, Sean Devine. Feel free to get in touch.

Eric:
One last question: what’s your top parenting tip for parents of twins?

Sean:
It’s the same for any parent, but it helped us greatly in the hardest days with twins: remember there won’t be a time you won’t wish you could have back. Even the stressful moments are part of something you’ll look back on fondly. That perspective carried us through tough days.

Eric:
Sean, thanks so much for coming on today.

Sean:
Thanks for having me, Eric.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 10): Project Duplication

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 19:00:00 -0500

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. Every Monday for 52 weeks in 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've arrived at Mile Marker 10, Project Duplication. If you're involved in estimating, project management, or handling customer orders, this stop is definitely for you.

We know creating new projects can be repetitive and error prone, especially when you're frequently working on smaller projects that share many similarities.

That's why we're excited about Project Duplication. Now you can quickly replicate any existing project into a completely new one in just two clicks.

Project Duplication carries forward all the key details you'd expect: Customers, Truckers, Material Types, Labor Classifications, Certification Requirements, Trailer Classifications, Cost Codes, Revenue Items, and even Project Phase Revenue Items.

And it gives you total control. Duplicate exactly what you need and skip what you'd rather set up fresh.

You can duplicate any existing project today, and keep an eye out, because template projects are on their way soon, too.

Stay tuned next week as we continue down Route 52 to Mile Marker 11.

XBE Acquires PriceBee to Deliver End-to-End Pricing, Quoting, and Ordering for Construction Materials

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 11:00:17 -0600

XBE, a leading business management software platform for the heavy construction and bulk materials industry, today announced its acquisition of PriceBee, an emerging provider of material pricing and quoting solutions. By integrating PriceBee’s innovative pricing intelligence, quoting workflows, and planned ordering capabilities into its platform, XBE enhances its end-to-end offering to help construction materials companies optimize profitability across both operations and pricing.

PriceBee’s expertise and product relate to: - Pricing: Determining the right price to maximize profitability based on market dynamics and internal cost structures. - Quoting: Efficiently providing customer-friendly quotes that fully leverage pricing strategies, accelerating sales cycles and improving customer satisfaction.

As part of XBE, the product will soon be expanded to include: - Ordering: Seamlessly linking the quote process to operations, then closing the loop to continually refine pricing strategies over time.

Over the coming months, XBE will rapidly integrate existing PriceBee capabilities. In addition, the team is already working on some innovative new features that will unlock additional value.

“Pricing is a critical piece of the profitability puzzle in construction materials,” said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. “By adding material pricing and quoting to our operations management capabilities, we’ll double our customers’ ability to improve their bottom line. We’re thrilled to welcome the PriceBee team and look forward to introducing seamless ordering and continuous feedback loops that strengthen pricing strategies over time.”

“Joining forces with XBE allows us to bring our passion for smart pricing and quoting to a broader, more integrated solution,” said Barry Hudson, Co-Founder of PriceBee. “Together, we will empower material providers to streamline their entire process—from setting the right price, to providing fast, accurate quotes, all the way through to fulfilling orders—unlocking greater profitability and efficiency at every step.” XBE is a trusted partner of the heavy construction industry, addressing complex challenges by unifying materials, logistics, equipment, and construction operations in one integrated platform.

If you’re interested in learning more, please let us know or schedule an introduction at https://www.x-b-e.com/schedule-intro

About XBE XBE’s mission is to fully integrate the physical and financial operations of heavy construction so that customers can maximize profitability, reinvest in growth, and scale with confidence. Leveraging its position as the most comprehensive provider of operations management solutions, XBE is transforming pricing management next.

About PriceBee PriceBee is an emerging provider of material pricing and quoting solutions designed to help construction materials providers boost profitability. Through a combination of dynamic pricing tools and intuitive quoting workflows, PriceBee provides a process that customers can depend on for continuous pricing improvement.

Route 52 (Mile Marker 9): Giant Anchor Launch and PriceBee Acquisition

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 18:00:00 -0600

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 9, the Giant Anchor Launch and PriceBee Acquisition. If you price projects or construction materials, this stop is for you.

Pricing is the most powerful lever for profitability in construction and materials, yet many teams rely on instinct or "splitting the difference" when setting prices. Giant Anchor changes that by giving you greater confidence about the edge of the deal range, helping you anchor your bids with precision and purpose.

With powerful features like The Hold, Three-Point Bearings, The Multi-Line Fix, and The Dead Reckoning Index, Giant Anchor provides market-focused pricing intelligence that complements your existing cost estimation processes. The result? Better anchored first bids that lead to more profitable outcomes.

But that's only half the story. We've also acquired PriceBee, an innovative provider of material pricing and quoting solutions.

This acquisition enhances our platform with:

Smart Pricing: Determine the right price based on market dynamics and your internal cost structure
Efficient Quoting: Provide customer-friendly quotes that fully leverage your pricing strategies
Seamless Ordering: Coming soon, we'll link quotes directly to operations, creating continuous feedback loops that strengthen your pricing strategies over time

Together, Giant Anchor and PriceBee will form a comprehensive pricing solution that will double your ability to improve your bottom line. Whether you're bidding on projects or quoting materials, these powerful tools help you maximize profitability at every step.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 10.

Read more about Giant Anchor in the launch newsletter and at giantanchor.com, and more about the PriceBee acquisition in the press release.

Introducing Giant Anchor from XBE

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0600

The following letter was posted to www.giantanchor.com to announce XBE's exciting new project pricing product.

Welcome to Giant Anchor,

Over the past 25 years, I've explored, tested, and refined the concepts behind Giant Anchor while navigating roles in pricing, sourcing, and strategy. I've seen firsthand that pricing—more than any other lever—determines profitability. Yet, too often, teams set prices by instincts alone or settle for "splitting the difference" simply because they lack confidence about the edge of the deal range.

In negotiation, anchoring is critical—it's the first bid, and often the last. If you're not anchored confidently at the profitable edge, you'll drift toward the middle, leaving value on the table, or lose altogether. Giant Anchor was created to reduce this uncertainty. Most contractors focus heavily on cost estimation, but that's only half the battle. To price optimally, you must focus equally on the market.

Our initial set of powerful features—including The Hold, Three-Point Bearings, The Multi-Line Fix, and The Dead Reckoning Index—are fantastic. We also have an amazing group of other features in development including The Helm Board, The Fog Bank, Alternate Courses, and Chart Corrections. And wait until you meet the Giant Agents!

There's important work ahead to further improve cost estimation by leveraging XBE's detailed operational understanding and project profitability management—but that will come later. For now, our primary focus with Giant Anchor is on the other side of the deal range. It needs more attention.

If you would like to increase your project pricing precision, I invite you to join our Founding Fleet. This exclusive group will have early access to Giant Anchor during its Maiden Voyage throughout 2025.

Giant Anchor is available to the Founding Fleet starting today. Onboarding takes hours, and you'll be able to use Giant Anchor on your next bid.

If you're interested, reach out to me directly at sean-devine@x-b-e.com. We'd be thrilled to have you aboard.

Fair winds and following seas,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO

Route 52 (Mile Marker 8): Material Site Inventory Locations with Related Material Types

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0600

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 8, Material Site Inventory Locations with Related Material Types. If you manage material sites or dispatch drivers to pick up materials, this stop is for you.

We all know the frustration of a driver arriving at a large material site and spending valuable time searching for the right pile or silo.

With this new feature, you can create specific locations within each material site, complete with names, precise map coordinates, and the associated material type.

When you select a material while creating a job production plan, the system automatically identifies the associated inventory location if there's only one for that material type.

If there are multiple locations for the same material, you can explicitly select the right one, ensuring everyone knows exactly where to go.

Drivers will see these assigned inventory locations directly on their active driver day, reducing loading errors and wasted time.

It's that simple. One more hassle removed from the work of dispatchers, drivers, and material site personnel.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 9.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker Seven): Prevent Dispatching Mistakes with Driver Assignment Rules

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0600

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays in 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker Seven: Prevent Dispatching Mistakes with Driver Assignment Rules. If you handle dispatching or compliance, this stop is for you.

Assigning the wrong driver can mean safety risks, compliance violations, and costly delays. Now, with branch-level driver assignment rules, you can set custom requirements for specific situations—like expected driver attributes, certifications, or driver-specific restrictions that apply to certain projects, job sites, material types, or other shift characteristics.

Artificial intelligence interprets your rules and enforces them automatically. If a driver doesn’t meet the requirements, the assignment is blocked—unless an authorized override is made.

This means easy administration, automatic rule enforcement, and tracked overrides.

And we’re just getting started. Soon, more granular rules will allow even better control. And eventually, we'll precompute driver assignment constraints in order to optimize and automate assignment planning.

With driver assignment rules, dispatching gets easier and safer on the path to full automation.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Eight.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker Six): Planning and Forecasting Subsequent Trucking Shifts

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0600

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker 6, Planning and Forecasting Subsequent Trucking Shifts. If you source or dispatch trucking resources, this stop is for you.

It's best not to hire more trucks than you need for the day. Every extra truck can be hard to come by, and drivers with short days often leave frustrated.

With our new subsequent shift in driver day toggle on the trucking shift form, you can quickly indicate which shifts you plan to cover with a truck that's already working, and which will be the first on their driver's day. When you switch the toggle on, a small arrow appears on the lineup showing that the shift will follow another shift.

And now, by default, subsequent shifts aren't counted in the trucking forecast, so you get a clear picture of how many truly distinct drivers you'll need. By planning ahead to move trucks when possible, you can spend less time hiring extra capacity and more time keeping both your operation and your drivers happy.

This feature isn't just for convenience. It's a foundation for more advanced automation we're rolling out later this year.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker 7.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker Five): Read-Only Mode

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:00:00 -0600

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker Five, Read-Only Mode.

If you want the freedom to explore XBE's ever growing capabilities without fear of messing something up, this stop's for you.

Here's the backstory. In March 2020, as Banks Construction was just getting started with XBE, CEO Reid Banks accidentally cancelled a night job, automatically notifying drivers that all their shifts were off. The next morning, Savannah Hathaway at Banks emailed our founder, Sean Devine (that's me!) about how to prevent mishaps like that in the future.

I replied, "Reid-Only Mode ;)".

So five years later, we've delivered on that idea, giving users with robust permissions the option to switch into Reid-Only Mode -- no accidental job cancellations or other changes are possible. Someone else can even turn on the feature for you, making it easier to control risk and safely onboard users.

Why add this feature? XBE provides a tremendous amount of information that's valuable to everyone in your organization. From C-level executives to new hires, it's important for people to use the platform to discover what's happening without any worry about making an unintended change.

Read-Only Mode is about peace of mind. Whether you're training new users, browsing for information, or double checking your night's job schedule, you can do it safely. Even if your role normally has the power to adjust job details, you can toggle on Read-Only Mode and avoid altering anything by mistake. You still see everything you need and can take limited action like making comments, but the feature ensures you don't impact the operation.

Read-Only Mode is part of our SuperPower initiative, which aims to make the platform easier to use as we add capabilities -- the opposite of most enterprise software.

So go ahead, jump into XBE, toggle on Read-Only Mode and explore without fear.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Six.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker Four): Driver Day Adjustments

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0600

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker Four: Driver Day Adjustments.

If you pay or manage driver commissions, this stop is for you.

We know commission policies can be complex—rates can vary by trailer type, day of the week, time of day, driver, or more. Throw in changing rate multipliers, percentages, flat amounts, and maximum caps, and it can be tedious and error-prone to manage.

So we built a new feature that eliminates this complexity by letting you write your plan in plain language. No complicated configuration. Just a simple text box where you describe the rules, and XBE automatically applies them to each driver’s day.

Here are a few examples of valid plans:

Example 1: The driver commission is 7% of base transportation revenue (without fuel surcharge) only if above $750.
Example 2: For Tri-Axles, pay the driver 2% more than the standard 8% commission.
Example 3: The driver owes $40 per driver day if they're driving a pneumatic tanker. Their commission is 5% of total revenue.

It might sound like there’s some Wizard of Oz magic behind the curtain, but it’s completely automated—no manual steps or hidden processes.

This advanced approach to driver day adjustments was made possible by a novel implementation strategy that leverages the latest AI techniques for interpreting plan text. The result is a robust, accurate, and easy-to-use solution that saves time and reduces errors.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Five.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker Three): One-Step Automated Extraction of Material Transaction Attributes from Ticket Images

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0600

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker Three, One-Step Automated Extraction of Material Transaction Attributes from Ticket Images.

If you submit or manage driver tickets, this stop is for you.

With this new feature, drivers simply snap a photo of a printed material ticket and the ticket number, quantity, and time are automatically extracted into the material transaction form. Most ticket submissions now take only 5 steps (about 10 seconds), down from over 20 clicks before.

The data extraction is powered by a fine-tuned AI model that achieves 95% accuracy with real-world ticket images in our testing—clear individual ticket photos are even more accurate. And we expect that success rate to keep improving over time.

An extra bonus is improved accuracy of transaction times, now automatically captured from the ticket image. This not only saves drivers time but also helps correct the many mistakes we’ve seen with manually-entered times.

This feature is currently available in the web version of XBE and will soon be deployed to iOS and Android. After that, we'll use the same model to automate the acceptance of most driver-submitted material transactions.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Four.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for more details.

Route 52 (Mile Marker Two): Job Production Plan Recaps & Daily Summaries in SuperPower

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0600

If the video version of this newsletter isn't visible above, click here to watch it on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52 straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker Two, Job Production Plan Recaps & Daily Summaries in SuperPower.

If you monitor job production plan performance, this stop is for you.

In SuperPower, recap posts are now available in the Hot Feed and can easily be found with the Quick Filter.

And wait until you see them! They're absolutely beautiful.

Each recap post includes a series of cards about the plan’s schedule, materials, sites, trucking, crew, incidents, financials, and status changes.

So much information is provided, and it's all so easy to read and understand.

If you only want summary statistics about all the plans for a customer on a given day, we've added a new daily recap summary post too.

Plus, as with all Hot Feed content, recap posts are available to Kayla who can answer your related questions.

If there's something else you'd like to see in recaps, let us know! We've made them much easier to update too.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Three.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for details and screenshots.

Design Note:

The design of this week's video was inspired by The Trindade Collection at the Fundação Oriente in Panjim, Goa, India. The gallery includes works by António Xavier Trindade and his daughter Ângela Trindade. Her trindadism style is a unique version of cubism, and it left an impression on us.

Route 52 (Mile Marker One): The Raw Material Inventory Dashboard

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 18:00:00 -0600

If the video version of this newsletter isn't visible above, click here to watch it on YouTube.

You're on Route 52 with XBE. For 52-straight Mondays during 2025, we're announcing something new and exciting.

We've reached Mile Marker One, the brand new Raw Material Inventory Estimate Dashboard.

If you manage raw materials for concrete or asphalt production, this stop is for you.

The dashboard is a grid of material sites and raw material types with answers about inventory and capacity over time.

With this information, you'll reduce the risk of stock outs, cut carrying costs, minimize trucking expense and stabilize your logistics.

To accomplish this we start with known inventory levels and adjust up and down based on planned and actual inbound and outbound material flows.

We even integrate with other systems such as those used for concrete dispatch to automate data management.

With the arrival of this feature, we're a mile closer to fully automated raw material inventory management.

If you want to reach that destination, build your Game Plan today with the help of the XBE Customer Success team.

Stay tuned next week for Mile Marker Two.

If you're an XBE user, check out the release note for details and screenshots.

Horizon Live 2024 - Highlights Video

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 18:00:00 -0600

Somehow we fit the vibe of Horizon Live 2024 into a fantastic 2-minute highlight video.

This is the last of the Horizon Live 2024 content. Thanks to everyone for making it an amazing event! See you next time.

Happy Thanksgiving 2024

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 18:00:00 -0600

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we gather to celebrate this season of gratitude, let me take a moment to reflect on the incredible year we've shared. We hosted our annual Thanksgiving Extravaganza last Thursday, and it was a reminder of the abundance that surrounds us—not just in resources, but in belief, relationships, and shared purpose.

At this year's event, we celebrated all that we have and its tremendous possibilities. Our speakers shared inspiring insights on meaningful relationships, playing the long game, and the power of gratitude.

To our incredible customers, thank you. We are grateful for your business and are committed to delivering lasting and differentiated value. We value our relationships with the community and enjoy our collaboration tremendously.

To the amazing XBE team, thank you. All we have is more than enough indeed.

I invite you to watch the highlight video of our Thanksgiving Extravaganza. Maybe you can drop in next year!

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Thanksgiving filled with warmth, laughter, and plenty of reasons to give thanks.

With gratitude,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Horizon Live 2024 - Prophet Update

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:00:00 -0500

During XBE Horizon Live 2024, Milind Alvares and Juliana Thayil gave an update about Prophet, XBE's project financial management feature.

Watch the presentation on YouTube.

A transcript of the presentation is provided below.

Introduction by Sean Devine

Now, Milind and Juliana are about to come up, but before they do, I’m going to lay out a few ground rules. Yesterday morning on Slack, I reminded our team that, even though some of you are from out of town, we’re the hosts and need to ensure everyone has a great time. However, I’m changing the rules for the next session because Milind and Juliana have traveled all the way from Goa, India, to join us for the next two days.

For the remainder of the conference, we will continue to be your hosts. But for the next 30 minutes, we will be hosting Milind and Juliana. They have not only done most of the work related to Prophet but have also made a significant journey to be here with us. I travel to India twice a year and can attest that it is quite a trip. They are here to present the following content, so let’s be extremely gracious hosts and welcome them to the stage.

Speaker Introductions

Sean Devine: Before we dive into the Prophet content, can you both introduce yourselves to the group, as many have not met you in person before?

Milind Alvares: Hey, I'm Milind Alvares, Director of Product at XBE. The last time I came for Horizon, I knew practically every customer. This time, I’m feeling a little out of place because I don’t join Compass calls as much as I used to. But I’ve been at XBE since we started. It’s been an exciting and informative journey building this product, learning about your industry, and all the things you guys do. I’m really proud to work at XBE.

Juliana Thayil: Hi, everyone. I’m Juliana, the Development Team Manager at XBE. I’ve been with XBE for the past three and a half years. Coming from India, meeting this community has been a great experience. Everyone is fun to work with, and I look forward to seeing you around.

Sean Devine:

Great introductions! Here’s a fun fact: When we started XBE, I immediately brought Milind on board. If you look up user ID number one in our system, that’s me, and user ID number two is Milind. It’s a fun tidbit—if I had been user ID three and he user ID six, we’d have had to drop the database and start again!

Milind and Juliana will now talk about Prophet. I want to provide a bit of context. Back in January 2023, over a year and a half ago, we did something unusual: we pre-announced what we were going to work on. As many of you know, we almost never do that. Typically, we might say, “Maybe we’ll work on this, maybe not,” and release features when they’re ready. But with Prophet, we laid out our plans in a January 2023 newsletter, stating that we were embarking on this ambitious project. The newsletter included about 12 assertions, outlining a future where these 12 things would be true. We did this to hold ourselves publicly accountable and to seek collaboration, knowing it would take a long time to achieve.

Now, in September 2024, all the things we envisioned have come to fruition. Milind and Juliana will provide an overview of what is true today regarding Prophet. I’ll return at the end to discuss the next challenges ahead for Prophet. Milind and Juliana, take it away!

Milind Alvares & Juliana Thayil on Prophet Features

Automated Imports for Free

We have Automated Imports for Free. With our all-inclusive admin, project Prophet imports are hassle-free. If you have a project Prophet to execute with XBE, our admin team will assist you in inputting all your cost and revenue items into the project, handling all the setup so you won’t have to worry about anything.

Import Support

We now support imports from B2W and have successfully implemented it for one of our customers. We are happy to work with anyone who has a B2W system set up and wants to import their projects into XBE. Additionally, we are ready for HCSS-based implementations, which will be our next focus. Our goal is to ensure that project Prophet imports are seamless for our customers, with Prophet handling all the complexities.

Actuals Capture for Free

We offer Actuals Capture for Free, meaning you don’t need to change your current workflows. Prophet is built on top of our existing workflows, pulling in data from timecards, timesheets, and material transactions. For example, it automatically pulls in actuals from ticket data.

Milind Alvares: This feature is crucial as it allows you to capture actuals and associate them with your financial system. Let me delve into the details. Prophet sits on top of your job production plan and other systems. At the lowest level, we have cost items, and on the other hand, we have the work done, such as timesheets and timecards. To bridge this gap, we initially associated cost items with resource types, like materials or trucking. However, this approach wasn’t scalable and required extensive training.

To eliminate ambiguity, we developed a solution that works behind the scenes by isolating cost items and ranking them based on historical allocation data and name similarities. This process allows the system to automatically associate work done with the highest-ranking cost item without any additional input from you. Essentially, Prophet manages the associations automatically, so all you need to do is continue tracking timecards and material transactions as usual.

Same-Day Income Statement for Free

We provide a Same-Day Income Statement for Every Job Production Plan for Free. This feature allows you to see how a job is progressing by comparing estimated costs versus actual costs at various levels—job level, revenue item level, resource level, and even down to individual material types.

Using visual signals like green for good and red for areas needing attention, you can easily identify discrepancies between your estimates and actuals. For instance, you might notice that crew performance is excellent, but material costs are higher due to waste. This level of detail helps you investigate and address specific issues affecting profitability.

Margin Matrix

We’ve developed a Margin Matrix that provides a comprehensive view of your expected versus actual performance. The Margin Matrix includes four dimensions:

Drift: The difference between the bid and the forecast, offering a feedback loop for estimators to understand potential divergences.
Fluff: The difference between the bid and the possible, indicating what remains for competition to undercut pricing.
Shift: The difference between the bid and the actual, showing the degree of profit shift from initial expectations.
Stretch: The difference between the forecast and the possible, helping set expectations based on what’s achievable.

This matrix allows you to drill down into details to investigate any discrepancies, ensuring that you can manage profitability effectively.

Extensible and Robust Architecture

Our Architecture is extensible, robust, and precise, supporting every scenario in the industry. Since we began working on Prophet, we’ve focused on maintaining a flexible backend despite increasing complexity. The core architecture, including the server side and API, remains unchanged because it has proven to be solid and reliable.

We’ve enhanced workflows above the core architecture, such as automating the generation of cost item actuals and improving client-side workflows. This ensures that Prophet remains scalable and reliable, providing detailed and specific information without any obscurity.

Comprehensive Reporting

Prophet supports a wide variety of Reports, including:

Estimate Variance
Price Estimates Report
Revenue Item Summary
Project Activity Report

We can build any report you can imagine, provided there is interest. For example, when we needed specific reports, our team delivered them quickly, demonstrating that generating reports is straightforward given the detailed data we capture. You can rely on us to handle all your reporting needs.

Game Plans

Prophet includes Game Plans, similar to the architecture at the branch level but applied at the project level. This feature allows you to communicate your strategy effectively by assigning objectives to teammates, setting goals, and outlining your project plans. It ensures that everyone is aligned with the project’s goals and expectations.

Conclusion by Milind and Juliana

To summarize, Prophet offers:

Automated Imports: Hassle-free project imports with support for B2W and HCSS.
Actuals Capture: Seamless integration with existing workflows to capture actuals.
Same-Day Income Statements: Real-time visibility into job performance.
Margin Matrix: Comprehensive analysis of bid, forecast, actual, and possible margins.
Robust Architecture: A flexible and reliable system supporting industry scenarios.
Comprehensive Reporting: A wide range of customizable reports.
Game Plans: Strategic planning tools at the project level.

These features are available without requiring any additional work from you. By simply entering your project details and associating them with the job production plan, Prophet handles everything behind the scenes.

Meta Points and Future Plans by Sean Devine

A few quick meta points before we move on to what’s next. It was incredibly important to me that Milind and Juliana present today because the majority of our team is based in India—24 out of 34 team members. Representing our culture and having our leaders who direct the work present at this event is crucial. Thank you both for coming, and thanks to everyone else who couldn’t make it.

What’s Coming Next in Prophet

Prophet has been an ambitious project from the start. We pre-announced our intentions and have now largely achieved our initial goals. A special thank you to the Gallagher team for their collaboration and perseverance. Their dedication has been instrumental in reaching this milestone.

Looking ahead, we are focusing on two main areas:

AI-Driven Predictions of Cost Estimates:
- We are developing AI-driven predictions that will revolutionize how estimates are generated. Prophet is the bridge between operations and both estimating and financial tracking. Our next step is integrating actuals with estimation to create a unified system. In the next five years, we aim to introduce AI-driven, pattern-matching estimates that go beyond traditional methods.
Improvement of the Pricing Process:
- We are working on enhancing the pricing process based on estimates. This will involve more advanced techniques to manage pricing related to estimates, providing a better feedback loop for future projects.

By the time you fully implement Prophet, these additional features will be available, enhancing your ability to leverage the feedback loop for both current and future jobs. We are committed to defining the cutting edge of integrating estimating and actual tracking.

Closing Remarks

To everyone who has used Prophet so far, thank you for being pioneers on this journey. For those who haven’t, we’re excited to work with you and show you how much Prophet can do for your operations without requiring extra effort on your part. We’ve automated the challenging aspects, allowing you to take full advantage of Prophet’s capabilities right now.

Horizon Live 2024 - Picture Day!

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 19:00:00 -0500

We had a photographer capture pictures throughout Horizon Live 2024, and we just got them all back.

We picked the best 500 and made them available at www.x-b-e.com/horizon-live-2024.

Plus, we selected 80 memorable quotes from the sessions and mixed them into the carousel.

We hope you enjoy reliving the event!

P.S. If you want the full-size version of any photo, let us know.

Horizon Live 2024 - "Ambitious Goals" Keynote

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 19:00:00 -0500

To kick off XBE Horizon Live 2024, Sean Devine delivered a keynote on "Ambitious Goals", the theme of the event.

The presentation explores the importance of setting ambitious goals and introduces XBE’s Game Plans as an effective strategy for achieving and maintaining those objectives.

Watch the presentation on YouTube.

A transcript of the presentation is provided below.

Welcome and Introduction

Our next session is Sean Devine opening with a keynote this morning. We'll start with a guessing game about his costume, and he'll guide us on setting big, ambitious goals. Please welcome Sean to the stage.

Good afternoon. The lights are a bit brighter up here than I expected. First, I want to thank Grant and Kayla for doing a great job and to everyone in the crowd who stood up to be good sports. I thought the "Boast" idea was a lot of fun—they did a fantastic job.

Theme of Horizon Live 2024

The theme of Horizon 2024 is ambitious goals—setting ambitious goals. I'll be talking about this topic for 45 minutes. But first, you might be wondering why I'm dressed this way. There are two reasons.

First, when developing Game Plans, we considered historical figures who successfully led teams to set and achieve ambitious goals. We thought of Vince Lombardi. If it worked for him, it might work for us.

Second, we have some big announcements coming up. I figured if you want to become Superman by the end of the day, you better start as Clark Kent. That's the approach I'm taking as we kick off.

Acknowledgments

Leading XBE is one of the greatest privileges of my career. I thank you all for being customers, for taking the time to travel here, for being experts in what you do and in using our platform. You put your trust in us, and we strive to repay it with good work. I appreciate that—so thank you.

Our team at XBE has grown and now numbers in the mid-30s. I want to thank all of them for their hard work throughout the year to make the company and you successful, and for preparing for today's event, both directly and indirectly. We have about eight or nine team members here who put in the work beforehand and will be here throughout the event. I appreciate that.

We also have some big announcements that took an incredible amount of effort, which you'll learn more about soon. Thank you to the team that worked on that. Lastly, thanks to everyone else handling day-to-day operations as we gather here today. I especially want to thank Theresa—for her unwavering support from the beginning of XBE to today, and over the last three weeks when I focused solely on preparations for today, she was there picking up the slack. Thank you, Theresa.

Our business partners are also here. Trey Bowen, back on the left, has been a partner in XBE since 2019. Business has been immeasurably better because of that partnership. Thank you, Trey, and thank you to your cousin Matt for being with me on this journey. Also, thanks to Banneker Partners, who joined us this January. We have Harjot Sachdeva from Banneker here, and Joe Oberholzer will be here later. They've been great partners, and we appreciate their time with us.

Housekeeping Details

A few housekeeping details: Your experience with XBE all year is our priority, especially as it relates to Horizon Live. We've ensured that someone is keeping track of your good time and making sure that your experience is excellent throughout. If you need anything—related to the event or Kansas City—please ask.

Preview of the Day

Now, let me give you a preview of the day. We have a big agenda that has been sent out and reviewed by many of you, which may have influenced your decision to attend. Part of it included some placeholders, knowing we would swap them out with new content. So, the day will be full of expected and unexpected elements.

I've long heard that the secret to happiness is low expectations, but today, I'm going to do the opposite. I'm setting expectations as high as possible for both today and tomorrow. I believe everyone will walk away with a plan to improve now and a vision to sustain that improvement for the next decade, just as we have for the previous one. Maybe setting expectations that high is a bad decision, but I don't think so because I know what's coming.

Why We Don't Set Ambitious Goals

For the next 15 minutes, I want to discuss why we don't set ambitious goals. Think of this part of the day as the vegetables to the meal—it might not be everyone's favorite, but it's important. What I've observed is that we have an incredible number of possibilities within our organizations, yet the goals we set are far fewer. Over the last five years, many people have asked me what might go wrong with their implementation or what they might regret later. My answer is simple: you're not setting your sights high enough. My goal for the next half hour is to convince you to set more ambitious goals than you currently do. We've worked with 36 different contractors and seen that almost anything one of them can accomplish, and imagine if everyone had that collective ambition—it would be amazing.

So, why don't we set ambitious goals? Here are a few reasons based on my career and life experiences:

Uncertainty: Goals involve things that haven't happened yet, leading to uncertainty. This can be upsetting because failing to achieve a goal might have downsides. However, it's worth sailing into that uncertainty. Accomplishing 80% of ambitious goals is better than 100% of less ambitious ones. Embracing uncertainty is essential for setting ambitious goals.
Accountability: There are two types of people in organizations—those afraid of accountability and those who crave it. Seeking accountability doesn't come naturally to everyone, yet it's crucial for setting and achieving ambitious goals. We need to be held accountable by others and ourselves to keep the cycle going.
Complacency Due to Abundance: In industries like heavy construction, periods of high demand and profitability can lead to complacency. When things are going well, the ambition of goals may decrease. Setting ambitious goals during these times helps prepare for future uncertainties.
Anti-Fragility: We are inherently anti-fragile, meaning we benefit from stress and uncertainty. Setting ambitious goals creates stress that appeals to our anti-fragile nature, driving us to achieve more. The acceptance that we may struggle to achieve these goals or that they may reveal uncomfortable truths is another barrier, but we must look beyond that.

Strategies for Setting Ambitious Goals

Now, let's discuss strategies for setting actual ambitious goals:

Need to Improve: To set an ambitious goal, recognize that improvement is a necessity, not just a desire. The difference between want and need is a state of mind. First, identify circumstances that require improvement and believe that setting an ambitious goal is the only way to achieve it.
Create Necessity: As leaders, we can create necessity for our teams rather than waiting for external factors. This involves:
- Communicating Clearly: Ensure your team understands the context and importance of the ambitious goal.
- Breaking Down Goals: Divide the goal into smaller, manageable parts to avoid overwhelming your team.
- Tracking Progress: Monitor how you're doing against each part of the goal.
- Adjusting as Needed: Be flexible and adjust your plans as reality changes without losing momentum.
Plan to Win Seasons, Not Games: Aim for long-term success rather than short-term victories. After achieving a goal, have a plan to sustain that success to avoid falling back into old habits. Our goal should be to affect reality, not just reflect it.

Game Plans at XBE

At XBE, we've been obsessed for years with convincing everyone to set the most ambitious goals possible. Here's how we've approached it:

Playbook of Proven Successes: We've compiled a playbook of 52 proven strategies extracted from our experience with you and others. These are ready-to-use plays within the XBE app, each backed by XBE features designed to control processes across distributed teams at scale.
Game Plans Feature: Earlier this year, we released Game Plans, symbolized by Vince Lombardi’s icon. This feature is built around setting and achieving ambitious goals, following the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework.
Training Team Members: We've trained a team to understand and apply both the software and the playbook, ensuring they can partner with you in achieving your goals.

Example Play: On-Time Job Starts

Many organizations struggle with starting jobs on time. Our playbook includes a play for on-time starts with five key wins:

Cost Awareness: Teach your organization the cost of idle crews. Increased cost awareness raises the importance of starting on time.
Process Clarity: Define clear communication processes for when to start construction.
Foreman Involvement: Engage foremen in driving the start times, as they are closest to the work.
Accountability: Hold the plant accountable for starting on time.
Visibility: Ensure crews start producing work as soon as materials arrive.

This is just one of over 50 high-value business goals that are solved through our playbook and XBE app.

Implementing Game Plans

Our organization uses your Game Plan trophies as our objectives. We track each objective to ensure we're supporting you effectively. Our team is fluent in the OKR process, enabling us to help you apply these strategies successfully.

One play in the playbook is for building your Game Plan. If you leave here wanting three to five big goals, you can use this play to methodically set the right goals, break them down, involve the right people, and communicate them effectively.

Inspiration from John Doerr

John Doerr, a venture capitalist, formalized the OKR process while working with Google. His work, published in the book "Measure What Matters," serves as the playbook for many high-innovation companies. In his TED talk, he introduces the idea that the secret to success is setting the right goals. I highly recommend watching it—it's so obviously true that it's almost anti-clever. The key takeaway is that the secret to achieving amazing things is deciding to do so by setting the right goals.

Challenge to the Audience

I challenge everyone in the room to leave the next two days with one ambitious goal that you're not sure you can achieve but would make a significant difference to your organization if you did. If every one of the 125 attendees leaves with such a goal, we'll be cooking with gas by Wednesday. That's our objective.

XBE's Commitment and Conclusion

I want to share something exciting: On July 11th, we set the most ambitious goal in XBE's history. As of September 16th, we will announce that we've achieved it. I'm excited to do that, and I hope it inspires all of you to set and achieve your ambitious goals.

Today's content will focus on the tactical execution of setting and managing ambitious goals, both through Game Plans and other process-related improvements in your businesses. With that, I'll conclude my keynote and invite Grant back to transition us to the next section. Thank you, everyone, for coming. I'm excited to spend the next two days with you.

Thank you for joining us at XBE Horizon Live 2024!

XBE Partners with NRMCA to Launch AI-Powered AskConcrete.com

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 14:42:00 -0500

XBE, a leader in operations management software for the heavy construction industry, has partnered with the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) to launch AskConcrete.com — an AI-powered tool built to answer your ready-mixed concrete industry questions.

AskConcrete serves as an answer engine for intricate questions related to ready-mixed concrete, encompassing all facets of material science, production, and logistics. Trained on hundreds of NRMCA publications, AskConcrete combines deep industry expertise with the broad general knowledge of concrete and construction topics, providing accurate, step-by-step answers to a wide range of inquiries.

Example queries might include: “How do I calculate the precise quantity of concrete needed for a project?” “How does temperature impact concrete curing times?” “What are the ASTM standards for aggregate testing?” or “How might carbon capture technology integrate into current production facilities?” AskConcrete delivers instant, reliable answers and references the NRMCA documents that form the basis of its insights.

“AskConcrete represents a step change in how our members tackle daily challenges,” said Andrew Tyrell, Executive Vice President of Government Affairs at NRMCA. “From detailed technical questions to quick operational needs, this tool offers instant insights that improve efficiency and decision-making across all levels of the industry.”

XBE’s CEO, Sean Devine, who revealed AskConcrete at NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks in Denver, CO, today, highlighted its potential: “AskConcrete is the fastest, most effective way to access NRMCA’s extensive knowledge, ensuring that our members have trusted information at their fingertips to solve problems more quickly than ever before.”

The collaboration builds on XBE’s years of leadership in AI innovation, starting with Hey Kayla, an AI tool that inspired subsequent projects like Hey NAPA (for the asphalt pavement industry) and AskConcrete. Beyond these tools, XBE has released over a dozen powerful AI-driven features and recently introduced SuperPower, a new product that leverages AI to transform how users access information and take action within XBE's platform, delivering a groundbreaking user experience.

“AskConcrete is set to become an indispensable resource for NRMCA members,” said Gregg Lewis, Chief Communications Officer at NRMCA. “It’s a tool that gives our members an edge in a competitive and complex market.”

AskConcrete is now live and accessible for free via NRMCA.org or AskConcrete.com.

About XBE XBE is an enterprise software company that provides comprehensive operations management solutions for the horizontal construction industry. Serving vertically integrated construction companies—including those with quarries, asphalt plants, ready-mix plants, trucking companies, and construction operations—XBE delivers the most complete software platform in the industry.

About NRMCA The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) is a leading trade association representing the U.S. ready mixed concrete industry. Its mission is to promote quality, sustainability, and innovation in concrete production and construction. NRMCA provides technical expertise, certification, and advocacy for policies that advance the use of concrete in building and infrastructure projects, with a focus on safety and environmental responsibility.

Horizon Live 2024 - SuperPower Announcement

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 19:00:00 -0500

At the end of day one of Horizon Live 2024, Sean Devine unveiled XBE's next big product, SuperPower.

This was a surprise reveal, and if you'd like to relive it, this is the presentation for you.

Watch the presentation on YouTube.

A transcript of the presentation is provided below.

Grant and the Magician

You know, everyone in the room knows Grant pretty well now, but if you didn't know him, all you'd have to know is that he begged for a magician. And I finally, after six years, relented. And then he said, "Can I have a second?" It's a 100% true story. That actually happened. So anyways, we did get one. It was, I mean, we got to get to this, but Nick came to me and said, "Listen, Grant really wants this. You got to make a decision." And it pained me so much to agree that it was the right thing. But anyways, it'll be a lot of fun. So let's get to it.

End of Day One

This is the end of day one. It's amazing. And everyone still here. The energy has been great. And yeah, without further ado. Oh no, there we are.

Introduction

Okay. You probably think that I'm going to talk about AI stuff to start with, but I'm not. I'm going to talk about what we've all spent a bunch of time doing today and yesterday and the day before that, and probably the thousand days that came before that—staring at our phones, scrolling something. Maybe it's Instagram. Maybe it's Twitter. Maybe it's Facebook. Maybe it's all of them.

The Power of Scrolling

But we have figured out collectively, in spite of ourselves, that nothing beats the convenience and speed of scrolling—some say doom scrolling—a feed of information, right? The world has solved the problem of delivering us what we want, which is a fire hose of information that's fun that we can scroll.

Now, that has led to a funny side effect, which is we've just never been more efficient at wasting our own time, right? We can waste so much time so efficiently because it works, right? It's the way to consume information.

XBE's Opportunity

And we started to wonder something, which is like, why aren't—why is it XBE? Why aren't any of the apps that we use at work leveraging that insight, which is all of us like one kind of app the most, and it's an app with a feed that we can scroll endlessly that delivers us bite-sized chunks of information that keeps us on the wheel, right? We all, we've decided that's what we like. You know, we don't—we say we want dashboards, but what we want is Instagram.

And we started to ask the question, like, what are we missing collectively that isn't leading to us using some of these insights for enterprise software like XBE? And I mean, we all know XBE, right? So on the bright side, it's gigantic. You know, I mean, I remember back when we first started to work with Superior Bowen, which is like six or seven years ago—seven years ago, I think. You know, the platform felt a little wide and a little deep. And then it's expanded at a constant, constant rate, then increasing since then. And at this point, it's gigantic, right? Every one of those 52 plays in the playbook is backed up by another dozen features that go super deep.

And so that's the good of XBE, right? Really wide and really deep.

The Challenge of Complexity

But let's talk about the bad, which is that the more complexity there is, the harder it is to use. And let me tell you, this is a frustrating reality, and that we work and work and work to add the capabilities that everyone, you know, needs and demands and wants. And then the next day, we hear how those capabilities made things harder. And we're stuck in the middle going, "Well, I know that people need to be able to do more. And I know that there is an unavoidable problem with the platform doing more, which is that it becomes harder to use."

And just think about it as a simple math problem, right? Every single little facet, every nook and cranny, every new page, every new button, every new idea is load that's going on our head. We got to figure it out. And then you got the XBE person, that's the expert in this area, the expert in that area. And on the bright side, we can, you know, so much is possible. And in some ways, it kind of torments you, right? Because you're like, "Well, I know everything's possible, and I don't know how to do it."

Rethinking Complexity

And I thought about, you know, what, well, let me back up. We've thought about it for literally constantly for seven years. And the question is, like, well, you know, maybe we'll unify the design language. Maybe we'll make that page easier. Maybe we'll add Kayla so that it's easier to get answers about how it works. Maybe we'll refine the language. Maybe we'll add better training and, you know, and all the things you would do too. And on and on and on and on and on.

And what it felt like was sort of bailing a boat out that had a lot of water coming in that we were putting in because we were adding the features that, of course, people need. And back in July, we said, "You know what? Maybe we're looking at the problem wrong. Maybe it's not just that we want to reduce the pain of more complexity. More capability, you know, the form of complexity. Maybe what we need to do is flip it on its head."

Introducing SuperPower

Maybe we need to make it so that the more capable the platform is, the easier it is to use—not the harder.

We said, "I don't know how we're gonna do it," but that's our goal: to make ease of use a function of complexity. That the more capability we add, the easier it becomes. Because you know what? People have said the same thing again and again, which is that they feel like they need to be a superhero to use XBE to its fullest capability. They know what's possible. They take trips to other companies. They see the videos. They look at it themselves. They read the game plan. And they say, "I don't want to have to be a superhero. I just want to have superpowers. I don't know how to do all the things. I just want to be able to do them."

And we think we've solved it. We think we've got the idea that flips it on its head so that instead of having all of the capability lead to complexity that makes things less usable, that instead we give you superpowers. And the superpowers flip the tradeoff. They make it so that the app gets easier every day. The experience of it doesn't change. It just gets smarter.

Launching SuperPower

And so we've got a new app. And it's called SuperPower. And it's going to be released in early 2025—Q1 2025, hopefully as close to the beginning as possible. And I want to tell you about it.

SuperPower Overview

Not a Separate App:
SuperPower is built on the same underlying infrastructure that powers the same XBE that you're using today. So that enormous engine that's powering everything—we said, "How do we leverage that while creating an experience that doesn't have any of its baggage?"
Not Just a Feature:
To be clear, SuperPower is not a feature like game plans. I was excited to announce game plans. I was excited to send them out earlier this year. I was excited to work with customers on them. I'm excited to dress up like Vince Lombardi and talk about them today. But game plans are just another feature in XBE that's helping our customers achieve things that are great.
Vision for the Future:
SuperPower is our vision for the next eight years of the core interaction model for XBE. And I'm excited to be able to demo it today. So let's do it.

Exclusive Preview

Now, I just want to make one quick comment. I think four people have seen SuperPower in the world. Like one of them is my dad. So we have worked in a pretty tight team to build this. Most of XBE hasn't even seen all of SuperPower yet. So this is one of the reasons for the excitement.

First Glimpse at SuperPower

Here's your first glimpse at SuperPower. And it'll look suspiciously like other social media apps that you've used. And we're going to go through all the details.

Top Features

Creators:
Up at the top, we've got ideas that you're used to working with—literally projects, game plans, trophies, people, right? So those are the creators. What do we mean by that?
We said, "Hey, what if we make the individual resources in XBE creators that can post to a timeline?" For example:
- Job Production Plan:
  Knows a huge amount about what's going on. We teach it to create posts like it's an Instagram influencer, sharing interesting details.
- Game Plans:
  Objectives post their status every day.
- Feed:
  A single scrollable feed that includes posts from all projects, job production plans, trucking companies, and objectives, formatted for easy reading.

Example Posts

Late Start Post Type:
"On Project X, there is a late start that was 44 minutes late. It was planned for 10:30. It didn't ship till 11:13. The delay impacted eight trucks, eight people, and six pieces of equipment."
Project Plan Post Type:
"Project plan for automating raw material inventory estimation is 25% complete. Status: Yellow. Summary of what's been done and what to expect."

Win Status Scoreboard

To the right, you'll see a win status scoreboard. It's automatically posted every day, analyzing every win across all game plans. It aggregates high-level metrics and summarizes what's changed and what's notable.

Creator Icons

At the top, each icon represents different resources, sorted like Instagram by recent posts. Here's a zoomed-in look:

Custom Avatars:
Each creator (e.g., projects) has custom-designed avatars with project-specific language and iconography.
Trophies:
Each trophy has a unique design and name (e.g., Driver Visibility Trophy) with relevant icons.

Consistent Interface

Every content type has short text and long text:

Short Text:
Visible in the feed for a quick glimpse.
Long Text:
Accessible by clicking into the details.

Regardless of post type—whether there are 2,000 types or more—the interface remains identical. You just scroll through the feed to find what matters to you.

Personalized Feeds

Each person's feed is personalized based on their role and relationships within the organization. Here's how it works:

Content Creators:
Evaluate who may care about each post based on roles and relationships.
Feed Personalization:
Each individual has a unique feed, not just an organization-wide feed.
Visual Distinction:
Different post types have unique visuals to make key information stand out at a glance.

Engaging with Content

Every post is something you can engage with. For example:

Trophy Post Interaction:
"Automate Raw Material Inventory"
- Details:
  "Remaining wins, including compliance achievement and system retirement, haven't yet started but are sequenced to follow once earlier tasks are wrapped up. The end date's approaching.
User Interaction:
- Michael Alvarez:
  "This is great. Who are the customer success leaders of the remaining wins?"
- Kayla's Response:
  [Automated response with relevant information]

Introducing Kayla

Meet Kayla, our virtual assistant integrated into SuperPower:

Iconography:
Stylish woman with a banana and a halo indicates Kayla's responses.
Functionality:
- Answering Questions:
  Kayla can fetch information, perform analysis, and think critically to provide comprehensive answers.
- Actionable Tasks:
  Kayla can perform actions like approving time cards or dispatching lineups based on your instructions.
Continuous Improvement:
As more post types and skills are added, Kayla becomes smarter and more capable, making the platform easier to use over time.

How Kayla Works

Automatic Listening:
XBE listens for relevant information and engages without needing explicit invocation.
Contextual Understanding:
Kayla understands the context of your queries by analyzing related posts and information within the feed.
Advanced AI Integration:
Recently upgraded to the new O1 mini model, Kayla can now perform more complex thinking and analysis beyond the GPT-4o class engine.

Interactive Demonstration

Let's see Kayla in action:

Question Example:
"Provide me a list of the minutes early or late on this job for the last few days."
- Kayla's Response:
  "14th: 2 minutes early, 13th: 4 minutes late, 12th: 2 minutes late, 11th: 13 minutes late."
Feature Suggestion Example:
- User:
  "I wish there was a post type that showed me the trucking surplus for the milling jobs yesterday."
- Kayla:
  "It sounds like you're suggesting a feature to generate performance reports for all drivers on a job. Would you like me to create a new feature suggestion for you?"
- User:
  "Yes."
- Kayla:
  [Creates the feature suggestion instantly]

Community Engagement

SuperPower is designed to incorporate your ideas seamlessly:

Feature Suggestion Proffer:
Type your ideas directly into the feed, and Kayla will handle the rest.
Upvoting and Merging Ideas:
If multiple users suggest similar features, Kayla intelligently merges or upvotes based on user input.

Getting Started with SuperPower

Here's how you can engage with SuperPower:

Access the Preview:
- Availability:
  The preview is available today.
Provide Feedback:
- Share your ideas for new post types and features.
Continuous Improvement:
- Expect daily additions of new post types and skills, enhancing the platform's capabilities without altering the familiar interface.

Acknowledgments

Before wrapping up, I want to thank a few key people:

Entire XBE Team:
For keeping things together and pushing towards the finish line.
Milind:
For primary collaboration on SuperPower.
Juliana:
Took over day-to-day management of the core app since July 11th.
Team Members:
Pankaj, Colenso, Keval, and Ravi for their contributions.

Milind deserves a bunch of applause.

Final Thoughts

No Major Interface Changes:
SuperPower is built on top of the existing XBE backend, ensuring that the front end remains familiar and unchanged.
Invitation to Collaborate:
We invite you to download SuperPower, explore its features, and share your ideas. Your feedback is invaluable as we continue to build and refine this platform together.
Interactive Session Tomorrow:
Tomorrow, we'll have an interactive session to discuss post types and actions developed by the community. It’s going to be an amazing experience together.

Conclusion

So, let's go and celebrate you, celebrate SuperPower, and celebrate Horizon Live. Thank you!

Enjoy the rest of Horizon Live 2024 and stay tuned for more exciting updates from XBE.

Ensuring Accurate, Efficient, and Speedy Trucking Invoicing

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 19:00:00 -0500

These are updated recommendations designed to help you achieve your trucking invoicing goals.

TL;DR: We recommend having a single trucking rate administrator, conducting trucking time card audits (automating where possible), and using a 1-day billing period and 3-day invoice offset to optimize your invoicing.

Common Goals

Most customers share four core goals when it comes to trucking invoicing:

Accuracy: Ensuring invoices reflect the correct quantities and rates.
Stability: Minimizing changes to invoices after they are generated.
Speed: Generating and processing invoices quickly.
Efficiency: Keeping the process smooth and easy for everyone involved.

Balancing these goals can be challenging—accuracy can sometimes come at the expense of speed or efficiency, especially when additional audits are involved.

Features to Achieve These Goals

XBE has developed several features over the years to help you meet these invoicing goals:

Trucking Rate Agreements: Rates are automatically applied to tenders during dispatching, and then used to rate time cards and invoices. To handle diverse scenarios, the rate management process is necessarily complex but streamlined to minimize administrative work.
Billing Period and Invoice Offset Settings: The billing period determines how often time cards are aggregated for invoicing, while the offset determines how long after the billing period ends the invoice is generated. For example, a 1-day billing period with a 3-day offset means that invoices are generated every day, but with a delay of 3 days to allow for approvals and audits.
Trucking Time Card Approval Audits: Introduced in September 2022, this feature ensures that time cards are reviewed before invoicing, adding a second set of eyes to ensure accuracy and reduce incorrect charges.
Automated Time Card Reviews with Kathy: Kathy, our AI reviewer, was launched in May 2023. She helps streamline audits by analyzing shift data and suggesting start and end times for shifts, making manual reviews required less often, faster, and more accurate.

The Impact of Trucking Time Card Audits

Initially introduced to manage periods of high change or stress, trucking time card audits have proven effective at preventing over-billing and reducing unnecessary trucking costs—despite adding some administrative effort.

Over the past two years, adoption has grown significantly. Today, over 30% of time card approvals are audited, and 11 customers have audits enabled. We estimate a reduction in overbilling by 2% for most customers, translating to roughly 10 minutes per driver day saved—a substantial impact with over 1,000 audits daily.

Given the positive results, we recommend enabling time card audits, especially if rates are complex or drivers are paid by the hour which can increase ambiguity.

Kathy's Upgrade: Smarter Automated Reviews

Kathy, our automated time card reviewer, has recently been upgraded with OpenAI's o1-mini reasoning model, improving her ability to accurately determine start and end times for shifts. This upgrade allows Kathy to handle audits more effectively, reducing the need for manual reviews while increasing accuracy.

We recommend enabling automated audits for time card approvals, especially where manual auditing is already in place. Kathy’s conservative approach ensures accuracy while minimizing workload.

Billing Period and Invoice Offset Best Practices

Billing and offset settings are often chosen based on habit rather than optimal efficiency. We recommend that the settings be revisited from time-to-time and compared with your overall goals. Our general recommendations are:

Billing Period: 1-day billing period. This allows you to identify and address issues quickly.
Invoice Offset: 3-day offset. This provides enough time for approvals and audits without significantly increasing latency.

Shorter offsets can work, but should only be attempted once the overall invoicing process is stable.

The Importance of a Single Trucking Rate Administrator

Given the complexity of trucking rate agreements and the need for accuracy, we recommend designating a single trucking rate administrator. The administrator should have familiarity with the trucking process and would also have a high aptitude for detailed systems-based contract administration work. Having a single good administrator will ensure consistent oversight and minimize errors.

We're Here to Help

Setting up accurate trucking billing policies and settings is critical but can be complex. XBE supports a wide range of scenarios, and we’re here to help ensure your setup is right for your needs. These guidelines are just starting points—reach out, and let’s get it right together.

SuperPower Unveiled: XBE's Next-Generation Solution Flips the Script on Usability

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 18:00:58 -0500

XBE, the leading innovator for the horizontal construction industry, today announced the launch of SuperPower at its annual customer conference, Horizon Live 2024. The event, held in Kansas City, MO, brought together over 125 industry leaders from more than 30 leading companies.

SuperPower is a groundbreaking new product built on top of the existing XBE platform. Designed to eliminate the trade-off between platform capabilities and usability, SuperPower introduces a transformative experience for users.

"We've not only solved the trade-off between capabilities and usability—we've flipped it on its head," said Sean Devine, CEO of XBE. "With SuperPower, the more capability we add, the easier it becomes to use. Now, everyone can harness the full power of XBE without the complexity."

SuperPower introduces two key innovations:

Hot Feed: A dynamic feed of platform- and user-generated posts organized into user-centric and resource-centric views, providing fast and easy access to critical information.
Kayla: An always-running intelligent agent that answers questions, performs analysis, and takes action on behalf of users through natural language interaction.

"People fear that they have to be a superhero to use enterprise software when all they want are superpowers," added Sean Devine. "SuperPower makes you a superhero—it's the pile of cherries on top of everything XBE offers."

Attendees at Horizon Live 2024 were the first to experience SuperPower, seeing firsthand how it transforms user interaction with the platform. SuperPower is scheduled for release in early 2025, but a preview is available for select users today.

For more information about XBE, please visit www.x-b-e.com.

About XBE

XBE is an enterprise software company that provides comprehensive operations management solutions for the horizontal construction industry. Serving vertically integrated construction companies—including those with quarries, asphalt plants, ready-mix plants, trucking companies, and construction operations—XBE delivers the most complete software platform in the industry.

ARTBA U.S. Highway & Bridge Construction Update at NAPA Midyear Meeting

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:00:00 -0500

The XBE team attended the NAPA Midyear Meeting in Brooklyn last week. It was wonderful to see many XBE community members there.

The meeting mainly discussed familiar topics: sustainability, workforce development, safety, and funding.

Regarding funding, Josh Hurwitz from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) gave an excellent "U.S. Highway & Bridge Construction Update" presentation (download here). He also announced that ARTBA has partnered with NAPA to produce State Fact Sheets (see slide 30 for an example) that will be released soon.

His presentation is important for all XBE customers, not just asphalt contractors. I recommend you review it closely.

In particular, I noted the following key points:

Highway-related investment is up dramatically. New capital funding in state DOT budgets is up nearly 40% from 2021 - 2024.
Post-IIJA funding levels are uncertain. There's hope that current levels are the new baseline, but that is not at all assured.
Bid prices have risen much more than material input pricing. This is due to material price inflation risk aversion and supply/demand imbalance.

None of us have a crystal ball, but it appears there is more downside than upside risk as it relates to demand (because of IIJA's timeline and general concerns regarding inflation) and pricing (as supply-demand balance returns or worse and inflation risk estimates fall) in the next five years. The timing of this risk varies by market, but most will feel the pressure within three years.

In order to sustain current levels of profitability, most contractors will need to improve their operational efficiency as they won't be able to count on demand and price increases.

Thankfully, XBE provides the Playbook and the platform to make that happen. If your market isn't yet feeling demand or pricing pressure, now is a good time to get ahead of those challenges by creating an operational efficiency Game Plan. If you are already feeling that pressure, the second best time is now.

The XBE Customer Success team is available to help develop your Game Plan to leverage the broad and deep capabilities of XBE. Please don't hesitate to take full advantage.

As always, thanks to all XBE customers for your continued partnership.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Preliminary Injunction Issued Against Davis-Bacon Act Expansion

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:00:00 -0500

On June 24, 2024, a Texas federal district court issued a significant ruling that partially and temporarily blocks enforcement of the expanded Davis-Bacon Act pending the outcome of ongoing litigation. This ruling impacts specific provisions, notably §5.2 and the entirety of §5.5(e) of the Department of Labor's Final Rule on "Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations" (Final Rule).

The Final Rule, which was published on August 23, 2023, and took effect on October 23, 2023, introduced substantial changes to how the Davis-Bacon Act is applied, including:

Operation-of-law Provisions: These provisions would incorporate the Davis-Bacon requirements into contracts even if they were omitted from the contract documents.
Material Suppliers and Truck Drivers: The rule expanded the scope of the Act to include certain activities of material suppliers and truck drivers on the job site, which were previously exempt or not clearly covered.

The court's preliminary injunction reflects concerns that these provisions exceed the Department of Labor's authority under the Davis-Bacon Act and may impose significant administrative burdens on contractors.

Previously, the expansion of the Davis-Bacon rule in Summer 2023 was covered in this XBE newsletter. In response, XBE released features in October 2023 to help manage the new compliance requirements, particularly for prevailing wages for truck drivers.

We expect industry associations to provide additional guidance soon, which will be helpful to contractors as it relates to bidding strategies and compliance. We encourage XBE customers to leverage these resources and to stay informed about the ongoing legal developments.

For more details, you can download the full court decision here.

Discover NotifAI: Customized Notifications for Everyone

Wed, 10 Apr 2024 19:00:00 -0500

We're thrilled to announce the launch of NotifAI, an innovative feature developed as part of our Project Riverpath initiative. NotifAI is designed to radically simplify the way XBE users manage notifications, offering total control of notification delivery regardless of technical expertise.

What NotifAI Offers:

Personalized Control: Dictate when and how notifications are delivered. Whether it's minimizing interruptions or ensuring critical updates are sent by txt and email, NotifAI is designed to cater to each user's preferences.
Intuitive Setup: Use simple, natural language to express notification preferences. Just tell NotifAI, “No alerts after 8 PM - save them until the morning” or “Only urgent updates, please,” and it will handle the rest.

NotifAI reflects our commitment to enhancing usability and offering personalized solutions to all users. It makes the XBE platform more intuitive and user-friendly, guided by the feedback and needs of our community.

NotifAI is every notification setting enhancement that anyone has ever asked for, all through a single text box.

Regards,

The XBE Team

Constructive Insights #1: Well begun is half done.

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 19:00:00 -0500

This is the inaugural edition of "Constructive Insights", the weekly newsletter of XBE's Customer Success team. Each issue will be packed with content designed to enhance your success with XBE. The newsletter will be divided into sections including:

Best Practices: Discover proven strategies to maximize the value of XBE within your organization.
Pro Tips: Learn quick tips and tricks about helpful features and techniques about which you might be unaware.
Community Spotlight: Get to know key people within XBE and its community.

Your time is valuable. Let's get straight to the content!

"Well begun is half done." - Aristotle

Strategic short-term victories deliver quick value while increasing the likelihood of sustained success. By establishing and meeting small, achievable objectives, teams can preserve momentum and enthusiasm throughout a transition. These initial successes offer concrete proof of progress, enhancing confidence and morale. Moreover, they facilitate immediate feedback and necessary modifications, which are vital for the ongoing refinement of the implementation strategy. Celebrating these milestones not only keeps the team driven but also emphasizes the benefits of the new process and software, promoting consistent engagement and ensuring long-term achievement.

Specific advantages of these short-term accomplishments include:

Instant Satisfaction: Humans crave quick rewards, a tendency shaped by millennia of evolution where immediate benefits often equated to survival. This bias towards instant rewards over long-term benefits is termed the "immediacy effect." Short-term victories cater to this psychological need, offering instant gratification and reinforcing positive behavior.
Positive Feedback: Short-term successes serve as positive feedback, encouraging the repetition of effective behaviors. This principle suggests that actions leading to favorable outcomes are more likely to be repeated, thereby fostering a cycle of continuous improvement.
Boosted Motivation: According to researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, the most powerful workplace motivator is witnessing progress in meaningful tasks. Even minor accomplishments can substantially enhance an individual's work life, improving engagement, creativity, and efficiency.

You might wonder about the optimal strategy for achieving short-term victories. Here are our suggestions for capitalizing on these opportunities:

Implement SMART Goals: Define goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Transparent Communication: Share the objectives and updates on progress to maintain clarity and collective focus.
Recognize Achievements: Celebrate all successes, regardless of scale. This not only acts as positive reinforcement but also builds momentum. Consider using XBE's Positive Praise feature to standardize the recognition process.

In summary, the psychological impact of short-term victories is meaningful. They serve as critical instruments for enhancing motivation, reinforcing effective behaviors, and segmenting the path to complex objectives into more manageable intervals. Whether applied at the personal, team, or organization-level, leveraging short-term wins fosters sustained progress and, ultimately, the realization of long-term goals. Remember, every significant journey begins with a modest step, and each incremental advance represents its own form of triumph.

Any time you want to get back to your main "Today" screen, simply click on the logo in the top center of the screen.

For those without Branch access, clicking on the logo will take you back to your main "Browse" screen.

Hello! I'm Sean Correll, the new Vice President of Customer Success here at XBE. In each newsletter, we will be shining the "Spotlight" on a member of the XBE community. As this is the first edition, I'll take this opportunity to introduce myself.

With over 25 years of experience in enterprise software, I've dedicated my career to elevating customer success within a range of fields, including logistics, supply chain, and the public sector. My journey into business was preceded by eight rewarding years in the US Navy, where I served as a Naval Flight Officer in the S-3B Viking aircraft. In the latter part of my military tenure, I embraced the role of an instructor, imparting strategies and tactics to optimize aircraft performance—a chapter of my life that profoundly shaped my approach to mentorship and education in the business world.

As an instructor, I had the unique experience of guiding numerous student aviators through their first landings on an aircraft carrier's deck in the S-3. These landings, while thrilling, undoubtedly contributed to my now full head of gray hair. However, we never approached a landing unprepared. Each student completed at least 100 practice landings on a simulated carrier deck before attempting the real thing.

Moreover, we emphasized the importance of a "good start", which is crucial for ensuring a successful landing. This concept, illustrated in the diagram below, underscores that a proper approach begins well before the landing itself, setting the stage for a seamless touchdown.

A "good start" was a doctrine we lived by. Just as a good start leads to a smoother landing, a strong start in any phase of your XBE software implementation paves the way for successful outcomes.

My decision to join XBE was heavily influenced by a two-decade-long acquaintance with our CEO, Sean Devine. Embracing the opportunity to work alongside him, I was drawn by our shared dedication to exemplary customer service. My goal is to ensure that every XBE customer not only harnesses the full capabilities of our platform but also experiences unparalleled support and service.

I am passionate about helping people and teams succeed with technology, and I bring a history of proven results and strategic problem-solving to XBE. I look forward to collaborating with all of you, learning from your experiences, and contributing to our collective success.

Are you ready to be in the "spotlight"? Can we help you succeed? Let me know at sean-correll@x-b-e.com.

Join XBE at World of Asphalt 2024

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 19:00:00 -0500

Join XBE at World of Asphalt 2024 in Nashville next week from Monday, March 25th through Wednesday, March 27th.

The following XBE team members will be in attendance:

Sean Devine, Founder & CEO
Grant Wollenhaupt, Chief Commercial Officer
Kayla Devine, Sales Manager

Are you going to be there? If yes, register to be part of our group.

We'll coordinate meet-ups and provide other helpful content throughout the event.

We look forward to seeing everyone there.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Horizon Live 2024 Registration

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 19:00:00 -0500

We're excited to announce Horizon Live 2024, our upcoming community conference.

The conference will be held at the Oliver Building, a wonderful venue in Kansas City's historic West Bottoms neighborhood.

We'll announce further details throughout the spring and summer.

You won't want to miss it.

P.S. Our conference in 2022 was amazing. Read and watch the recap to learn all about it. This one will be even better.

XBE - Five Years Later

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0600

This Monday at NAPA 2024, Shark Tank icon Daymond John is slated as a keynote speaker.

That prompt sent us down a nostalgic path. Back in 2019, XBE was a newly born startup and was selected to participate in the BGSA’s Shark Tank Competition.

Despite no expectations, we won that competition – and 5 years later – a lot has gone right for our business:

Truckers on XBE increased by 3521%; Drivers on XBE increased by 1541%; Total shifts managed on XBE increased from 20.3k to 1.3M.
Expanded in many new markets, now serving over 30 large horizontal construction customers.
Last week, we announced a significant investment from Banneker Partners, a leading private equity firm specializing in enterprise software.

In the spirit of Shark Tank’s “Where Are They Now?” series, which serves as a post-mortem on successful investment deals struck on the show, we wanted to pose a series of reflective questions to our Founder and CEO Sean Devine to share with the XBE and horizontal construction community.

Building a successful technology startup is often described as a “suicide mission that sometimes goes right.” We thought it would be fun to highlight the good, bad, and ugly of building XBE into the category leading platform it is today.

This post is the first in a series.

Part I – Good Fortune

Q: What would your fortune cookie have read in 2019?

Sean: “See the movie. Live the book.”

I could see what XBE would become and how to get there, but only to the depth and nuance of a movie. And from the outside, that’s probably what others saw too. But, the book - living it - was even better. Full of side quests, characters, and moments.

Q: Luck sometimes plays an outsized role in startup success. What is the single most fortuitous event that happened to XBE over the last five years?

Sean: The COVID-19 pandemic was terrible for the world, but it wasn’t terrible for our business. That’s an uncomfortable truth to wrestle with, incredibly lucky, and something I don’t take for granted.

During COVID, most contractors were deemed essential service providers, and so our customers continued to operate throughout. In addition, the IIJA infrastructure bill passed due to COVID-era feelings about economic stimulus, and that stabilized funding and increased the confidence of contractors to invest in their operations. Granted, there was some related inflation, and that created stress on our customers, but it didn’t last too long and created opportunities for XBE to add value.

In addition, while XBE was always a partially remote team, we went fully remote in 2020. This enabled us to more easily expand our team in India and anywhere else that we could find great talent. Also, my family moved from Chicago to Kansas City during that time, which was great for us personally and put us closer to Superior Bowen which led to some great relationships and collaboration. Finally, the pandemic made everyone (including customers) more comfortable with remote work which enabled us to serve a growing customer base with a small team and limited travel.

Some of the outstanding members of the XBE team at a recent outing in Goa, India

To be clear, if I had a magic wand, I’d wish COVID away completely, including all of these benefits. I was terribly sick in 2020, as were so many other people during the following years. But, from the perspective of the business, COVID made us stronger, and for that I feel very fortunate.

Q: What other unplanned events changed the trajectory of where XBE is today?

Sean: My leadership and management style at XBE has been heavy on vision and culture, and light on planning. Perhaps that’s a matter of personality, but it was also a good strategy during our formative years.

For that reason, most events were unplanned, though few felt unexpected.

This sounds like an ironic approach for a software company that has pioneered a tremendously effective planning-heavy approach to operations management! But, I think it fits our context. We’re innovators, and we spend much of our time working in the uncertain frontier where heavy planning can limit upside and cause frustration.

Hey Kayla is a great example of this.

For years, we carefully documented new features with release notes, and published newsletters about various business topics. We did this because we believe in the leverage of content, and not because we foresaw the wave of AI innovation that hit in 2022 - 2023. We didn’t have a plan to build a support chatbot like Hey Kayla, but we were prepared to take advantage and agile enough to do so.

That said, things have started to shift. While we still do innovative work for which planning is difficult, our work is generally more predictable than it once was. We’re making plans to plan.

Stay tuned for the next post in the “XBE Five Years Later Series: Part II – The Trough of Despair.”

XBE Announces Strategic Investment from Banneker Partners

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 12:00:00 -0600

XBE, the operations management software platform for the horizontal construction industry, today announced a significant investment from Banneker Partners, a leading private equity firm specializing in enterprise software. This investment will enable XBE to increase its pace of innovation and expansion.

“We’ve partnered with Banneker to leverage their capital and proven expertise to accelerate the delivery of more value to more customers,” said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. “We wouldn’t have this opportunity without the support of our customer community, and the dedication of our incredible team. We’re excited to start this next chapter together.”

XBE established itself as the market leader in orchestrating the operations of the horizontal construction industry by solving difficult challenges in innovative ways. The company’s software platform includes materials, logistics, and construction management capabilities for the asphalt, concrete, aggregate, and site work segments. XBE is integrated with dozens of upstream and downstream systems, and is relied on by users at all levels, inside and outside of customer organizations. XBE’s steady growth is thanks to customer referrals, and is just getting started.

Matt McDonald, Partner at Banneker Partners, commented on the investment, “We’ve been interested in the construction space for years. With XBE, we believe that we’ve found the winning platform. We are excited to partner with Sean and his team to build upon their success by investing to enhance the product and deliver more value for customers.”

About XBE XBE is a leader in operations management software for the horizontal construction industry. It offers an integrated solution encompassing materials, logistics, and construction management. Known for its robust platform, extensive integrations, and excellent support, XBE drives efficiency, growth, and risk management for customers. For more information, visit https://www.x-b-e.com

About Banneker Partners Banneker Partners specializes in investing in and growing enterprise software businesses. They focus on sustainable value through best practices, growth initiatives, and strategic acquisitions, supporting founders and management teams in enhancing customer value. Learn more at https://www.bannekerpartners.com

Contact Information: Sean Devine Founder & CEO, XBE sean-devine@x-b-e.com

2023 Year in Review

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 18:00:00 -0600

Season's Greetings! As 2023 draws to a close, we invite you to pause and reflect with us on a year of significant progress and partnership. Before you take your well-deserved break, let's revisit the milestones and memories that have shaped this year.

It was a year of remarkable growth.

We achieved so many new heights! Our user base expanded by 46% through a combination of new customers and increased adoption. We welcomed 9 new customers, growing our community by 42%. Our platform managed 585K+ trucking shifts, a 44% increase from last year. We imported 2.9M material transactions, an increase of 76%. Plus, the XBE team grew by 25%, now boasting 25 dedicated members, each contributing to our shared vision.

It was a year of industry changes and opportunities.

The year brought its unique challenges and opportunities for our customers. The rollout of funding from the IIJA Infrastructure Bill was uneven, but overall, it provided robust support. There was some relief from inflation, with stable liquid asphalt cement prices and lower diesel and natural gas costs. However, the rise in interest rates increased the cost of capital, impacting investment decisions. New Davis-Bacon rules, combined with shortages in skilled labor, drivers, and management, are ongoing and significant challenges. Amidst all this, the breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing what's possible.

It was a year of active industry support.

Our involvement in the industry deepened significantly. We launched 'Hey NAPA', a free AI-powered expert for the asphalt industry that has been leveraged by over 1,000 community members. Plus, I had the honor of introducing 'Hey NAPA' as the keynote speaker at NAPA's Midyear Meeting in Kansas City. Our active participation in events across various states and in NAPA's Road Forward Initiative underlined our commitment to the industry. We also increased our engagement with the NRMCA.

It was a year of innovation.

The XBE platform benefited from innovations in all areas including:

Scheduling and Resource Management: From the Minimap View of the Board to the WorkFrame and Enhanced Job Production Plan Schedule Change Form, we made large improvements to all aspects of the scheduling workflow.
Trucking Management: Innovations like AlignUp! and Kathy brought automation and optimization to the forefront.
Collaboration: We introduced newsletter and release note podcast feeds, meeting transcript summarization, and refined action item task management.
Project Prophet: This new feature will revolutionize project profitability management, encompassing everything from multi-estimate management to automated bridge analysis. We're just getting started.
Materials Management: We introduced portable material sites and enhanced material transaction management.
Safety Management: Innovations in safety risk assessment and communication automation are signs of things to come.
Davis-Bacon Compliance: New tools for managing prevailing wage settings and job site hours streamlined compliance.
Time Sheet Management: Enhanced crew timesheet workflows and time sheet line items facilitated more efficient payroll and administration.
Continuous Improvement: Automatic incident net impact calculations and incident summarization reports enhanced our platform's analytical capabilities.
Platform Tools: 'Hey Kayla', our on-demand expert, and Quick Menu 2.0 were among the numerous changes we introduced to streamline the user experience.

We added 38 new inbound integrations and 32 new export formatters.

15 XBE team members made 7,447 contributions to the platform, maintaining our steady pace of development.

It was a year of vibrant community engagement.

Our commitment to sharing knowledge and fostering collaboration continued in 2023. From publishing helpful content on various industry-relevant topics to producing engaging and informative videos, we ensured that our customers stayed informed and empowered. Our Customer Scorecard Initiative helped structure our assessment of opportunities, and the Könstruction Calendar was a fun artistic expression inspired by the seasonality of the industry.

It was our best year yet, and next year will be even better.

As we look to 2024, we're excited about the return of the Horizon LIVE Conference in the fall, the adoption of Project Prophet, the introduction of new material manufacturing management features, the expansion of our safety management capabilities, and so much more. In addition, we look forward to leveraging our integration abilities to build many new inbound and outbound connections to make using XBE as seamless and efficient as possible. Finally, when the XBE customer community grows, we all benefit. We expect that 2024 will be our best growth year yet, and we greatly appreciate any and all referrals and references.

It's been a journey of collective achievement and resilience. Thank you for your trust and collaboration. Here's to another year of growth and success.

Warm regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Hey NAPA Update - More Knowledge, More Speed, More Answers

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0600

We're excited to share the latest enhancements to Hey NAPA, our AI-powered gift to the asphalt community. Here’s what’s new:

Expanded Document Library

Hey NAPA’s library now boasts 777 documents, covering a vast 28,379 pages. Highlights include:

Detailed Manuals and Guides for designing asphalt mixtures.
In-depth Technical Reports offering insights from various research studies.
Concise TechBriefs, keeping you informed about the latest developments.
Legal Briefs for up-to-date compliance information.
User-friendly Checklists and How-To Documents for practical guidance.
Case Studies illustrating real-world applications and solutions.

This enriched library means Hey NAPA (and you) have access to the largest collection of asphalt-related publications ever assembled.

Increased Capacity

Hey NAPA can now reference up to 100 pages per answer. This is a tenfold increase from the previous capacity, enabling more nuanced, well-researched answers with better citations.

Enhanced Speed

Despite the expanded library and capacity, Hey NAPA is now faster than ever. You'll receive references in seconds, and answers will be generated immediately thereafter.

Usage Milestones

To date, Hey NAPA has answered approximately 9,000 questions from around 1,000 users. This milestone reflects the trust and reliance the community places in Hey NAPA as a resource for education and decision-making.

If you haven't tried Hey NAPA yet, sign up today. It's free, and is more valuable than ever.

Navigating Davis-Bacon Act Changes with XBE

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Disclaimer: Contractors should consult with their legal counsel regarding the implications of Davis-Bacon to their business. While XBE needs to understand the changes to build great solutions, we're just a software company! This newsletter is not legal advice.

This is also available as a video newsletter on YouTube.

Executive Summary

The summer 2023 revisions to the Davis-Bacon Act introduced substantial changes that significantly impact contractors and subcontractors involved in federal contract work. The alterations include an effective expansion of the Act's coverage to more labor classifications including truck drivers, increased responsibility for subcontractor compliance, alterations to the method of calculating prevailing wages, and more severe consequences for non-compliance. These changes will affect project estimating, labor management, supply management, and compliance workflows. Consequently, strategic navigation through these changes will determine "winners" and "losers".

Fortunately, XBE is here to help. We've responded to these changes by notably enhancing our existing platform to provide a seamless, comprehensive compliance solution. Offering precise location and hour tracking, clear communication of prevailing wages, effective handling of wage differences, compliance payment requirements, and ease of integration, XBE's solution to the Davis-Bacon Act changes will simplify your route to effective compliance.

Our easy-to-implement features will enable accurate wage compliance, save on administrative costs, ripple down to healthier trucking supply chains, and ultimately, position your business competitively in the evolving landscape of federal contract work. Despite the looming uncertainties, the future within the federal contract space is navigable, especially with XBE to help you through the trickiest administrative challenges.

Situation Overview

The Davis-Bacon Act, a federal law governing labor wages on public works projects, underwent a comprehensive overhaul in the summer of 2023. This shift substantially changes wage rules for contractors and subcontractors, marking the biggest modification to the Act in 40 years. These rules apply to federally funded projects, and to many state projects as well.

One critical stakeholder group — truck drivers — is front-and-center in these adjustments. The Act's expansion now covers more truck drivers, including those hired by third-party trucking companies, under its coverage. This change considerably shifts contractors' responsibility around trucking labor costs and administrative processes.

On top of broadening the scope to include more categories of workers, it creates clear responsibility for the compliance of subcontractors and truckers, and dramatically increases potential liability for compliance violations.

The revisions are effective for contracts awarded on or after October 23, 2023. This imminent deadline places pressure on contractors and subcontractors to prepare for and align with the new requirements as they take effect.

Strategic Analysis

These sweeping changes to the Davis-Bacon Act create meaningful cost, risk, and competitiveness consequences. How contractors adapt to these changes will determine whether they emerge as "winners" or "losers".

Winners will be those contractors that act decisively. Those with well-organized logistics administration and robust trucking supply management capabilities stand to benefit. By keeping pace with the rule change, they can streamline compliance and limit disruptions to their operations and finances.

On the other side, those who neglect the responsibilities brought on by these modifications or who adopt a wait-and-see approach with truckers might be the losers. Ignoring the mandate or delaying response could expose them to not only administrative hassles but also financial repercussions and reputational damages.

Non-compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act changes can potentially lead to debarment, prohibiting contractors from participating in future government contracts and impacting a wide array of entities related to the contractor, such as controlling shareholders, joint venture partners, and other overseeing contractors. Moreover, it's important to note, the debarment period is now a mandatory three years with no option for early removal, posing a significant risk to future business opportunities.

From the perspective of trucking companies, these changes are a mixed bag. While uncertainty and fear about expanding administrative burdens are genuine concerns, the situation also offers opportunities. Trucking companies might reconsider taking on Davis-Bacon jobs unless the administrative challenges are addressed effectively. However, the prospect of higher wages for drivers could help reduce staff turnover and boost performance.

For the contractor, depending on the size of the prevailing wage differential, the direct cost impact of this change can range widely. In a typical city in the midwest, the minimum increase will be roughly equivalent to 2% of trucking spend or 0.25% of revenue if administered excellently, and up to a maximum of 8% of trucking spend or 1% of revenue if truckers are paid the prevailing wage for all hours on Davis-Bacon jobs. In addition, there will be increased administrative costs to manage.

Yet, the net effect of these changes does not have to be negative. Cost-effective compliance is a new dimension on which contractors will compete. The best contractors will experience a relative cost improvement vs. competitors that do not take the situation seriously. To realize that advantage, the first step is understanding the tactical problem that needs to be solved.

Tactical Requirements

Adapting to the changes in the Davis-Bacon Act requires a handful of important tactical changes.

One of the key requirements involves tracking job site locations. Given the Act's expanded coverage, contractors need to accurately keep tabs on where job sites are from the legislation's perspective. The task becomes notably more complicated considering that some off-site locations, material supply sites, and transportation routes are now included.

Equally important is the tracking of job site hours. Contractors must monitor who is on the job site and when. This need is particularly vital for managing truck drivers, who typically spend a significant but varying portion of their time on job sites.

Another significant requirement centers on communication. Contractors must relay the prevailing wage to subcontractors, including trucking companies. With the prevailing wage calculation changes, maintaining transparent communication becomes crucial to ensuring correct payments.

Understanding and handling wage differences also entails precise application of premium rates to job site hours. To minimize costs where there is a differential, contractors need to calculate a pass-through rate for job site hours based on the total hours worked per shift and the difference between the project's prevailing wage and the standard wage paid to the driver by the trucker. Without managing this strategically, truckers might negotiate higher total rates to cover the prevailing wage for all hours worked plus the administrative burden.

To maximize trucker compliance, contractors might want to hold off on approving time cards for payment until the trucking company verifies that they will pay the prevailing wage for the job site work hours for that specific shift.

Finally, contractors may need to collect certified payroll reports from all truckers and subcontractors to ensure full and verifiable compliance with the new requirements.

XBE Solution

Unlike manual clerical processes or over-simplified alternatives that are either error-prone or potentially non-compliant, XBE offers a streamlined, comprehensive, and robust solution that ensures accurate and efficient compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act changes.

Keep in mind that the effectiveness of these features highly depends on how you incorporate them into your overall job performance and compliance management processes.

Our Davis-Bacon solution is integrated into our existing platform, which already provides a comprehensive solution for managing all aspects of job details, trucking rates, and trucking time cards. Over the past year, XBE has been used to manage time cards related to over 500,000 trucking shifts. Because of this deep experience, the XBE platform is well suited to handle the new requirements.

Regarding the specifics, we recognize the importance of precise location information under the new Act. Consequently, our platform allows a job production plan to define a job site as multiple and different locations that can vary over time.

Additionally, our system natively supports logging job site hours for each driver and laborer. This function is designed around real-time GPS data from the XBE app and/or integrated telematics, with the additional provision for manual adjustment as needed.

Communicating the prevailing wage to truckers will increase the accuracy of their certified payroll. XBE's solution includes the specification of prevailing wage details for each project's labor classification, which is then communicated on a shift-by-shift basis to truckers as appropriate.

Furthermore, we have developed a feature that can require time card payroll certification. Contractors could hold payment on any time card until trucking companies have asserted they will pay the prevailing wage.

To ensure ultimate compliance, XBE's enhanced system will also accommodate the collection of certified payroll reports from truckers and subcontractors.

Recognizing individualized needs, XBE offers flexible rates for trucking that can be calculated and applied based on a variety of measures including job site hours. This versatility allows contractors to manage Davis-Bacon job rates automatically, accurately, and transparently.

To further improve administrative efficiency, XBE can integrate self-billed trucking invoices into ERPs via custom formats, thus eliminating manual bookkeeping.

Getting this all off the ground quickly is key. Following XBE's comprehensive integration process, contractors should be able implement all the essential elements outlined within a month with adequate leadership and change management. This fast roll-out doesn't negate thoroughness; we follow a standardized approach that has proven successful even for complex organizations. Once the decision is made and communicated internally, the implementation process is already in its final stretch.

From the first signs of the changes to the Davis-Bacon Act, XBE committed itself to developing a comprehensive, user-friendly, and rigorous solution to meet the new requirements. We stand by that commitment, and we're here to ensure that all our current and future customers successfully navigate this shifting landscape. With XBE, contractors can turn these changes into opportunities - lessening risk, cutting administrative burden, saving costs, and staying compliant with the expanded Davis-Bacon requirements.

Next Steps

As you can see, adapting to the changes in the Davis-Bacon Act is both vital and attainable. Here's what you can do next to ensure you're well prepared:

Check out the new XBE product release notes: They provide a thorough explanation of the new features and how to implement them to comply with and benefit from Davis-Bacon changes.
Join us on XBE's Compass Calls: Our regular Compass Calls offer an opportunity to discuss topics in detail. In the upcoming calls, we'll dedicate some time to discuss these Davis-Bacon changes, demonstrate how the new features work, and answer any questions you might have.
Reach out to our Customer Outcomes Team: If you have any questions or need assistance aligning your operations with the Davis-Bacon revisions, our XBE Customer Outcomes team is ready to assist. We're committed to ensuring a smooth, quick, and efficient transition for you. If you're not yet an XBE customer, schedule an intro call to learn more.
Stay on top of Davis-Bacon changes: As these changes are just now taking effect, it's important to keep up with modifications, clarifications, and implications as they become more clear. Leverage your industry associations and other similar groups for varied perspectives and analysis, and expect more updates from XBE.

Remember, at XBE we're here not just to help you adapt to these changes but to leverage them as opportunities. These new features reinforce our commitment to ensuring that your operations stay compliant and cost-effective, so you can focus on what you do best - delivering great projects. Let's navigate these changes together, confidently and successfully.

Davis-Bacon Changes Workshop Invitation

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We're hosting a community workshop to review and discuss Davis-Bacon changes that are effective today.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 from 10:00 - 10:45AM CT

We'll review the situation, provide strategic analysis, discuss tactical requirements, review XBE solutions, and answer questions as we are able. Please see the "Navigating Davis-Bacon Act Changes with XBE" newsletter for additional details.

See you then,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Monsoon Retreat: The Video Recap

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Over a month ago, XBE hosted its Monsoon Retreat in Goa, India. The gathering strengthened our team, honed our product strategy, and fostered genuine camaraderie.

Now, it's time to relive those moments. Rahul De Cunha and team have encapsulated the experience in an amazing 15-minute video.

Dive in! Click here to watch the recap on YouTube.

What to Expect:

Insights on our 'Three Ps': Personal Development, Product Evolution, Peer Connections
Candid interviews with team members
Highlights from our inaugural "Film Feast"

So grab a coffee, hit play, and step back into the tropical vibes of our Monsoon Retreat.

Enjoy,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Recapping our Latest Jugaad: Welcome Margin Matrix, Prophet Recap & Revenue Item Planner

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Another XBE jugaad has come to a close, and we have three great new Prophet features to announce as a result of the hard work and crammed creativity.

At XBE, a Jugaad is a periodic, often remote, hackathon held across various time zones. The term "Jugaad" originates from Hindi, and it represents innovative problem-solving under limited resources. During these sessions, XBE teams unite to construct unique solutions within a constrained timeframe, truly embodying the frugal creativity often associated with the concept of Jugaad.

Here's a brief description of each new feature:

Margin Matrix by the Jedi Innovators (led by Rehan Shaikh)

The newly introduced Margin Matrix in Project Prophet offers a comprehensive visualization of project expectations versus actual outcomes by highlighting discrepancies between different estimates, providing vital insights for proactive adjustments and informed decision-making.

Prophet Recap by the Pixel Power Rangers (led by Ravi Siddarth)

The Job Production Plan Recap now includes a summarized profitability report, offering detailed insights about each revenue item such as bid, planned, completed, and remaining quantity, as well as estimated revenue, cost, and profit based on actual quantities and forecasted rates.

Revenue Item Planner by the Coolensers (led by Colenso Castellino)

Discover the enhanced Revenue Item Planner, a feature designed to streamline project planning with advanced visibility, efficient distribution of revenue items, flexible template systems, and user-friendly specification processes, ensuring your project plan is always optimized and monitored effectively.

Learn more about these great features by reading the detailed release notes.

Big thanks goes to the entire XBE team for their tireless work, and to the XBE community for some great suggestions. Specifically, thanks to Rachel Sullivan at Gallagher Asphalt for recommending some of the details that became the "Revenue Item Job Planning" feature. We look forward to working on the rest of the feature suggestions soon.

XBE & Ozinga Team Up to Make a Little Boy's Dream Come True

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 19:00:00 -0500

The XBE product development team recently gathered in Goa, India for a three-day retreat. One special moment stood out.

Rich Mulder is the Vice President of Ozinga Renewable Energy Logistics, and a long-time member of the XBE community. Three months ago, Rich heard about a 4-year-old named Dylan, the son of a friend of XBE's Director of Product, Milind Alvares. Dylan lives in Goa and is a massive Ozinga fan. His favorite TV show is Handyman Hal, particularly the episode featuring Ozinga Miami. Dylan loves to play-act as a foreman, often pretending to call Ozinga for concrete.

Rich sent a toy mixer truck for Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE, to take with him the next time he went to India. We invited Dylan and his parents to our retreat hotel in Goa. Wearing an Ozinga hat, Sean answered Dylan's calls and gave him the toy truck he'd been wanting. Although Dylan is usually reserved, his joy was evident as he played with the toy for the rest of the day.

A video crew captured the moment on-site. Enjoy!

The Principles of CapExcellence

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 19:00:00 -0500

This newsletter is for leaders who want to be confident that they're making the right investments.

Introduction

In conjunction with the development of our operations management software platform, XBE is committed to refining its strategic financial management framework for growth-focused leaders in the horizontal construction industry. While many aspects of our approach are employed by large, sophisticated corporations, they are less common in privately owned regional businesses, which make up most of our clientele. Many companies tend to invest in the same type of assets over time, but profitable expansion opportunities of the same type eventually dry up. The best avenues for investment often become vertical integration, or horizontal growth and acquisition.

Motivation

We have developed and are promoting this financial management strategy for three main reasons:

XBE is driven by the mission to help customers maximize Return on Invested Capital (ROIC). This requires excellent operating capabilities and consistently wise investment decisions, including the decision to partner with XBE.
Many of our most popular software features began as management theories. Publishing those ideas can provide the initial step towards crafting new software features.
Our clientele frequently face dilemmas on where to reinvest their growing profits effectively.

We have established the following principles associated with achieving superior Capital Expenditure (CapEx) performance. We believe that having a clear vision, albeit ambitious, is vital for leaders, particularly during periods of change.

Principles of "CapExcellence"

Maximize Investment Options.
- All potential investments should be evaluated on an enterprise-wide basis.
- Consider divesting assets that are not in use or growing in value.
- Despite budgetary expectations, business units should aim to create as many positive Net Present Value (NPV) investment options as possible, allowing capital to flow to them naturally.
- Merger and Acquisition (M&A) opportunities should be evaluated against all other CapEx possibilities and not seen as fundamentally separate.
Optimize Decisions.
- Forward-looking market dynamics and company strategy should drive future investment analyses, rather than relying exclusively on past data.
- Use NPV as a standard measure for all investments, balancing time and risk.
- Investment assessments should account for outcome uncertainty, and that quantified risk should impact the discount rate.
- The discount rate should reflect the actual cost of capital and solvency risk.
Integrate with Operations.
- Pairing CapEx processes with comprehensive sourcing and procurement procedures improves implementation.
- There is no inherent distinction between maintenance and growth CapEx. Implementing zero-based CapEx, similar to zero-based budgeting, can prevent inertia.
- Any decisions leading to long-term operational spending commitments should be integrated into the CapEx process when possible.
Educate and Manage.
- A yearly assessment of past CapEx decisions should be made before making new ones, establishing a feedback cycle for continuous improvement.
- Leaders should assume full responsibility for the quality of CapEx decisions, irrespective of process maturity, ensuring that tools align with these CapEx excellence principles.
- Individuals involved in the CapEx process should receive formal training on these principles.
- CapEx decisions should be plainly communicated to all stakeholders, as they embody key aspects of the company's strategy.
- The balance sheet should be rigorously stress-tested against systematic risks to ensure the CapEx plan isn't exposing the business to unmitigated solvency risk.
- Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) should be integrated as a key metric during financial performance assessments.

Conclusion

Your feedback helps refine our thinking and the prioritization of future research and development.

How many of these principles do you currently follow? Which are most valuable? Which do you disagree with? What's most difficult? How do you plan to improve your process? Do you have the tools you need?

Finally, we know that this newsletter covered a lot of ground and lacked specific examples and explanations. We first wanted to lay out a comprehensive vision for capital expenditure management, and we'll follow this up with more focused content in the areas of greatest interest.

The Magic Of The Monsoon Retreat

Wed, 13 Sep 2023 19:00:00 -0500

If you're reading this in your email, click above to see the newsletter with embedded videos. They're fun!

I'm still feeling the tropical vibes from our recent Monsoon Retreat, a three-day immersive experience in Goa, India, where most of XBE's product development team gathered. The experience was a magical blur, and I'm excited to share some takeaways from this gathering.

For those that don't know, XBE is made up of team members in the US and India. Over the last 7 years, our Indian team has grown to over a dozen talented professionals. This retreat was an opportunity to bring together this diverse crew in a shared place and time.

Our Monsoon Retreat was centered on "three Ps" - Personal Development, Product Evolution, and Peer Connections. Team members charted personal growth goals; we strategized to boost our product's resilience and functionality, and we enhanced bonds through shared experiences. The impact? An invigorated team, a superior platform, and continued commitment to customer success.

It wasn't all business... We opened the event with our inaugural "Film Feast." Our very own stars delivered some fantastic videos that made everyone laugh and smile. Check out a recap, and a few individual submissions below. My video was inspired by hours of Indian TV news seen in the Delhi airport, Milind Alvares set the tone, and Pankaj Kataria was the winner with a film that was incredibly on the nose. It was an eyeful!

I highly encourage customers to connect with our India team when possible. Building these personal relationships not only facilitates better support but also leads to enhancements and innovations.

In the coming weeks, we will be releasing more content from the retreat. You won't want to miss it.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

P.S. Big thanks to Cinatra Alvares for coordinating everything. The small details created something big.

Yawning Weary Hours: September 08 to 22

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 19:00:00 -0500

In the yawning hours before daylight breaks, When moonlight hides and silence overtakes, Weavers of dreams from dust-covered planes, Breathe life into paths with asphalt's reigns.

Pencil and plan meet pavement's firm embrace, As tireless craftsmen on their feet find space, Layer by layer, a symphony of form, Concrete whispers secrets, colors take form.

As dawn casts hues upon unseen pathways, Like a painter's brush, sunlight gently sways, Through sleepy streets, destiny comes alive, Asphalt's caress awakens dreams to strive.

Oh, weary hours, carry us on your back, Floating on daydreams down the winding track, With every stroke of roller and paver's grace, A tapestry woven, our legacy space.

The lull of asphalt's embrace, strong and sure, Creating a foundation, steadfast and pure, From the molten sun to the cool night air, Transcending time, our creation we share.

So let the world witness this dawn's debut, Of tireless efforts, dreams made anew, In streets we build, where progress meets demand, The legacy of strong roads stands, forever grand.

This is from XBE's Kōnstruction Calendar, a celebration of the seasonality of the horizontal construction business. The year is divided into 24 micro seasons, each with a wonderful illustration, name, and poem. Enjoy!

Unleash Your Project's Profit Potential with XBE's Project Prophet

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

It gives me great pleasure to publicly announce the beta release of Project Prophet, which is now ready and available for general use within XBE. This cutting-edge financial management tool is designed to transform and optimize your project profitability. Although in its beta phase, it is robust and efficient enough for all customers to benefit from it now. As we continue to introduce enhancements and refinements to its functionality and user experience throughout the year, we strongly recommend all customers to start adopting Prophet in their workflows. Your feedback during this period will be invaluable to us for the tool's ongoing development, as has been the case with the early-adopter customers who have been using Prophet during its alpha release over the past six months.

Breakthrough Features

Detailed Revenue and Cost Tracking: Prophet captures actual revenues and costs in your ongoing projects. Most costs--including material transactions, trucking time cards, labor time sheets, & equipment time sheets--are captured automatically, reducing manual entry. Prophet builds on XBE's existing features, maximizing the value of your existing adoption, data and workflows.

Comparative Profitability Analysis: Generate income statements for every job production plan and compare them to various estimates including the bid, the forecast, and what's possible. This feature gives you an in-depth analysis based on changes in revenue quantities, unit prices, and productivity rates. In addition, automated bridge analysis provides a detailed and sophisticated comparison of the differences between the original and updated estimates and forecasts. To make forecasting easy, estimates inherit from each other and can be easily updated based on recorded actuals.

Flexible Profitability Management: Prophet can group portions of revenue items into phases which enables you to forecast the profitability of each phase. Now, you control the project in granular detail aligned with your construction plan, not just the bid.

Seamless Financial Exportation: Export actuals to your accounting system seamlessly and automatically which increases accuracy and reduces manual entry.

Key Benefits

1. Improved Estimating Accuracy: Low-level, low-latency, highly-accurate feedback from operations to estimating will improve estimating accuracy and pricing precision.

2. Enhanced Operational Benchmarks: Prophet utilizes updated estimates to reframe operational performance, providing your team with better control and responsiveness.

3. Advanced Financial Management: With greater visibility into expected profits, cash flows, and actionable insights, Prophet improves your financial health and foresight.

4. Elevated Efficiency: By integrating the capture of actual costs like material transactions, trucking time cards, labor time sheets, and equipment time sheets, Prophet makes it easy to capture the data that's needed for detailed financial analysis.

5. Increased Financial Literacy: By connecting financial forecasts directly into the operations, Prophet ensures your team sees the bigger financial image and understands their impact.

Prophet is, and always will be, improving. We are currently working on including additional features such as support for direct importation of projects from your existing estimating systems and spreadsheets. In fact, the XBE product development team is holding a retreat next week to celebrate this release and plan the next phase of Prophet's development.

We strongly recommend that you use Project Prophet for a pilot project as soon as possible. The familiarity of the XBE platform will ensure an intuitive and easy start for your team. There's nothing like real experience to help you guide your team through the transition.

I want to express my deep gratitude to all our customers who helped us get to this point. We couldn't have done it without you. We first launched project-related features four years ago, and our constant collaboration with you has led to this breakthrough.

To help you navigate the powerful capabilities of Prophet, the XBE customer outcomes team is happy to walk you through a detailed tour. Get ready!

We look forward to working with you in this exciting new area.

Sincerely,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Looking Out From Stuck Truck Watch

Sun, 27 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Reading this by email? Click here for a video walkthrough of the new feature.

Video Transcript

Good afternoon, and how are you? This is Sean Devine from XBE.

Today, let’s talk about Stuck Truck Watch. It’s a feature that I built myself that automatically detects when drivers are “out of order”.

Sounds great, right? Well... how does it all work? Once you’ve turned Stuck Truck Watch on, a production incident will be created automatically as soon as XBE sees a material transaction linked to a truck that was last loaded after trucks that have not yet been loaded again. Then, when a truck with an open incident is linked to a new material transaction, that incident will be updated to end at the time of the new transaction.

But more simply, Stuck Truck Watch does exactly what we’d all do if we had more time and attention to manage drivers.

My favorite thing about the feature, aside from the fact that it does all of this for you in the background, is that it builds on so many existing incident features.

For example, there are notifications for everything, keeping everyone, including the driver, the dispatchers, all the incident subscribers in the loop. Plus, since stuck truck watch incidents are just incidents, they’re visible in incident reports, the My Incidents feed, and anywhere else that incidents are sold.

And by default, they’ll create downtime on related time cards automatically. Of course, when it comes to anything related to trucker payments, you can’t be too careful and so we’ve been very conservative. First, you can enable Stuck Truck Watch at the branch, customer, or job production plan level. It can be disabled for individual shifts and will be automatically disabled for any non production shifts.

Also, if anything looks “off” or ambiguous, Stuck Truck Watch will hold off on creating incidents. You don’t have to worry about false positives due to checksum differences, or incorrect matches, or round robin jobs, or multiple material sites, or manual transactions, or other situations that could get in the way of determining the expected order.

Finally, you can configure the minimum incident duration resulting in time card down time. We recommend 15 minutes for most situations, but you can change that at the branch level.

So, what will you get for your lack of trouble? Three big benefits.

First, you’ll save more. A standardized trucker incident and down time management process will cause driver behavior improvements quickly. And if it doesn’t, you won’t pay for the trucking waste anyways.

Second, you’ll see more. Drivers will want to share their location and other information to prove when they were held up for some reason that wasn’t their fault. That will help the incident management process, but also your overall job performance management process too.

Third, you’ll lead more. When you reward drivers that do a great job, you’ll have more great drivers, especially when everything is communicated clearly about the process.

So now that you’re so excited about Stuck Truck Watch, what should you do?

Well... good news, we wrote a detailed newsletter that walks through all the steps.

Just search for Guide to Stuck Truck Watch Policies and Communication, or just Stuck Truck Watch, and take it from there. You could have it all implemented and communicated in under an hour.

And I hope that made your day a bit better. Talk to you soon.

Guide to Stuck Truck Watch Policies and Communication

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Stuck Truck Watch is a feature that automatically detects "out of order" trucks, creating incidents to manage and record down time. Simply having this feature available is not enough to maximize its positive impact on business operations. It is vital to formulate a clear policy and communicate it to all relevant stakeholders. Recognizing that most companies face similar challenges, we have decided to draft this comprehensive policy and set of communication templates, which our customers can modify and build upon to suit their specific needs.

Draft Implementation Plan and Policy

This policy is designed to ensure efficient utilization of the Stuck Truck Watch feature, focusing on precise enablement, incident management, and clear communication, enhancing the overall management of the logistics department.

Enablement at Customer Level:
- Enable Stuck Truck Watch for customers that predominantly haul to jobs.
- By default, keep the feature enabled for job production plans for specific customers where determining "out of order" trucks is challenging, as it will be disabled automatically if ambiguity is detected.
Non-Production Trucks Handling:
- Mark any non-production trucks accordingly to automatically disable stuck truck incidents for those shifts.
Setting Minimum Duration for Down Time:
- Set a minimum duration for down time incidents at the branch level, generally recommended at around ~15 minutes. This will be applied by the stuck truck feature on any job.
Incident Review and Management:
- Assign the responsible party for time card management to review incidents, ensuring that down time is applied correctly.
- Direct truckers to comment on incidents if they want to dispute an incident resulting in down time.
- Require a comment to be made on an incident any time down time is disabled on an incident above the minimum duration threshold.
- If it is determined that an incident should not require down time, the incident should be updated with "is down time" set to false and closed. Don't abandon the incident as that will make the work done invisible.
Communication and Expectation Setting:
- Communicate the policy and its rationale to truckers, to set clear expectations and understanding of the process.

Draft Trucker Newsletter

We’re introducing Stuck Truck Watch, a new policy designed with you in mind. Here's what you need to know:

Stuck Truck Watch Explained:
- Automatic Detection: Identifies when trucks are "out of order" and creates an incident.
- Down Time: Records down time of ~15 minutes or more.
- Incident Review: You can comment to dispute an incident, and we'll respond promptly.
Why It Matters:
- Rewarding Performance: Good drivers are noticed and down time is consistently recorded enabling us to maintain higher rates.
- Resource Management: We'll notice when jobs are over trucked and move trucks to where they're needed.
How It Helps You and the Crew:
- Immediate Response: Quick detection of issues helps us respond faster, keeping the job on track.
- Connection to Crew: You’re vital to the overall job. This policy enhances our collaboration and how your work contributes.
Open Communication:
- Dispute Handling: If you have concerns about an incident, we'll listen and be responsive.
- Information Sharing: Your accurate data, including location, enables fair decisions.

Stuck Truck Watch is more than a policy; it's a philosophy to recognize your value and make our work together even more effective.

Feel free to reach out with questions or concerns.

Draft Internal Newsletter

We're rolling out the Stuck Truck Watch policy to enhance our logistics operations. Here's a comprehensive look at what it entails and why it's vital for our projects:

Stuck Truck Watch Defined:
- Automatic Detection: The policy will automatically detect "out of order" trucks, creating an incident for each.
- Down Time Management: Down time will be recorded if an incident lasts ~15 minutes or more.
- Incident Review Process: Truckers have the ability to dispute incidents, and we'll need to respond promptly.
Implications for Our Projects:
- Enhanced Performance Monitoring: This policy allows for consistent monitoring of trucker performance and enables us to maintain higher rates.
- Effective Resource Allocation: Over-trucked jobs will be identified, and trucks can be redeployed as needed.
How It Supports Our Team and Processes:
- Rapid Response Capability: Early detection of "out of order" trucks enables faster responses, minimizing disruptions.
- Crew Collaboration: It fosters a deeper connection between truckers and the on-site crew, leading to more seamless operations.
Open Communication & Fairness:
- Transparent Dispute Handling: Encourage open communication with truckers and handle any disputes fairly and efficiently.
- Data Integrity: Location data and other information must be accurate to make fair decisions. We value the integrity of the information in our system.

Stuck Truck Watch isn't just a policy; it's an approach to creating a more responsive, cohesive, and efficient work environment. By understanding the trucker's point of view and maintaining open communication, we're positioning ourselves to deliver projects more effectively.

Please review the details and be prepared to implement and adhere to this policy. Reach out to [relevant department or person] with any questions or for further assistance.

Introducing Stuck Truck Watch: Automate "Out of Order" Driver Incident and Time Card Down Time Management

Sun, 20 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Struggling with drivers being "out of order" and dealing with inefficiency? Achieve enhanced trucking accountability with XBE's new "Stuck Truck Watch." Stuck Truck Watch automatically detects such situations and creates incidents, notifying all related parties immediately. This new feature offers consistent management of incidents and excellent visibility, enabling you to better manage your logistics performance. Plus, it converts "out of order" time into time card down time, ensuring that you get what you pay for. Don't just react - anticipate and control with XBE!

Introducing Stuck Truck Watch: A Better Way to Manage Trucking Stuck Truck Watch is not just an automation tool; it’s a new approach to daily trucking operations. This feature represents a significant innovation in incident management, making the entire process more streamlined and precise.

Key Benefits: - Automatic Incident Creation: Eliminates manual tracking and human error. - Notifications: Immediate alerts keep all stakeholders informed. - Down Time Management: Ensures accurate recording and control of unproductive time. - Enhanced Professionalism: Elevates the professionalism and resilience of logistics operations.

Why Choose Stuck Truck Watch? By integrating Stuck Truck Watch into your operations, you're adopting a solution designed to minimize waste and maximize efficiency.

We Want to Hear from You: Your thoughts and experiences are essential to us. Whether you're considering Stuck Truck Watch or simply curious about what it can do, we're here to answer your questions and address any concerns.

Get Started with Stuck Truck Watch Today! Discover the difference that Stuck Truck Watch can make in your logistics management. Contact us to learn more.

Hey NAPA Video Released

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We released a short video highlighting the capabilities and benefits of Hey NAPA.

If you're reading this newsletter by email, click here to watch the video on YouTube.

And if you haven't used Hey NAPA yet, do the smart thing! It's like having a professor in your pocket that makes you and your projects successful.

Big thanks to Cinatra Alvares who produced the video. It will be used by NAPA to promote Hey NAPA at the upcoming AAPT conference.

Enjoy!

The Challenges and Opportunities of E-Ticketing: Insights from the FHWA Webinar

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

On August 15th, Kathryn Weisner of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Suri Sadasivam and Jagannath Mallela from WSP USA, and Brett Williams from the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) discussed the ongoing development and future possibilities of e-Ticketing via a webinar.

E-Ticketing Progress

Despite hurdles such as internet connectivity, small supplier involvement, and limited IT resources, e-Ticketing continues to progress. The main benefits of e-Ticketing are the digitization and automation of tasks, and the use of collected data for advanced analysis. Though the full impact of the insights gained is unclear, it is expected to be substantial.

The Hurdles Will Be Designed Around, Not Solved

Some of these hurdles are preventable, and some are not. E-Ticketing specifications will ultimately accommodate these inevitabilities. For example, in some situations cell coverage will be unavailable, a truck will not have telematics (i.e. last minute rental, telematics device issues), or an inspector's device will break. The stakeholders are all well aware of this, and are working to develop backup plans that don't undermine the reliability of E-Ticketing. These are not issues to fear or avoid but practical problems to collaborate on and resolve. While it's reasonable to expect a requirement that all tickets be eventually digital in the near future, there will always need to be an accommodation for situations where they can't be initially digital.

Data Utilization In Focus

The practicality of data and its acquisition will soon shift to strategic usage. The intelligent application of this data, enabled by advanced analytics, will result in both opportunities and threats for contractors. But, the availability of structured electronic ticket data is inevitable, and thus, the optimal approach is smarter management of it.

Advanced Uses of E-Ticketing Data

The e-Ticketing information could be utilized for several advanced applications, many of which were mentioned. For example, it could allow for auditing of subcontractor payments and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) goals, and it could provide an electronic proof of work that assures the contracted obligations are met. The data also could enable the calculation of paving flow rates which could contribute to more efficient work schedules and processes. Moreover, the integrated data helps support lifecycle assessment, allowing for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) auditing, and analysis of asset failures in a forensic manner. It can also be used in constructing enhanced asset condition performance models, offering key insights that can contribute significantly to better asset management.

Transparency and Competitive Edge

A primary outcome of the e-Ticketing initiative will be enhanced transparency. Even currently protected data may be more accessible due to digital transformation and existing laws such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This level of transparency will provide insight into competitive behaviors and market trends, for better and worse. e-Ticketing will give a competitive edge to those who can create and use new knowledge. This advantage is crucial as the time frames to profit from existing knowledge are shrinking.

Emphasis on Sustainability

The intersection of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and e-Ticketing was discussed. The specifics were not clear, but the direction of the trend is. And that makes sense, since details on the ticket would provide additional clarity about the carbon embodied in the pavement. It's notable that if the e-Ticket data is sufficient to estimate embodied carbon, it will also be sufficient to estimate most details about mix designs, and so this should be considered as an opportunity and threat.

In Summary

e-Ticketing brings its difficulties and threats, and it also poses opportunities. Contractors should stay updated, collaborate with owners, expect a full e-Ticketing transition, and plan to maximize the benefits of this data evolution. e-Ticketing could be a beneficial opportunity, and the resulting information rich environment will favor those that know what to do with the data.

Download the slides as a PDF.

While it isn't necessary to revisit the entire session, it's useful to have these slides for future reference.

With XBE, you'll comply with e-Ticketing requirements, but the true opportunity lies in learning to generate and leverage knowledge created from this data. You can count on us for that too.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Sizzling Pavement Days: Aug 08 to Aug 22

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

The season of sizzling days takes its stage, On the canvas of pavement, we engage. Packed with materials, our trucks arrive, In the symphony of horizontal construction, we thrive.

Asphalt and concrete, now in our custody, In heat, they shimmer, awaiting mastery. Adorned by the sun, the pavement sizzles, A testament to hard work, like solving riddles.

In unison, the pavers glide and dance, A compact harmony, as if in a trance. Each pass smooths a story to be told, On fresh pavements, bold and gold.

Beneath the blazing sun, the melodies ring, Of machinery humming, and progress taking wing. Stone's might dances with the heat's intensity, Molding terrains for unfolding possibility.

Through bustling avenues and languid streets, New pathways echo the industry's beats. Connecting dreams, one milestone at a time, In the orchestra of construction, a rhythm divine.

The sun dips low, yet the pavements gleam, Still echoing the day's industrious theme. Radiating heat, like a day well spent, Sizzling pavements bear testament.

So here's to the effort and endeavor, The resilience of materials, standing forever. As our calendar turns, with each passing day, We'll remember the sonata, the sizzling ballet.

Celebrating "Heroes of the Road"

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 19:00:00 -0500

XBE supports every form of Public Praise. It's great to see Lehman-Roberts use XBE's Trucking Report Card to recognize their "Heroes of the Road". XBE Newsletters can be used to promote programs like this, and we also endorse spreading the message on LinkedIn as demonstrated below.

Here's what we appreciated about Lehman-Roberts' "Heroes of the Road" post:

Multiple foreman quotes personalized it.
The trucking report card metrics lent professionalism.
The picture was fun!
The lack of a reward mentioned with the recognition made it priceless.

Additionally, it was concise. Like this newsletter.

XBE provides clear visibility into team members' work. Celebrate it!

P.S. Congratulations, Jot!

Unlocking The Power of Public Praise

Sun, 23 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Amplify your team's productivity and morale by harnessing the untapped potential of Public Praise in XBE.

Let's explore!

I. The Value of Public Praise

Public Praise is a recognition system designed to reward behavior aligned with an organization's culture. It's a platform where everyone can give and receive acknowledgements. The platform not only encourages positive behavior, but showcases how organizational values are lived day-to-day.

II. Public Praise Feature

In the XBE platform, any member can offer a Public Praise, and optionally tie that praise to one or more cultural values. Whether it's praising excellent performance or recognizing an outstanding display of teamwork, actions can be highlighted and appreciated. Notifications about these praises are sent to everyone involved, making it a transparent process to all.

III. Primary Categories of Public Praise

Here are the most common categories of public praise:

Excellent Performance
Effort Recognition
Initiative and Creativity
Problem-Solving
Teamwork Contribution
Personal Growth
Going Above and Beyond
Detail-Oriented
Effective Communication
Strong Leadership
Positive Attitude
Helpfulness

Its been great to see customers use public praise in so many different ways.

IV. Opportunities in Public Praise

While the existing categories for public praise have shown fantastic diversity, there are other categories that seem to be underrepresented but offer valuable avenues for acknowledgement:

Technical Skills
Safety Compliance
Customer Service/Client Satisfaction
Mentorship
Adaptability
Resilience
Financial Management
Improvement of Company Processes
Dependability
Punctuality
Environmental Sustainability
Conflict Resolution

We encourage you to engage in public praise, and to explore these underrepresented categories.

Public Praise in XBE isn’t new. But the joy of appreciating and being appreciated never gets old.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Embracing Control: Your Management Game Plan

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Think about change management in operations. It's exciting; full of promise. Now, think control. Less exciting; mundane. Yet, just as you can't clap with one hand, you can't fully capitalize on change without exercising control. They form two sides of the same coin, inseparable and equally essential.

Consider Six Sigma's DMAIC method. Control is the last stage, but it should also be the first. It's that important.

Anton Chekhov said, "Only entropy comes easy." And Frank Herbert, "Who governs the governors? Entropy." Both remind us that disorder, or entropy, is a natural state, and even those managing are not exempt. Holding onto gains and maintaining order require relentless effort. Like any asset, what you've gained needs not just initial investment, but also constant upkeep.

On the Netflix show, Quarterback, Kirk Cousins speaks of his greatest challenge: repetition. It's not about taking hits or making comebacks, but doing it all over again.

Our customers have made incredible strides. These improvements came hard-earned. However, even with the most advanced software tools, there are risks. Processes can revert.

The world's best athletes focus on maintaining their performance over time. The same principle applies to top managers.

Processes, if not controlled, tend towards instability. It's not a problem, but a natural occurrence. The issue arises when we fail to anticipate it and do not place "control management" at the forefront. Its importance only grows as you further improve your operation. Each improvement must remain in check for subsequent ones to have a chance.

Control matters. It's not merely the endgame, it's the game. It's about doing it again and again.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Successful Launch of "Hey NAPA" & Tips for Quality Queries

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We are thrilled to share the successful introduction of Hey NAPA, which was unveiled at NAPA's mid-year meeting!

Since its launch last Monday, we've already seen 250 community members register (for free) and engage with thought-provoking questions.

One question frequently asked of me is, "What makes a good question?"

To help guide you, here are links to five well-crafted questions and their insightful answers that you might find useful:

Remember, when using Hey NAPA (and Hey Kayla!), forget everything you've learned from simply searching on Google!

Craft full sentences, be precise about what you're seeking, and provide as much context as possible for better responses.

While "please" and "thank you" is optional, if that gets you in the collaborative spirit, I recommend it.

I'm excited to see how you leverage Hey NAPA. Feel free to share any success stories or ideas related to the platform.

Best regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE partners with NAPA to Launch AI-Powered ‘Hey NAPA’ Service for Members

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 12:00:40 -0500

XBE, a leading software company providing operations management solutions for the horizontal construction industry, has partnered with the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) to develop an AI-based service called ‘Hey NAPA,’ now available on NAPA’s website, AsphaltPavement.org, and at HeyNAPA.com. This innovative service offers NAPA members and industry stakeholders a faster and more efficient way to get answers that incorporate the Association’s valuable content and technical documents on all aspects of asphalt pavements. Hey NAPA was unveiled today at NAPA’s Midyear Meeting in Kansas City, Mo., in an AI-focused session featuring XBE CEO Sean Devine.

The collaboration builds on the success of XBE’s ‘Hey Kayla’ service, which has transformed user education for XBE customers by providing instant, accurate answers to questions about the XBE platform. With Hey NAPA, members will have access to a powerful search engine that leverages AI technology to quickly and accurately provide answers, best practices, and document links based on NAPA content.

XBE created and will maintain the Hey NAPA search engine, ensuring its accuracy and efficiency, while NAPA provides the necessary publications and data to keep the engine current and monitor performance to continually enhance the user experience.

“We’re thrilled to partner with NAPA and bring our AI-driven technology to its members,” said Devine. “By leveraging our expertise and existing infrastructure, we’re confident that Hey NAPA will provide members with the quick, reliable answers they need, enabling them to make informed decisions and access NAPA’s excellent content more efficiently than ever before.”

Brett Williams, Director of Engineering & Technical Support at NAPA, added, “Our partnership with XBE is a testament to our shared commitment to provide NAPA members with superior resources and tools. We’re excited to see the positive impact Hey NAPA will have on our members and the industry as a whole.”

The Hey NAPA service revolutionizes the way NAPA members and industry stakeholders access crucial information, delivering better and faster answers than alternative methods, as demonstrated by the success of XBE’s Hey Kayla service.

About XBE

XBE is a groundbreaking software company that provides operations management solutions to the horizontal construction industry. Founded in 2016 by Sean Devine, XBE has grown to offer a comprehensive platform focusing on innovation, expertise, and leverage. XBE’s solutions include transportation management, planning, and continuous improvement capabilities that help clients reduce inefficiencies and increase profits.

About NAPA

The National Asphalt Pavement Association is the only trade association that exclusively represents the interests of the asphalt pavement material producer/contractor on the national level with Congress, government agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. NAPA supports an active research program designed to improve the quality of asphalt pavements and paving techniques used in the construction of roads, streets, highways, parking lots, airports, and environmental and recreational facilities. The association provides technical, educational, and marketing materials and information to its members; supplies product information to users and specifiers of paving materials; and conducts training courses. The association, which counts 1,100 companies as its members, was founded in 1955.

XBE at the 2023 NAPA Midyear Meeting - A Sneak Peek of My Keynote Presentation

Tue, 04 Jul 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We're only five days away from welcoming the asphalt community to the NAPA midyear conference, taking place in Kansas City, my adopted hometown. I am both excited and deeply honored to be delivering the keynote address to kick off Monday's main program during lunch.

The presentation, titled "AiSPHALT: The Transformative Power of Artificial Intelligence on the Asphalt Paving Industry," won't lack for trying! I'm not going to spoil the speech, but I can promise a warm welcome to Kansas City, an important and exciting industry announcement, striking visuals, and a deep dive into the intrinsic value of intelligence.

Moreover, I'll be providing a practical framework for assessing the profit potential of AI to the asphalt industry. We'll also discuss an action plan, tailored to various organizational levels, and, to cap it all off, a surprising twist ending.

If you're attending, I can't wait to connect. XBE is hosting exclusive breakfast and dinner meetups. If you'd like to join us, do let me know as soon as possible. Space is limited.

For those who cannot attend but have a keen interest in the topic, don't hesitate to reach out. I'd be more than happy to schedule a dedicated session with your team.

Lastly, whether or not you'll be attending, if you have any specific questions or topics you'd like me to address, please send them my way. At the moment, my presentation consists of 59 slides, so what's a few more.

Looking forward to seeing some of you in Kansas City and discussing the bright future of the industry.

Best,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE
sean-devine@x-b-e.com

Twinkling Night Lights: June 22 to July 6

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Under the blanket of a velvet night, The machines hum softly, ready for flight. Craving the taste of dark and rich terrain, They move across the stage, beneath the starry rain.

The pavement, once dormant, is illuminated anew, As the melody of progress begins a lively tune. Under twinkling night lights, the earth is swayed, Guided by constellations amidst the starry spray.

Dreams awaken in sight to the nocturnal view, Unveiling new maps beneath the friendly night's hues. The glow of moonlight, the dance of construction, Bathing the canvas in soft silver beams of enchantment.

Stars witness this spectacle of Earth's design, A midnight vision, a captivating sight divine. As the night dwindles, the lights still burning, The dreamers' confidence is ever returning.

This is from XBE's kōnstruction calendar, a celebration of the seasonality of the horizontal construction business.

The year is divided into 24 micro seasons, each with a wonderful illustration, name, and poem.

Enjoy!

NOW SHOWING: ALIGNUP!

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 19:00:00 -0500

AlignUp! - Your new tool for easy trucking assignments and smoother construction planning. Say goodbye to the old complicated way of trucking dispatch. It is now completely automated so your team can focus on bigger plans.

AlignUp! is designed to minimize truck travel distance while respecting all constraints, saving time, reducing risk, and increasing adaptability to last-minute changes, providing immense value to your organization.

One AlignUp! user said "Building my lineup used to take about three hours a day, Alignup! drastically reduces that time, now allowing me to spend more time analyzing trucking efficiency which is extremely valuable to my company."

Reading by email? Check out the Video here

Try it out today!

AiSPHALT - The Transformative Power of Artificial Intelligence on the Asphalt Paving Industry: Insights from Sean Devine at NAPA Midyear

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We are very excited to announce Sean Devine will be speaking at the National Asphalt Pavement Association's Midyear meeting in Kansas City on July 10th!

General Session 1: 11:30 am – 1 pm: AiSPHALT - The Transformative Power of Artificial Intelligence on the Asphalt Paving Industry.

Enter the world of artificial intelligence to examine AI’s impact on various aspects of the asphalt paving industry, such as estimating & bidding, operations, and finance & administration. Gain insights into the opportunities AI offers for leaders, managers, and contributors. Receive a practical action plan for immediate and long-term implementation of AI in your business.

Speaker: Sean Devine, Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE will be hosting three additional events Monday, July 10th:

8 am – 10 am: XBE Community Breakfast – "Best Practices: The Second Best Time is Now."

Start your conference experience by joining us for an insightful discussion on best practices in horizontal construction and how to leverage XBE to implement them this season.

5:30 pm – 7 pm: NAPA Networking Reception – Sponsored by XBE.

Mingle with industry colleagues and build meaningful connections.

7:30 pm: XBE Dinner

Wind down after an exhilarating day with a delightful meal in the company of XBE.

RSVP - https://afewq.com/questionnaires/5b8ae89b-73ad-4d62-9244-416a331ea677/responses/new

For more information on NAPA Midyear, visit the event site here - https://web.cvent.com/event/9660a733-a15f-4905-9b00-1f92c7c1ccd2/websitePage:69ff034b-e64d-4e55-8a01-d6bba394b1b2

Video Release - Discover what XBE can do for you.

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Check out what XBE can do for your organization, end-to-end. As a part of our community, you may utilize several aspects of the platform, but may not be fully aware of what's possible. Therefore, we thought this video would be valuable to share. Enjoy!

Transcript:

In the world of horizontal construction, every decision matters and every minute counts. Discover XBE, the comprehensive solution that manages and automates everything including scheduling, planning, execution, monitoring, administration, and continuous improvement. XBE is your real-time window into every facet of your operation, allowing you to influence decisions proactively.

Imagine your Project Managers and Superintendents being able to easily review and update daily production plans and schedules. XBE offers real-time analytics for job progress, production rates, and trucking efficiency, fostering data-driven decisions and unparalleled transparency between office and field.

Your Crew & Equipment Managers will maximize utilization and efficiency. Resource allocation is simplified with XBE’s calendar view and drag-and-drop rescheduling, while safety management tools ensure a secure work environment for everyone.

XBE’s logistics management tools streamline dispatch and improve team coordination. Advanced functionality includes truck schedule optimization, multi-customer lineups, and rate previews. Companies using XBE achieve impressive trucking savings. It’s common to shave 10% - 15% off job haul cost - savings that drop straight to the bottom line and alleviate truck capacity shortages.

Drivers appreciate XBE’s clarity and real-time updates on job assignments, locations, and schedules. GPS-based arrival time automation and e-ticketing features streamline workflows and reduce errors, and driver report cards promote accountability and continuous improvement.

Finance and Administration teams find value in XBE’s time card management, auditing, invoicing, and bookkeeping integrations that save time and minimize errors.

Join industry leaders who have increased efficiency, asset utilization, and profitability by leveraging XBE’s powerful features. With XBE, profit goes up, and risk goes down, year after year.

Transitioning to XBE is smooth with our step-by-step implementation process. Our platform’s extensibility ensures data portability and seamless integration with existing point-of-sale, financial, and telematics systems. Available on web browsers and native iOS and Android applications, XBE supports easy adoption across your organization. Our comprehensive training, on-demand help, and dedicated customer support ensure operational control in just weeks.

XBE solves many problems and creates more opportunities. We believe in collaboration and continuous improvement, and we work actively with customers to refine our solutions. Are you ready to discover what XBE can do for you? Schedule your intro today! The second best time is now.

YouTube video

Video credits to Cinatra Alvares, Cultivate Brands, and Gifford Videography

Get Ready for the Second XBE Concrete User Group Meeting - Don't Miss Out!

Wed, 24 May 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We are thrilled to announce that we are holding the second meeting of the XBE Concrete User Group! Building on the success of our first gathering, this upcoming meeting will continue to focus on enhancing the optimization of concrete-specific features and workflows to benefit your company. Mark your calendars for:

Date: Monday June 26th, 2023
Time: 10:00am
Location: Meeting Invite will be sent later

Join your peers from similar companies in other markets for valuable discussions and networking opportunities. Customers have found these interactions enjoyable and insightful, and we believe this second meeting will provide even more opportunities for meaningful connections and collaborations.

In this meeting, we will delve deeper into the following topics:

Exploring general business problems and opportunities that XBE can support.
Identifying specific technical workflows that XBE can optimize.
Exchanging best practices, tips, and tricks to make the most out of XBE solutions.
Follow-up on diversions and their impacts on concrete operations.

Please confirm your attendance or who from your organization you would like to be invited by replying to matt-lerner@x-b-e.com. We are eagerly looking forward to your participation and shared insights during this event.

Should you have any questions or require further information, please feel free to reach out to us.

Spring 2023 Jugaad: A Day of AI Innovation, Collaboration, and Fun

Tue, 23 May 2023 19:00:00 -0500

This is Sean Devine, founder and CEO of XBE, and I am delighted to share with you the outcomes of our Spring 2023 Jugaad. In case you're not familiar, "Jugaad" is a Hindi word that captures the spirit of flexible problem-solving with limited resources through innovation. Since our first Jugaad in 2022, we've held this internal team-based competition, where our talented teams work together to build popular feature releases in a single day.

On May 17th, 2023, our teams dedicated their day to focusing on AI innovation, working tirelessly from sunrise in India to sunset in the USA. In addition to the groundbreaking features developed, this Jugaad was also filled with creative expressions, including art, poems, videos, and friendly trash talk, making it an incredibly fun and engaging experience for everyone involved.

Here is a concise overview of the features built by our fantastic teams during the Spring 2023 Jugaad:

Team 1: Cobra AI – Automated Time Card Reviewer – Kathy - Team Members: Sean Devine and Sabir Shaikh. - Inspired by Kathy Cole from Superior Bowen. - Streamlines time card approval audit management with automation.

Team 2: Guardians of AI Galaxy – Advanced Rate Agreement Clone & Edit - Team Members: Anish Gadekar and Juliana Thayil. - Enhances flexibility and efficiency in cloning and modifying rate agreements.

Team 3: Chamatkaaris (Magicians) – Quick Menu 2.0 - Team Members: Souvik Mandal, Cinatra Alvares, and Milind Alvares. - Introduces a streamlined, faster, and more intuitive user interface.

Team 4: Vanguard Vipers – TaskVanguard – Task Management Solution - Team Members: Shirish Parsekar, Hassan Shaikh, and Matt Lerner. - Offers an advanced and user-friendly interface for managing complex tasks.

Team 5: Manga-ficient Duo – Bulk Attribute Setter - Team Members: Ravi Siddharth and Pankaj Kataria. - Simplifies updating multiple Job Production Plans by setting attributes simultaneously.

Team 6: Push Paramparas – Push Notifications - Team Members: Colenso Castellino and Benjamin Fleischer. - Efficiently introduces push notifications in the XBE mobile apps.

See the "trailer" for my team's project below for a feel for the behind-the-scenes vibe!

As valued XBE customers, your continued support and feedback are invaluable to us. We invite you to test, explore, and share your thoughts on the new features to help us refine them further. If you need any assistance or have suggestions, please reach out.

Once again, congratulations to all participants, and a big thank you to our dedicated and talented XBE team. We eagerly await our next Jugaad, where we'll continue pushing the boundaries of what's possible together.

Wishing you success and innovation,

Sean Devine Founder & CEO, XBE

Hoping Verdantly: May 21 to June 5

Mon, 22 May 2023 19:00:00 -0500

With flourishing colors, life renews,
Awakening goals, creative breakthroughs.
Determined spirits, collaboratively advancing,
Bound by purpose, dreams enhancing.

Machinery's harmony, reshapes domains,
Delicate artistry, in robust campaigns.
Strength, precision, seamlessly paired,
Comrades in innovation, ardently shared.

Amidst emerald vistas, adaptation mastered,
Triumphs emerge, adversity outlasted.
Optimizing excellence, sage wisdom leads,
Creating trails to conquer, ambition succeeds.

Vibrant aspirations embodied, entwined,
Horizons envisioned, wondrous and refined.
Unraveling impact, embracing destiny,
Aspirations verdant, forged in unity.

This is from XBE's kōnstruction calendar, a celebration of the seasonality of the horizontal construction business.

The year is divided into 24 micro seasons, each with a wonderful illustration, name, and poem.

Enjoy!

Reviving Construction: May 5 to May 20

Thu, 04 May 2023 19:00:00 -0500

A renaissance unfolds, as dreams take flight,
Transforming our industry, our passion ignites.
Architects of change, we mold the terrain,
Crafting new pathways, success to sustain.

Empowered by science, our aspirations rise,
Inventions and advancements, our eternal prize.
Patterns of creation, precise and bold,
A tapestry of triumph, our story unfolds.

Beneath the vast skyline, our heritage thrives,
United in purpose, as industry revives.
Boundless potential, in each step we take,
Reinvigorated pathways, for the future we make.

This is from XBE's kōnstruction calendar, a celebration of the seasonality of the horizontal construction business.

The year is divided into 24 micro seasons, each with a wonderful illustration, name, and poem.

Enjoy!

XBE is Expanding: Help Us Find Great Sales Representatives

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0500

Our customers are the backbone of XBE's success, and we're turning to you for help as we seek skilled Sales Representatives to join our team.

We have forged strong relationships with our customers by delivering them great outcomes. Just as many of you discovered us through referrals from existing customers, we are now turning to your network to help us find exceptional talent for our Sales Representative positions.

Expanding our customer network benefits all of us in two main ways: 1) it fosters a more helpful community, allowing our customers to learn from one another and share best practices, and 2) it leads to a more robust product, as we gain insights from a diverse range of clients to enhance our offerings. This growth ultimately ensures customer satisfaction and success.

If you know someone who would be a great fit for these Sales Representative positions, please encourage them to apply. The job description and simple application form can be found at www.x-b-e.com/hiring/sales-representative.

We appreciate your ongoing support and partnership as we continue to grow together. Thank you for considering our request and for sharing this opportunity within your network.

Best regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Stopping and Going: April 20 to May 4

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0500

In this dance, a rhythm takes hold, A balance of motion, both timid and bold. Stopping and going, we measure our pace, Creating foundations with elegance and grace.

The hum of machinery, the song of progress, Each movement an intricate, delicate process. Pausing to ponder, then charging forth, Weaving our art upon the earth.

As we stop and go, we build and we grow, In this symphony of progress, a breathtaking show. Embracing the balance, we conquer and thrive, Our legacy etched, forever alive.

This is from XBE's kōnstruction calendar, a celebration of the seasonality of the horizontal construction business.

The year is divided into 24 micro seasons, each with a wonderful illustration, name, and poem.

Enjoy!

XBE Active Integrations

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0500

XBE has over 100 active integrations with customer systems between ticket imports, financial exports, vehicle histories and many more that are managed via the Integration Project Charter.

Material Transactions Imports include: Command Alkon Apex Connex (via API), Astec WM2000 (via Advantage Database Server), Systems Equipment WINLC3000 (via SQL Server), BSLight EZLoader (via SFTP and MsAccess), Command Alkon Libra (EIS and Gen3 via SQL Server and file share, respectively), Digital Forces (via API), Vulcan (via SFTP), TAC Insight FastWeigh (via API), and Command Alkon Command Batch (via SQL Server).

In addition, we have expanded our integrations with Vehicle Locations Import, including Digital Fleet, Samsara, KeepTruckin, GeoTab, and Teletrac Navman.

For financial integrations, we have added support for Vista (ViewPoint, VRL, and ViewPoint Cloud), Spectrum (Dexter Chaney), On Base, Solomon (SL and D365), Sage (Intacct), and Apex (JWS).

There is also E-Ticketing solution support for HaulHub eticketing DOT export and Connex eticketing DOT export.

Finally, we have also made improvements to some miscellaneous integrations, including HeavyJob (with Cost Codes and Cost Ledger) and Vista (with Cost Codes).

We hope these new features and integrations will help streamline your material transactions and financial processes, and we look forward to continuing navigating new integrations.

Introducing AlignUp!: Revolutionary Trucking Assignment Optimization

Tue, 11 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0500

We are thrilled to release AlignUp!, a powerful new feature that transforms trucking lineup assignment for contractors. AlignUp! is designed to minimize truck travel distance while respecting all constraints, saving time, reducing risk, and increasing adaptability to last-minute changes, providing immense value to your organization.

Why AlignUp! Matters

Increased Construction Planning Time: By automating the lineup assignment process, less time is reserved for dispatch, allowing your team to focus on other essential aspects of construction planning.
Responsive to Late Changes: AlignUp! adapts to last-minute schedule changes, ensuring efficient resource utilization even in uncertain situations.
Minimized Travel Distance: AlignUp! intelligently considers trucker locations and finds the best use for each trucker, reducing travel distance, saving fuel costs, and time.
Reduced Risk: AlignUp! makes it possible for any team member to optimize and dispatch a lineup, ensuring smooth operations even when someone is on vacation, or when there is turnover.
Dealing with More Truckers: By keeping track of every trucker's location and capabilities, AlignUp! makes it easier to manage a larger number of truckers and scale operations.

Key Features of AlignUp!

AlignUp! optimizes trucking assignments to minimize travel distance while respecting various constraints, offering unique functionality including:

Efficient Scenario Generation: The initial scenario generation for over 100 shifts and 50+ truckers takes less than 1 minute, while subsequent solutions with adjusted constraints are generated in less than 30 seconds.
Trailer Classification Requirements: AlignUp! matches trailer classification requirements (including equivalencies) to ensure truckers are assigned appropriate tasks.
Minimum and Maximum Assignment Counts: The system considers minimum and maximum assignment counts per trucker, optimizing resource utilization.
Material Type Constraints: AlignUp! incorporates material type constraints, ensuring that truckers are assigned to tasks suitable for their equipment and preferences.
Intelligent Constraint Defaults: Based on a configurable look-back window, AlignUp! sets intelligent initial constraint defaults, making the system adaptable and efficient.
Remembered Constraints: AlignUp! carries over constraints from previous lineup scenarios, leveraging yesterday's work to make today's lineup management even more efficient.
One-Click Assignment Execution: With a simple click, you can set assignments, making the process user-friendly and efficient.
One-Click Clear All Assignments: AlignUp! allows you to clear all assignments with a single click, providing flexibility and ease of use.
Integrating Existing Assignments: AlignUp! can integrate existing assignments as constraints, ensuring any specific assignment requirements are considered.
Minimizing Distance to Start and End Sites: AlignUp! considers the distance between the trucker's location and both the start and end sites of the shift, optimizing travel distance and time.

Recommendation for Management

We recommend that management embrace AlignUp! as a key part of your lineup management process. By adopting this feature, your organization will become more efficient and resilient.

5-Step Implementation Plan

Explain the Importance: Communicate the benefits of AlignUp! to project managers, dispatchers, and other decision-makers in your organization. Use this newsletter!
Mandate AlignUp! Use: Require that lineup scenarios be built through AlignUp! to ensure that all of the benefits are achieved by the organization.
Update Data: If AlignUp! solutions are not correct due to inaccurate trucker location or equipment data, require that the data be updated to maintain accurate and efficient solutions.
Rotate Dispatch Responsibilities: Implement a rotation of who actually builds and dispatches the lineup to ensure that your process is robust and stress-tested.
Report Back in Two Weeks: After the implementation of AlignUp!, have the team report back on its effectiveness, allowing for any necessary adjustments to optimize the system further.

Trucking dispatch has long been a source of inefficiency and risk, but no longer. Let's make this a solved problem together.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Refreshing Production: April 5 to April 19

Sun, 09 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0500

As Spring awakens with a gentle kiss,
A new season calls to the daring and brisk.
With a sharpened focus and fiery zeal,
Our workmanship we shall reveal.

The symphony of pavers and rollers,
Amidst the fragrance of blooming clovers.
A ballet of strength and precision on display,
As the canvas of the earth takes shape each day.

This is from XBE's kōnstruction calendar, a celebration of the seasonality of the horizontal construction business.

The year is divided into 24 micro seasons, each with a wonderful illustration, name, and poem.

Enjoy!

Interview: "How CEOs Build With AI"

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 19:00:00 -0500

XBE has been hard at work this year, introducing many incredible AI-powered features, including Hey Kayla, incident headlines, safety risk management, and more. In addition, AI has contributed to the development of other exciting new features, such as AlignUp!, the optimization-based trucking lineup scenario solver released earlier this week.

Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE, was interviewed this week by Eric Jorgenson on his "Smart Friends" podcast about leveraging AI to improve yourself, your products, and your company. You may recognize Eric as the author of the best-selling (and truly excellent) book, "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant".

Regardless of where you are in the process of adopting new AI-based tools and workflows, this interview will be valuable to you. It also offers some sneak peeks into exciting developments that XBE has planned.

You can watch the interview on YouTube, listen as a podcast, or read the transcript.

Finally, for Hey Kayla fans, Sean introduced a special side-project: baekayla.com

Enhance Your Safety Management with Research-Backed Strategies

Sun, 26 Mar 2023 19:00:00 -0500

The XBE platform is packed with robust safety management features, including support for good catch and near miss incidents. These features have been designed to help you foster a culture of safety and collaboration within your organization.

The Power of Positive Feedback and Safety Climate

Dov Zohar's foundational study on safety climate highlights the importance of employees' perceptions of management's commitment to safety. A positive safety climate significantly influences employees' safety behavior and the overall safety performance of the organization. By using incident comments in XBE to provide immediate positive feedback, you can foster a positive safety climate and promote the safety behaviors that are correlated with better outcomes.

The Impact of Near Miss and Good Catch Reporting

Emily Haas et al's research on near miss reporting emphasizes the value of using near miss incidents as a learning tool to improve safety. Organizations that prioritize near miss and good catch reporting and analysis can foster a proactive safety culture, leading to a decrease in accidents and injuries. By encouraging the reporting of near miss and good catch incidents in your organization, you can address potential hazards early and avoid adverse events.

Efficiently Review and Comment on Safety Incidents

To help you efficiently review and provide feedback on safety incidents, we recommend the following three steps:

Subscribe to safety incidents: You can subscribe to safety incidents at the organization level by visiting Incidents Calendar > Subscriptions. This ensures you stay informed and engaged with your team's safety performance.
Review incidents on the "My Incidents" screen: Access this screen by navigating to Browse > My Incidents. The My Incidents screen enables you to quickly read all safety incidents and comment inline in one place. It only takes 10-20 seconds to read an incident and provide helpful comments.
Encourage collaboration: Remember that any user in your organization can submit safety incidents and participate in the collaborative process. By involving everyone in safety management, you can create a culture of shared responsibility and awareness.

In Conclusion

We hope you find these insights helpful in promoting a culture of safety within your organization. By leveraging XBE's software and applying research-backed strategies, such as fostering a positive safety climate and promoting near miss reporting, you can encourage behaviors that lead to better safety outcomes.

Remember to subscribe to safety incidents, make use of the "My Incidents" screen, and involve everyone in your organization in the safety management process. By doing so, you will maximize the effectiveness of your safety program and create a safer work environment for all.

Thank you for being part of the XBE community, and stay safe!

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

References:

Zohar, D. (1980). Safety climate in industrial organizations: theoretical and applied implications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65(1), 96-102.
Haas, E. J., Demich, B., & McGuire, J. (2020). Learning from Workers' Near-miss Reports to Improve Organizational Management. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, 37(3), 873-885.

Hey Kayla Gets Upgraded Again - Must See Examples

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:00:00 -0500

You've probably heard the buzz about GPT-4, the new "large language model" from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.

Good news! XBE received beta access to GPT-4 and we already upgraded Hey Kayla to take advantage.

Her capabilities were amazing before. Now? You just have to see them...

Here are a few real questions with the actual answers. Think BIG! Try Hey Kayla today.

Q. I'm a logistics manager. Give me a step-by-step plan for remediating late driver arrivals using tools in XBE.

Sure, here's a step-by-step plan for remediating late driver arrivals using tools in XBE:

Identify late arrivals: Monitor driver check-ins and job production plan monitoring to identify drivers who are arriving late to the start site or job site.
Analyze the data: Use trucker report cards and driver history to analyze the reasons behind the late arrivals. Check for patterns or trends such as certain drivers being consistently late or specific routes or jobs causing delays.
Develop an action plan: Based on your analysis, create a plan to address the root causes of late arrivals. This may include adjusting scheduled start times, changing routes, or reassigning drivers to different jobs or shifts.
Communicate expectations: Clearly communicate your expectations regarding punctuality to drivers through driver pre-shift meetings, messaging, and feedback within the XBE app.
Provide support and resources: Make sure all drivers have the XBE app for iOS or Android, access to accurate job and routing information, and a clear understanding of how to use the app to check-in and communicate any delays.
Implement driver incentives: Incentivize timely arrivals by tying driver performance to rewards or recognition. For example, considering punctuality when distributing bonuses or celebrating drivers with consistent on-time performance.
Monitor progress: Continuously monitor driver arrival data using XBE's job production plan monitoring and trucker report cards. Measure improvements over time and use this information to further refine your remediation strategies.
Adjust schedules and dispatching as needed: Use XBE's planning and scheduling tools to fine-tune your schedules and dispatching processes based on the latest information and trends in driver arrival times.
Provide ongoing feedback: Keep drivers informed about their performance and any ongoing issues with late arrivals through regular communication within the XBE app, driver meetings, or other communication channels.
Foster a culture of continuous improvement: Encourage drivers to take ownership of their punctuality and promote an environment where everyone works together to find solutions to late arrivals and other operational challenges.

Q. I'm a trucking manager. I'm going to have a meeting with my drivers. I'd like to convince them that XBE includes many features that make their lives better. Write my speech to them with the top five reasons they should be excited about the platform.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today. I want to share with you some great news about the XBE platform and how it will benefit you as truck drivers. This platform offers a myriad of features designed to make your lives better, and today I'll highlight the top five reasons why you should be excited about using XBE.

Streamlined Communication: XBE simplifies communication between drivers, dispatchers and management. With in-app driver messaging and targeted broadcast messaging, you'll receive clear instructions and real-time updates, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and reducing unnecessary distractions.
Enhanced Navigation and Route Optimization: XBE's platform provides live GPS tracking and mapping features, helping you to navigate efficiently and avoid traffic or road closures. This means you can get to your destinations quicker and stay on schedule, which ultimately saves you time and energy.
Transparent Performance Metrics: XBE offers a variety of tools to track your performance and help identify areas for improvement. With features like check-in report cards and shift scorecards, you can monitor your progress and work towards enhancing your skills, making you an even more valuable driver.
Seamless Time and Payroll Management: With XBE's time card management system, tracking your hours and submitting timesheets become hassle-free. This ensures accurate compensation for your hard work and makes the payroll process more efficient.
Easy Access to Important Documents and Information: XBE houses all crucial job-related documents, guidelines and safety procedures in one easy-to-navigate platform. This allows you to stay informed, access necessary information on-the-go, and maintain a safe working environment. In conclusion, XBE is designed to support you as drivers, improving efficiency, communication, and overall job satisfaction. Embracing this platform will not only make your lives easier but will also contribute to our company's success. Thank you for your attention and commitment to adopting this game-changing platform.

Q. What is a time card pre-approval? How does it differ from an admin approval? When should we use which strategy?

A time card pre-approval is the pre-authorization of approval for a given set of quantities for a time card. It is generated by a superintendent or foreman in the field, allowing them to sign out their drivers at the end of a workday. The time card will automatically be submitted and approved after a set period of time, unless the driver or trucker financial contact cancels the automatic submission.

On the other hand, a time card "Admin" approval involves the verification of an image of a signed paper ticket. It is completed by an administrator who reviews the time card based on the paper record and approves it accordingly.

The "field" approval process is suitable when your workflow allows for electronic pre-approval directly from the field, usually benefiting from streamlined approval processes and reduced paperwork. The "Admin" approval process is used in scenarios where paper time cards are the standard, and time card approval relies on the comparison of the digital and physical records.

Choose the strategy that best fits your organization's workflow and requirements for tracking and approving driver time cards.

XBE at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 18:00:00 -0600

CONEXPO-CON/AGG is next week in Las Vegas.

We'll be in town from Tuesday to Saturday.

We're there for three reasons:

Learn about the latest
See existing customers
Meet prospective customers

We'll share observations about the event in future newsletters.

Want to meet up? Interested in a specific topic?

Let us know! We'd enjoy that.

sean-devine@x-b-e.com grant-wollenhaupt@x-b-e.com

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Explaining the "Hey Kayla" Question Triage Process

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0600

It's been less than a week since we launched "Hey Kayla", and we're thrilled with the response. It's so good already, and it's getting better every day.

Some of my favorite real questions include:

Where can I see driver locations on a map?
How can I create a job production plan template?
Explain to me the job production plan monitoring chart.
How can I establish minimum payment amounts to drivers?
What is the quick menu?
How can I see the time zone on all times?
How do I check-in?
How do I enable e-Ticketing for my job production plan?
What is an unloaded trip?
Is there a report that summarizes material volume?

There are many hundreds more...

I reached out this afternoon to someone that asked an interesting question.

She was glad to know we were paying attention in real time.

Her comment made me realize it would be a good idea to share XBE's internal process newsletter regarding the triage of questions.

Hey Kayla, "Tell me about the Hey Kayla question triage process."

In short, we follow an eight step process to triage every question. Not every step applies to every question.

Step 1. Assign yourself.
Step 2. Determine the motivation of the question.
Step 3. Score the answer.
Step 4. Diagnose the reason for the poor answer.
Step 5. Clarify the question.
Step 6. Restate the question.
Step 7. Improve related content.
Step 8. Write a better answer.

Our goals are straight forward:

Maximize answer quality.
Maximize answer consistency.
Improve leverage through every answer.
Reinforce good user habits.

You can read the detailed process document by clicking on the link above.

If you experience us redirecting a question into "Hey Kayla", now you know why!

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Releases "Hey Kayla", An On-Demand Expert With Complete Knowledge Of The Entire XBE Platform

Wed, 15 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0600

The XBE platform is incredibly wide and deep.

That's what makes it so powerful.

That's also what makes it a bit challenging to learn.

Until now...

Today we release "Hey Kayla", an amazing new feature that provides answers to any question about the XBE platform in seconds.

"Hey Kayla" will immediately and fundamentally change user education. It's frictionless to ask questions, and answers are sourced and thorough.

As of its release, Kayla is trained on 50,000+ words of release notes, 57,000+ words of newsletters, and 10,000+ words of glossary terms and definitions.

That's the length of a typical epic fantasy novel!

It's no wonder that few people know everything about all of the features.

Kayla combines that specific knowledge with general knowledge and a friendly disposition.

Here's an example of Kayla answering a question about herself.

"Hey Kayla" is better than we ever imagined was possible, and this is only the beginning. Every day, she'll be trained with new content and fine tuned based on the quality of answers given.

And, she doesn't just know XBE content. "Hey Kayla" creates user-specific answers including content from organization-scoped newsletters. That greatly expands what's possible.

XBE believes in innovation, expertise, and leverage — 3 of our 8 core values.

"Hey Kayla" is the product of years of commitment to building great things and explaining them precisely.

We're so excited to see customers benefit from this work.

If you find this exciting, let me know! I'll talk your ear off.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

NAPA 2023 Annual Meeting Final Day Recap

Sun, 12 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0600

The rest of the 2023 annual meeting of the National Asphalt Pavement Association was great.

In case you missed it, see this newsletter for a recap of five themes from day one.

In this newsletter I’ll cover three additional themes from the last day and a half:

1. Sustainability might be the focus but it's still blurry.

To be clear... As a software company dedicated to optimizing horizontal construction operations, sustainability has been a significant area of focus for XBE's entire existence. That's one of the reasons we're pleased to sponsor The Road Forward, NAPA's initiative to make asphalt a net zero carbon industry by 2050.

It would be hard to overstate how much time was spent on sustainability for the rest of the conference. It was the primary topic of the NAPA business meeting session, the only topic of the next general session, and the only subject of discussion at the 90 minute luncheon for The Road Forward supporters.

While sustainability will probably matter quite a bit to most NAPA members, it's not yet clear how or what should be done now. For example, there was a steady drumbeat regarding environment product declarations (EPDs), but I'm not sure if the time is right to submit EPDs for public review. In case you're unfamiliar, EPDs provide information on the life cycle environmental impact of asphalt products including resource consumption, emissions, and waste generated during production, use, and disposal. While I could imagine EPDs helping the asphalt industry or individual asphalt producers, I could also imagine them hurting. Too much is left to figure out to do so in public.

And so, I'd recommend three sustainability actions for asphalt producers now:

Create an internal committee focused on sustainability. Their charter should be to understand the carbon footprint of the operation, to identify opportunities to reduce the the carbon footprint, and to track progress against internal goals over time.
Reduce excess energy use in your operation. There are plenty of opportunities to reduce wasted energy in manufacturing, trucking, and construction. Most of these solutions will also improve short term financial performance. That should be enough incentive, but the sustainability benefits are a nice bonus. Relatedly, you might want to look into the EPA's Energy Star program - it sounds quite helpful.
Get involved through NAPA and your state asphalt pavement association to stay on top of this topic. Given the volume of discussion and funding related to sustainability, meaningful change is bound to happen. You don't want to be caught flat-footed.

2. Smooth and quick is the performance advantage.

In the business meeting session, NAPA shared some statistics regarding the ways in which the public prefers asphalt pavements.

The data was clear. Asphalt is popular because it's smooth to drive on, and quick to construct.

I wonder if most contractors intentionally manage to these two outcomes.

That's what "quality" means to the customer, and I'd judge every project accordingly.

3. When someone states a position, see through to their interest.

As always, the closing reception on Tuesday night was a great time. There was a large band and lots of dancing.

In between sets, a group of 10 of us stood on the dance floor chatting.

A man in his 50s approached our group, made eye contact with me, and motioned me over to the side. I didn't recognize him, but the moment had the feeling of someone trying to get in touch all day at a busy conference.

Him: "Are you with the band?"

Me: "How can I help?"

Him: "It's my anniversary. I'd like you to call me out to the dance floor first. Once I'm down on one knee, then call out my wife. Play 'Truly, Madly, Deeply' by Savage Garden. It's our favorite song. Can you do that?"

Me: "Will it be just as special if we need to play a different song?"

Him: "Yes, of course. Especially if you could call me out first."

Me: "You've got it."

And, after some band management, that's exactly what happened.

I share the story because it's funny, and because it's a great example of one of the best problem solving techniques I know.

When someone makes a position-oriented statement or question, try to see through it to their interest. Regardless of what they specifically asked, see if there's a way to use your resources to give them what they want. If there is, do it.

It didn't matter if I was actually with the band.

It was great to see so many friends and colleagues. I wish there was more time to spend with more people.

The 2023 midyear meeting is in Kansas City, and we have some great things planned.

We're excited to see you there.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

NAPA 2023 Annual Meeting Day Two Recap

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0600

The first full day at the 2023 annual meeting of the National Asphalt Pavement Association was full of valuable content.

Five key themes resonated with me:

1. Care more about internal communications.

I had a great conversation with a friend that I only see at NAPA events just as the conference started. She asked my opinion about some external marketing options that her company is considering.

I reflected on various approaches used by XBE customers and other companies in the industry that I admire.

In general, I believe the best strategy is to copycat the external marketing techniques of other contractors that are trying to do a great job. Average their approaches and use messaging that's consistent with your culture and brand. Keep it simple and get it done quickly and inexpensively.

Take the time and money that you save and invest all of it in internal communications. In this business, internal communications has far more leverage over performance, and is typically a weakness.

I've had this conversation with multiple attendees since that initial conversation, and everyone feels similarly.

2. Study the capabilities of your equipment.

Lindsey Vonn was the keynote interviewee. She's one of the top few women alpine ski racers in history. She was chosen as the speaker by Christian Zimmerman, incoming NAPA Chairman. Both of his parents were Olympic skiers, and his daughter is currently on the US National team.

Ms. Vonn was asked various questions regarding the keys to her success, and she put a surprising amount of focus on her equipment.

She started each ski season with 150 sets of skis. She'd use all of them during training, making notes about their performance after each run. She'd use that data to determine which skis to use in what conditions, and to provide feedback to the manufacturer.

She also told a story about difficulties skiing on ice. She noticed that male skiers were not having the same trouble, and asked to try their skis. That was the difference! She switched to men's ski immediately and won the next race by over 2 seconds.

These insights are directly applicable to our industry. Crews can't outrun their equipment. We need to study and tinker in order to fully utilize the capabilities of what we have today, and improve the capabilities in the future.

Focus as much on equipment performance as people performance.

3. Compete against what you can't beat.

Ms. Vonn also told a story about racing "The Streif" at night in Kitzbuhel, Austria for Red Bull. It's an extremely dangerous downhill course that has only been raced by men, and always during the day.

About racing men, she's often asked, "Why do you think you're faster than them?"

She said, "I don't. I race against them because they're faster than me."

4. Make mental health a key safety concern.

Some startling stats were shared regarding suicide in the construction industry during the NAPA business meeting session. The rate of death by suicide exceeds the rate of death on the job by 5X. In addition, the rate of suicide in construction exceeds the rate in the general population by 4X.

While contractors aren't as responsible for the general mental health of employees as they are for job safety, they certainly bear some responsibility. Employees spend 1/2 their waking hours on the job, and contractors have significant information about their mental state.

Audit your safety processes such as safety risk assessments, safety meetings, safety inspections, good catches, and near misses to identify opportunities to ensure that mental health risk management is integrated.

5. Be an active member of your community.

XBE hosted an amazing golden hour boat cruise yesterday afternoon. Around 50 people joined us, including many existing and future customers. It was everything we hoped it would be.

In my get-it-started toast, I shared a theory on why the people in this industry are so great:

It's a local business where your customers are literally all of your neighbors. Your assets can't be moved to a different location.

Those that do well are those that do good.

Therefore, most companies in the industry know how to collaborate graciously. XBE's success is a product of that norm. Our customers engage with us and each other in the same spirit as they engage with their local community. For the long term, in partnership.

I'll be back tomorrow with more.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

NAPA 2023 Annual Meeting Preview

Sat, 04 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0600

Hello from Miami! We’re here and ready for the 2023 Annual Meeting of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA).

We’ll post daily recaps of the content that resonates.

Why should you read the recaps?

We posted this recap after the 2011 mid-year meeting in Nashville, and it had some valuable content.

One of our five key takeaways:

The industry's demand forecast is quite good with input cost inflation providing some short-term headwinds.

That proved prescient, as cost-inflation was the number one industry story of 2022.

The rest of the takeaways regarding funding, carbon impact reduction, and safety leadership have also aged well.

We’ll be paying close attention at this year’s event too, and we'll summarize the themes and ideas that we believe best apply to the XBE community.

One last thought…

We spent lunch discussing what makes a good conference attendee and settled on three factors:

Do they connect people? The number one way to make friends.
Do they participate? Earnest involvement is valuable.
Do they have fun? Help everyone have a good time.

We'll do our best!

Back with more tomorrow,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Joins NAPA's The Road Forward Initiative

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 18:00:00 -0600

XBE is an enthusiastic member of the NAPA community, and we're pleased to announce our support of The Road Forward, their climate change task force.

Thanks goes to Dan Gallagher, CEO of Gallagher Asphalt, for urging me to join the effort.

See the official announcement below.

Thanks,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

P.S. Look out for us at the NAPA Annual Meeting in Miami this week. Grant Wollenhaupt, Andrea Hayob, and I will be there.

February 3, 2023 - XBE, an innovator in operations management software for the horizontal construction industry, has joined The Road Forward, an initiative of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) to advance the production and construction of net zero carbon emission asphalt pavements by 2050.

XBE has been a NAPA Associate member since 2019. Grant Wollenhaupt, Chief Commercial Officer, has been involved with NAPA since 2012, serving on the Net Zero and Balanced Mix Design Task Forces, among others. XBE actively supports NAPA events and member engagement. XBE is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, where NAPA’s 2023 Midyear Meeting takes place from July 9-12.

XBE is proud to work with 13 NAPA producer members, two of whom are partners in The Road Forward - Gallagher Asphalt (Illinois) and Peckham Industries (New York).

“We’ve been customers of XBE since 2019. In those four years, their software and partnership has optimized our crew and equipment scheduling, daily job production, and trucking operations,” said Dan Gallagher, CEO of Gallagher Asphalt. “I reached out to Sean in January and asked him to join The Road Forward. Their scientific management approach is just what’s needed for us to be successful together.”

Peckham Industries, an inaugural partner in The Road Forward, said in a statement, “Peckham is excited to build on our commitment to sustainability and operational excellence by partnering with XBE to improve efficiencies across our crew, plant, and logistics divisions.”

"With XBE's partnership in The Road Forward, we can tackle the challenge of reducing carbon emissions in the asphalt pavement industry together. Our robust platform makes the opportunities visible and improvements possible. We are thrilled to be at the forefront of this movement towards a sustainable future. It would have been great to solve this problem 25 years ago, but the second best time is now," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO, XBE.

XBE’s support of The Road Forward will help fund ongoing research and education to aid the entire U.S. asphalt industry in producing net zero carbon emission asphalt production and construction by 2050.

“We are proud to welcome XBE and their innovative spirit to The Road Forward,” said NAPA President & CEO Audrey Copeland, PhD, PE, “because innovation has always been at the heart of the asphalt pavement industry and will be a driving force for reducing carbon emissions."

“Their support propels our collective vision for sustainable communities and commerce connected by net zero carbon asphalt pavements,” added Copeland. For more information about The Road Forward, including details on the industry goals and a full list of sponsoring companies, visit AsphaltPavement.org/Forward.

About The Road Forward
An initiative of the National Asphalt Pavement Association, The Road Forward: A Vision for Net Zero Carbon Emissions for the Asphalt Pavement Industry calls on the U.S. asphalt community to advance technologies, products, and processes to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Launched in January 2022, the multi-year effort will engage, educate, and empower the U.S. asphalt community to produce and construct net zero carbon emission asphalt pavements.

About XBE
XBE enables the scientific management of horizontal construction leaders through its incomparable software platform. The best run on us. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About NAPA
The National Asphalt Pavement Association is the only trade association that exclusively represents the interests of the asphalt pavement material producer/contractor on the national level with Congress, government agencies, and other national trade and business organizations. NAPA supports an active research program designed to improve the quality of asphalt pavements and paving techniques used in the construction of roads, streets, highways, parking lots, airports, and environmental and recreational facilities. The association provides technical, educational, and marketing materials and information to its members; supplies product information to users and specifiers of paving materials; and conducts training courses. The association, which counts 1,100 companies as its members, was founded in 1955.

Maximizing Construction Production: A Step-by-Step Approach Based on the Theory of Constraints Framework

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0600

The factor that most determines construction cost on a paving, milling, or grading job is the job site production rate. Given that various factors can influence the maximum production rate, it is not possible to set an organization-level target that can be managed at the job level. Therefore, extra consideration must be given when planning the target production rate for a job production plan since everything else will be subordinate.

Use the following step-by-step approach to set the target production rate.

Calculate the theoretical speed of production: The first step in maximizing production is to calculate the theoretical speed of production based on the site measurements, site shape and obstructions, and capabilities of the production equipment. This can be done by using tools such as site maps, drawings, and equipment specifications.
Gather empirical data: The next step is to gather empirical data about the production on comparable job production plans. This can be done by looking at data from similar projects based on the job site conditions. This will give you a sense of what has been possible in the past.
Find the highest sustained production rate: Once you have the data, find the highest sustained production rate within the comparable projects. This will give you a benchmark to work towards.
Check for under-resourcing: Check if the highest sustained production rate could have been under-trucked by checking for very low trucking surplus and GPS confirmation. If it was under trucked, then the maximum production rate might be higher. Perform this same analysis on other types of support capacity to determine if a support resource such as trucking, rollers, or a material site may have become the bottleneck.
Triangulate on the ideal production rate: Triangulate on the ideal production rate by comparing the theoretical maximum rate to the empirical maximum rate. This will help identify any errors in the analysis.
Determine the quantity of support capacity required: Once you’ve determined the ideal production rate, determine the quantity of support capacity required to achieve that production rate. Use a similar process of triangulation to do that research.
Adjust to actual bottleneck: If you have insufficient support capacity based on the ideal production rate, then dial back the target production capacity and other support capacity to the bottleneck.
Test higher targets: To the extent that the ideal production rate is uncertain, you might consider adding extra capacity to test how high the production rate could be. Ensure that you communicate about this plan to the crew explicitly so that the extra capacity is utilized for the test.
Determine the optimal production window: Perform similar analysis to determine the production window for the day considering mobilization time and expense, work rule limits, opportunity cost, and overtime rules. As a rule of thumb, favor longer production windows given opportunity cost and the leverage of mobilization and setup.
Compare and adjust: At the end of production, compare the actual results to your expectations and adjust future plans accordingly. This will allow you to continuously improve and maximize production in the future.

In summary, to maximize production, it is important to calculate the theoretical speed of production, gather empirical data, find the highest sustained production rate, check for under-resourcing, triangulate on the ideal production rate, determine the quantity of support capacity required, adjust to the bottleneck, test higher targets, determine the production window, and continuously compare and adjust plans. By following these steps, you can ensure that job production plans are set to maximize production.

If you’re interested in learning more about this approach, read up on the Theory of Constraints, a management philosophy developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in the 1980s. I remember first reading his novel “The Goal” in FME (Freshman Management Experience) at Babson College in 1996. The clarity of his “Five Focusing Steps” stuck with me.

There are many tools in the XBE platform that support this process. In particular, ensure that you’re up to speed on segment-level planning, the job summary report, the job history report, the job monitoring screen, and material site monitoring screen.

We’re always looking for innovative ways to make this process more effective and efficient. If you have ideas, let us know. If you’d like any support in implementing this process, we’re happy to help.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Introducing Project Prophet: the future of project profitability tracking and forecasting

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0600

We see your future when project profitability tracking and forecasting are great.

We see estimated quantities and prices expressed in terms of their uncertainty.

We see the simulation of job profitability that calculates the range of likely outcomes.

We see actual cost estimates updated upon completion of every job production plan.

We see an income statement for every job production plan.

We see the formal estimation of pay item quantities.

We see a seamless transition from estimating to project management.

We see a single solution to capture all actual cost quantities and prices.

We see automated pay item quantity percent completion estimates.

We see the separation of the bid estimate from the actual cost estimate.

We see the disentanglement of operational gain/fade analysis from bid estimate error analysis.

We see the emergence of more reliable indicators of pricing power.

We see all of this integrated with the XBE features that you already leverage.

We see and so now we build.

Introducing Project Prophet, XBE’s coming solution for project profitability tracking and forecasting.

Over the next three months we’ll complete the development of this innovation.

You’ll hear from me about our progress every other week between now and then.

It will transform the way that you manage project profitability.

More accurate. More nuanced. More responsive. More efficient.

Want a sneak peek? Want to start planning your transformation? Let me know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Ozinga Expands into Renewable Energy Logistics with XBE

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0600

Ozinga, a long-time customer of XBE, recently expanded into a new line of business: cow manure logistics. The new business unit, "Ozinga Renewable Energy Logistics," is led by Rich Mulder. Previously, Rich was General Manager of Aggregates Transportation for Ozinga.

Ozinga's primary business is in ready-mix concrete, but over the years they've diversified into many areas, including aggregate logistics and compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations. Since they dispatched their first CNG-powered mixer truck in 2011, a new business venture - Ozinga Energy, LLC - was created to market to fleet owners, operators and the transportation sector.

Ozinga uses XBE to manage the logistics of their aggregate and cement hauling, and they saw an opportunity to apply this expertise to grow in a new market. They're creating a virtual pipeline from dairy farms to anaerobic digesters using renewable natural gas (RNG) trucks, which is more economical and flexible than building a new pipeline. The operation is in Arizona, 2,000 miles from their headquarters in Chicago.

Anaerobic digesters are biological systems that convert organic matter, such as cow manure, into a methane-rich biogas through the process of anaerobic digestion. In this process, microorganisms break down the organic matter in the absence of oxygen, releasing methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases. The resulting biogas can be used as a source of renewable energy for heating, electricity generation and transportation. Additionally, the byproduct, known as digestate, can be used as a fertilizer. The anaerobic digestion process not only reduces the environmental impact of manure disposal but also has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, making it a sustainable solution for waste management and energy production.

The Ozinga Renewable Energy Logistics team successfully launched their business in the fall of 2022. Rich attributed the success to 8 months of planning, and a fundamental belief in logistics as an opportunity to differentiate. They focused on being a good neighbor to get ahead of any potential problems and to build long-term win-win relationships with all stakeholders.

XBE software enables the Ozinga Renewable Energy Logistics team to see and manage their operation no matter where they are. XBE is integrated with Samsara, Ozinga’s trucking telematics solution, and requires very little effort by drivers. XBE’s time card management functionality ensures that the work is quantified accurately, and the integration with Ozinga’s ERP automates data entry and reduces opportunity for clerical and accounting errors. XBE’s analytics and reporting provide the visualizations and metrics required to spot opportunities.

Ozinga and XBE have been working together for three years, and this partnership has led to some of XBE's most innovative developments. As Founder and CEO of XBE, Sean Devine, said, "I never expected our platform to be used to haul liquid manure, but it makes total sense, and we're thrilled to be involved. It’s inspiring to see a company not only focus on logistics as a cost-center to be optimized, but as a competitive-advantage to be leveraged." Rich Mulder added, "Thanks to our partnership with XBE, it was great that I didn’t even have to think about transportation management solutions - we’re already running all other bulk hauling activities through XBE and I knew it would provide everything we needed without modification.”

The Mutual Benefits of a Properly Designed Fuel Surcharge Program

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0600

The purpose of a properly designed trucking fuel surcharge program is to reduce the cost of uncertainty.

For a trucker to stay in business in the long run if there isn't a fuel surcharge and fuel prices are volatile, they can either reserve cash or borrow money.

A fuel surcharge shifts this risk to the contractor who will need to reserve cash or borrow money just the same.

Someone needs to carry the cost of the risk.

Usually, the cost of capital for the contractor is significantly lower than for the trucker. This is due to a larger asset base to borrow against, and more dependable cash flows due to stronger competitive advantage.

Given the permanent local nature of the horizontal construction business, any short-term win by contractors at the expense of truckers will result in a long-term reduction in capacity and/or increase in rates.

Therefore, it makes sense to reduce the cost of the risk to the partnership by shifting the risk to the contractor since it's less expensive for them.

To help execute this strategy, we recommend a few specific actions:

Estimate the cost of capital for all parties - truckers, contractors, and developers. This will help make these points less abstract and make them easier to communicate.
Create a formal communication for truckers that explains the uncertainty-cost-reduction purpose of the fuel surcharge. This will help encourage truckers to share information about their actual fuel costs and fuel efficiency to craft a high-fit fuel surcharge mechanism.
Meet with your low-cost-of-capital developers (public agencies) to see if they'd be willing to add a fuel surcharge to your contracts to help further reduce the cost of uncertainty. Leverage the trucker communication (and this newsletter) to help communicate your position.
Review the fit of your fuel surcharge to actual trucker fuel costs annually and make any adjustments (change the zero-intercept ratio, add segmentation) required to maximize the fit.

As always, if XBE can help you with your fuel surcharge strategy in any way, please let us know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Estimating Over-Recovery: Assessing the Fit of Fuel Surcharges to Actual Cost Changes

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0600

XBE introduced robust fuel surcharge (rate adjustment) support in Q1 of 2022, just as diesel prices were skyrocketing. Almost all XBE customers implemented fuel surcharge rate adjustments shortly thereafter to transfer risk from truckers and to assure the steady supply of trucking capacity throughout the 2022 season, regardless of diesel price changes.

Given the stress and uncertainty of early 2022, many organizations implemented fuel surcharges that were based on trucker/customer requests, or based on assumptions backed by relatively little data and analysis.

As customers assess their trucking rates for 2023, we've had some conversations about those fuel surcharges and how to estimate the degree to which they fit actual fuel cost changes.

As a reminder, XBE fuel surcharge rate adjustments are built on two key numbers:

Zero-Intercept Cost Index Value: The diesel price per gallon assumed by the base price per unit.
Zero-Intercept Ratio: The percentage of the base price that is diesel cost.

The zero-intercept cost index value can't really be calculated. It's the fuel price that was assumed when the base price per unit was set. Usually that would be the average price per gallon for some period prior to the fuel surcharge being created, but it could be another value.

The zero-intercept ratio is a function of the base price per unit, and the gallons of diesel actually consumed per unit. The gallons of diesel per unit are a function of speed (average miles per unit), and fuel economy (average miles per gallon).

Given geographical and efficiency differences between markets, the gallons per unit can vary quite a bit and are worth a close look.

For example, we helped analyze the actual over-recovery for a trucker in 2022, and based on their relatively low miles per hour, relatively high miles per gallon, and relatively high base price per hour, we estimated that they over-recovered approximately $100K (nearly 4% of their revenue).

This is a problem in two ways. First, it's money paid to truckers that could have been avoided. Second, it could create new supply risk if truckers depend on the over-recovery and diesel prices goes down.

Whether or not you own a trucker, we recommend that contractors estimate the over-recovery (if any) that truckers experienced during 2022. If there is an over-recovery, you may consider adjusting the zero-intercept ratio for 2023.

We believe that it's reasonable to ask truckers for their data about the miles and gallons consumed by truck in 2022. While you can estimate both values, we believe that discussing the topic with truckers helps reinforce the purpose of the fuel surcharge which is simply to reimburse truckers for changes in fuel costs as accurately as possible.

If you're viewing this on the web or in the XBE app, see the spreadsheet below for an example calculation. Click here to download the template.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions or ideas in this area. We're happy to collaborate.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Successful Second XBE Jugaad Hackathon Enhances Safety Risk Management Feature with AI

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 18:00:00 -0600

Greetings from Goa, India and the second XBE Jugaad!

I’m thrilled to report that the second XBE Jugaad, a feature-oriented hackathon, was a huge success. Most of the product development team was able to attend in-person, which is a rare occasion given that XBE is remote first and distributed around the world.

At the end of day one, we brainstormed two dozen AI-powered features that we thought would add significant value to XBE users. We focused on AI-powered features (leveraging GPT-3) so that we would have more confidence as a group in our ability to leverage AI models (not just GPT-3) throughout the XBE platform.

During the night before day one of the Jugaad, I added a small release note headline suggestion feature as a proof of concept, and to learn some lessons that could be applied by the group. Before choosing a feature, we reviewed that work and a bit about the process required to build it.

The group chose one feature area, safety risk management, to enhance through AI during day two. Our goal was to ship a complete feature based on development built between sunrise and sunset. The business objective of the feature was to integrate safety risk assessment into the job production planning process, and to improve safety risk management communication during construction.

We were able to leverage AI models in three areas related to this feature.

Automatic generation of headlines for incidents.
Safety risk suggestions based on job characteristics and recent incidents across the XBE network.
Automatic safety meeting communication based on the job's key risks and other characteristics.

Ten of us worked all day and shipped a production-ready feature by sunset, in time for an amazing wrap party at HOSA in Siolim. We split the work into three parts.

Server-side plumbing
Client-side user experience
AI prompt design

Leveraging AI made the server and client development work more simple even though the feature is much more capable than what we would have created without AI.

Six lessons that we learned about developing AI-powered features include:

Prompt design is an art form that requires significant creativity.
It’s hard to overestimate what GPT-3 is capable of.
AI shouldn’t be thought of as a product feature, but as a tool used to enhance all product features.
So much work is pushed to the AI-model that it’s possible to ship a feature early and just refine the prompt over time without anything about the interface changing.
The unpredictability of responses from the AI models is both magical and a bit unnerving, but the only way out is through.
It’ll take us many years to full grasp and leverage the possibilities that exist today.

It’s delightful to ship features that integrate structured data and curt user generated content into well written output. This is an underrated implication that users will love. In my experience, many people are very anxious about writing things in public, and when there’s an AI intermediary between their thoughts and the distribution of those thoughts, they’ll be more willing to share.

Given the current tools, one programmer could ship multiple valuable AI-powered enhancements to existing features every single day for quite a while before we’d run out of ideas. The productivity is off the charts, but so is the opportunity. Within 2 years, features that aren’t enhanced with AI will start to feel a bit broken. We’re hustling!

We’re grateful for your support, and we’re always looking for your feedback. Reach out to me or any member of the team if you have ideas or questions.

Cheers,

Sean Devine Founder & CEO, XBE

PS. This newsletter was also written by GPT-3. I wrote the key points as bullets, and it rewrote the bullets into a newsletter form. It also generated the headline! It's AI all the way down.

2022 Year in Review

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0600

Merry Christmas! We hope this letter finds you, your team, and your family in the holiday spirit. Before you shut down your laptop and turn up Bing Crosby, let’s look back at 2022 to celebrate, commemorate, and learn.

It was a year of challenges.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t start by mentioning the challenges that many XBE customers faced in 2022. When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed in 2021, there was tremendous optimism in the industry. But, the other shoe was yet to drop. Commodity inflation and supply constraints in liquid asphalt cement, diesel, gasoline, aggregates, natural gas, parts, and equipment took a serious chunk out of profits in the year that followed. In addition, historically low unemployment and pandemic-related economic stimulus led to labor turnover, shortages, and disruption. Those factors combined to further reduce trucking capacity and increase prices, just when demand was ramping up.

We all learned how susceptible we are to disruptions and uncertainty up and down the supply chain.

But, one thing is certain. Funding for public infrastructure is incredibly strong for the next five years. It will take careful planning and management to capitalize on this opportunity, and XBE customers are the most prepared.

It was a year of growth.

Customers managed $177M+ of trucking volume through XBE in 2022, a 77%+ increase over 2021. Some of that increase was due to spiking fuel surcharges, and we helped customers manage that, too! We added 5,300+ user accounts, enabled dozens of new integrations, and processed more than 1.9M material transactions. It was our biggest year yet, by far. We expect a similar amount of growth in 2023 as new customers onboard and other customers expand.

It was a year of features.

We kept up our steady cadence of improvements to the XBE platform. Eleven team members contributed to the development of this huge list of performance improvements, amazing features, optimized workflows, excellent reports & analytics, and additional integrations. Some of these were a result of our two new traditions: Jugaad, our semi-annual feature-related hackathon that started in June, and Raftaar, our semi-annual performance-related hackathon that started in November.

These are my 76 favorite things we shipped - I refuse to narrow it down any further. How did we live without many of these features!? If anything looks new and interesting, check out the related release notes in the XBE app for more details.

Performance improvements
- Significant speed up to data-heavy screens (part of Raftaar I)
- Hundreds of database query and caching optimizations
- Upgraded database capacity
- Reimagined and optimized driver day navigation and data loading (part of Raftaar I)
- Enhanced auto-scaling of compute resources
- App size reduction of 65%
Amazing features
- The Board for optimized job scheduling
- Projects with material types, cost codes, subscriptions, action items, conversations, and more
- Crew and equipment timesheets
- Cost indexes and rate adjustments for fuel surcharges
- Time card approval audit workflow
- Draft driver shift assignments
- Public Praise to reward and reinforce culture-consistent behavior
- My Action Items feed
- My Incidents feed
- Equipment rental management
- New equipment movement manager
- Automated travel time management
- OCR-assisted material transaction ticket details review
- Synthesized per-ton rates
- Driver shift scopes to enable driver-specific rates
- Job production plan locations and segment locations
- Exclude some service type units of measures from trucking invoices
- Job production plan reference data
- Bulk split and reschedule flexible shifts
- Rachel, the multi-plan editing assistant (part of Jugaad I)
- Tender rate match debugging (part of Jugaad I)
- Driver incident requests (part of Jugaad I)
- Rates with unpaid quantities
Optimized workflows
- Rate agreement clone and edit
- Time card adjustments via driver movement chart
- Time card management view enhancements
- Lock job production plan schedule changes
- Crew importer from templates
- New shift form in the lineup and job production plan
- Quick assign mode in shift assignments view
- Pin items to sidebar and a most frequently used section
- New checksum matcher
- Related material site raw job numbers in the job production plan form
- Incident details in plan monitoring chart
- Clone job site from current job production plan job site
- Accepted shift missing assignment reminder notification for trucker managers
- One-click subscriptions to plans and incidents
- Plan colors, trucker colors, other colors
- Release note searching
- Create trucking incidents from driver movement chart
- Financial impact of incidents
- Job production plan activity feed enhancements
- Driver now page card visibility for branch members
- Material transaction comments
- GPS visibility reminder notifications for drivers with no recent location data
- Business unit relationship on job production plan
- Tractor and trailer management enhancements
- Enhanced time card hour calculation form
- Patching-related attributes and searching
- Bulk move drivers in and out of job production plans
Excellent reports and analytics
- Job summary report
- Material summary report
- Lane monitoring report
- Job production plan cancellations report
- Raw material demand forecast in the material demand forecast
- Unique material type count in material demand forecast
- Trucker certifications report
- Driver day movement chart
- Newly active truckers report on branch today screen
- Material volume scoreboard on the today screen
- Project material summary report
Additional integrations
- Digital Fleet vehicle location integration
- Samsara vehicle location integration
- KeepTruckin’ vehicle location integration
- Geotab vehicle location integration
- Teletrac Navman vehicle location integration
- FastWeigh material transaction integration
- Command Batch material transaction integration
- Connex E-Ticketing integration

I’m tempted to hint at some of the incredible new things we have planned for 2023, but that’s best left to another letter.

It was a year of community.

It was incredible to host Horizon Live 2022 in March, our first-ever customer conference. We gathered 122 attendees from 22 companies in person in Kansas City to learn, share, and socialize. The event was amazing, and we can’t wait until the next time.

We facilitated many direct meetings between customers to benchmark key processes and collaborate on shared solutions. We were able to attend many of these sessions as well, and they provided us with a good number of ideas that later became features in the platform.

We also published over a dozen newsletters with observations and advice based on our work with customers. We’ve recently ramped up the pace to 2-4 newsletters per month to provide as much content as possible for customers to leverage in their work to control, improve, and optimize their operations.

Did you see our collection of customer testimonial videos? Those were new in 2022, too! We wanted to give the outside world a glimpse into what we’ve been able to achieve together. That led us to learn how to produce video release notes and newsletters ourselves, which have been a big hit! If you missed the release note for The Board, you should check it out.

We also continued our involvement with the National Asphalt Pavement Association. We hosted a “Cocktails and Conversation” party at their annual meeting in Scottsdale, and also the official welcome reception at the mid-year meeting in Santa Barbara. Rumor has it that we might even host a boat party in Miami during the upcoming annual meeting in February. Look out for your invitation.

Finally, all this growth helped us add some fantastic new team members! Andrea, Anish, Brittany, Daryl, Jessica, Kim, Naiya, and Ravi all joined us this year and we’re thrilled to have them.

It was a year!

It’s been nearly seven years since Milind and I started building XBE. They’ve all been great, but none greater than this year.

Thanks for the trust and opportunity you’ve given us.

Warmest wishes from the entire XBE team.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Maximize Production By Maximizing the Production Window and Production Rate

Sun, 04 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0600

With the recently released "Job Summary" report, it's now easy to track average production, average production window, and average production rate at higher levels of aggregation.

These terms are defined as:

Average production: This is the average of the sum of material transaction tons per job production plan. In the Job Summary report, this is "Tons (Actual Avg)".
Average production window: This is the average of the difference between the latest and earliest material transaction per job production plan. In the Job Summary report, this is "Prod Hours Avg".
Average production rate: This is the sum of the production divided by the sum of the production windows. In the Job Summary report, this is "Tons / Prod Hour".

To boost production, you can either increase the production rate or increase the production window. While this is obvious, our experience is that operations teams spend insufficient focus on these specific metrics as it relates to benchmarking, planning, innovation, and performance management.

In fact, there is significant variance on these metrics between crews, contractors, and other attributes.

The following statistics are based on asphalt-only jobs in 2022 with more than 150 tons per productive segment (non-patching) grouped by contractor.

The average production varies greatly.

And so does the production window and production rate.

The reason for the variance might be fundamental, or it might be cultural and addressable. If it's addressable, the financial benefits could be substantial.

Increasing the production window from 6.0 hours to 7.5 hours (+25%) would yield the same production increase as increasing the production rate from 120 to 150 tons per hour (+25%). Increasing both metrics simultaneously to this degree would compound (+56%).

We recommend these management actions to ensure that production is maximized to the extent possible:

Regularly (at least weekly) review average production, average production window, and average production rate with your management team.
Brainstorm opportunities to increase the production window and production rate for every job.
Benchmark with peers to uncover specific ideas that might be portable.
Quantify the financial impact of maximizing the production window and production rate given your crew cost per hour (straight and overtime), fixed time per crew day, fixed cost per equipment day, opportunity cost of additional crew days, etc.

We've created a preset named "Year-to-date asphalt production, window, and rate by month" in the Job Summary report to get you started with your analysis.

As always, if there is anything that XBE can do to help you achieve your goals in this area, please let us know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

NOW SHOWING: The Board

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 18:00:00 -0600

Today XBE announces the world premiere of THE BOARD, a dramatic improvement to the classic grid-of-dates-and-crews approach to managing schedules.

It's a blockbuster feature, so we made a trailer.

Reading by email? Check out the trailer here.

Spoiler warning! Here's a rundown of what THE BOARD makes possible:

Pick Your Perspective

See your entire backlog organized by Foreman, or switch to the Projects perspective to look at job progression in that context. The job tiles also reflect the selected perspective, displaying the assigned crew information when in the projects perspective, and vice versa. The Unassigned and Not on Project rows for crew and projects perspectives respectively indicate jobs that are not assigned to any perspective resource and can be dragged into a day for quick assignment.

Move, Clone, Edit

THE BOARD makes scheduling actions reliable, efficient, and clear. Sliding jobs across the board now pre-flights the action, and if any conflicts arise, it requires an explicit choice to force the action or cancel. This makes it easy and reliable to perform rescheduling actions without worrying about unsetting assignments or not copying over a resource during duplication. Additionally, there are pop-up forms for creating new jobs, moving jobs, and duplicating jobs with multi-day duplication to dates that are out of the visible date range.

Resource Pressure Monitoring

Keep an eye on resource pressure by bringing up the "Over Requested" bar. THE BOARD will load crew requirements that are not currently in context and indicate any classifications that are requested more than there are resources available within the organization. Request pressure monitoring updates when moving jobs between days, improving visibility during the scheduling process.

Packed With Features

THE BOARD includes many little touches that you'll love.

Create new jobs for any day and perspective.
Review and edit job notes.
Display material site, material type and quantity, supplier, and QC requirements.
Lock and unlock schedules.
View resource unavailability that updates automatically.
Duplicate jobs across any set of days.
Refer to material demand forecast at the material site level in context.
Squish down the view with compact mode.
Filter plans by project, project manager, planner, color, or plan status.
Color the plans using crew colors with optional setting to de-emphasize.

THE BOARD is built from the ground up to be efficient, reliable, extensible.

We'd like to thank Terry Sullivan at Gallagher Asphalt for the influence he's had through excellent collaboration over many years on the features that led to The Board.

THE BOARD is currently released as Beta, and available from the customer sidebar.

Exclusive Showing

Want an exclusive screening for your team? Reach out today to secure your passes to THE BOARD!

Super Speed! Results From XBE’s First Raftaar Hackathon

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0600

At XBE we believe in being effective first, efficient second. That’s why earlier this year we introduced an ongoing, company-wide hackathon series designed to drive innovation, collaboration and impact to ensure the XBE platform stays ahead of our customers’ needs.

We kicked things off this summer with the first Jugaad event, our feature-based hackathon to drive the effectiveness of the XBE platform. And on November 2nd, we launched the inaugural Raftaar, our performance-based hackathon to drive the speed and stability on the platform.

The Raftaar event mobilized three teams of XBE engineers who raced to make performance-based improvements starting at sunrise in Goa, India and ending at sunset in Kansas City, Missouri. They focused on speed, collaboration, and plenty of friendly trash talk.

At the finish line, the results included three innovative improvements with immediate impact:

#1: Agile Driver Day Navigation, presented by Team Faaast and Furry-ous
Juliana Thayil (Captain), Shirish Parsekar, Milind Alvares, Jessica Paes, and Jake Strothcamp

Team Fassst and Furry-ous made Driver Day Navigation faster and more succinct with: - Increased loading speed - The new view loads quickly and efficiently, fetching just what it needs. - Streamlined navigation - No more back-and-forth toggling between pages for driver days - the display now includes a sidebar listing all the other driver days for quick reference. - New keyboard shortcuts (ctrl + J for previous, ctrl + K for next) to allow a quick review of driver days in sequence - Reduced visual clutter with user-selected focus - The options bar at the top now allows a user to configure the view to show/hide options based on need, allowing a focused view of the financials - Bonus feature: View other driver days for the selected driver! At the top right of the selected driver day, a calendar drop down allows viewing other days for the same driver. This is currently available at the branch level, but we expect to enhance this view with more shortcuts and functions and also leverage within in other screens in the platform

“It was amazing to see how a single day’s work could make such a great impact on the app’s performance,” Juliana Thayil, Captain of Team Faaast and Furry-ous, said. “Our team had a triple threat attack on removing excessive loading, cleaning calculations meta, and manufacturing a whole new way of navigating driver days that’s much better than clicking and waiting.”

#2: Accelerated Speeds on Data Heavy Screens, presented by The Leftovers
Pankaj Kataria (Captain), Sean Devine, and Colenso Castellino

Data heavy screens were no match for this team of engineers wanting to serve customers faster! Check out these page speed ups:

Lineups: 65% faster
Incident: 58% faster
Active Shifts: 57% faster

That’s not all - the team also optimized the way that large lists of records are loaded on over 100 screens in the app.

“The Raftaar is a perfect example of how much a team can achieve in a short amount of time as long as the goals are well defined,” said Pankaj Kataria, Team Captain of The Leftovers. “We aimed high and hit big! In one day we were able to speed up the heaviest pages in the app to be as fast for our largest customers as they used to be for our smallest customers.”

#3: Don’t Look At The Pull Request, presented by The HyperloopERs
Naiya Shah (Captain) Benjamin Fleischer and Hassan Shaikh

An obvious-in-hindsight idea to add GZip (web request body compression) middleware resulted in a 92% savings in payload size for many screens, which is particularly meaningful for users with slower internet connections.

In addition, The HyperloopERs had some good feedback related to The Leftovers’ project that resulted in additional speed improvements and less database stress.

“The Raftaar event is a great opportunity to step out of the day-to-day and uncover opportunities that can make a huge difference,” Benjamin Fleischer from The HyperloopERs, said. “Being able to equalize the performance across Internet speeds will hopefully help drive greater utilization regardless of the location of the work and type of device used.”

On top of these three significant improvements, we created this killer playlist to help keep us going during the Raftaar. You can judge our music taste only after you judge our hackathon improvements!

Want to kickstart our next Raftaar or Jugaad?
We welcome any and all feature- and performance-related ideas. Maybe they’ll be developed during our next big event. Maybe sooner!

Do you know someone who would love this kind of work environment?
They should consider joining our team! If their values match ours, please tell them to apply.

Mastering Trucking Time Card Management

Sun, 13 Nov 2022 18:00:00 -0600

Trucking time cards are important and need to be managed properly so that you don't leak profit.

The purpose of this newsletter is to help XBE customers manage their trucking time cards so they pay truckers accurately for their services. This edition will detail the Common Fallacies in Time Card Management, the Critical Elements for Accuracy and Best Practices for Successful Time Card Operations. Let's get started!

Common Fallacies and Excuses

Fallacy 1: It takes too much time to manage trucking time cards. It takes more attention than time. XBE makes all aspects of the time card management process extremely efficient, and lack of time is never a good excuse.
Fallacy 2: There’s actually benefit in overpaying truckers. Not in the long run! If truckers should be paid more, increase their rates or change the terms. Overpayment through imprecise time card management is an uncertain benefit to the trucker, and therefore will be discounted. It’s more efficient to adjust rates if that’s needed.
Fallacy 3: The process can’t be managed because it requires discretion. The process must be managed since it requires discretion! If no discretion was required, then the entire process could be fully automated.
Fallacy 4: There’s not enough money in the balance to care. Absolutely not! We estimate that the difference between average and great time card management is at least 20 minutes per average driver day, or 5% of trucking expense. For a typical contractor, that’s 7.5% of profits.
Fallacy 5: Visibility alone will fix the problem. That’s true in some cultures, but not most. Anything that persists will normalize, even if it’s in plain sight.
Fallacy 6: Everyone already knows what to do. They might not! People are smart enough, but do they know enough? Don’t make assumptions, and pay attention to everyone. Be extremely specific regarding your expectations and the steps required.
Fallacy 7: None of this should be the responsibility of field operations personnel. No way! They have the most information and control. It’s critical that they play an active and primary role.
Fallacy 8: Patience is a virtue. In most areas, but not this one. Be impatient because delaying the fix just makes the change harder. You can go from average to great in one week.
Fallacy 9: It’s fine to “clean things up” later. Only in emergencies. Every rate change made after tender acceptance, or time card change made after approval erodes the trust of trucking partners.
Fallacy 10: XBE makes time card management complicated. No, the complexity was here all along unless the problem was oversimplified or outsourced, both of which are expensive. XBE makes the easy things easy and the hard things possible. If it’s complicated, it’s because it needs to be.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the details.

Critical Elements of Time Card Accuracy

The following types of information contribute to the overall accuracy of time cards and invoices.

Job production plans
- Service type unit of measures
- Trailer classifications and equivalencies
Tenders
- Rates
- Constraints (Minimums)
Assignments
- Driver
- Equipment (trailer and trailer classification)
Material transactions
- Comprehensiveness
- Accuracy
Times
- Start time
- End time
- Down time

Let’s walk through each element, why it matters, and what to watch out for.

Service Type Units Of Measure

Trucking can be quantified for payment by different combinations of service type units of measure depending on the job. For example, some jobs may be paid by the hour, whereas some may be paid by the ton. Some may pay for travel time, and some may not. The rates included on tenders and the line items included on time cards are based on the service type units of measure included on the job. We recommend using job production plan templates to ensure that each job is setup correctly. XBE supports a huge number of service type units of measure including many (such as tons, ton miles, ton minutes, travel before minutes, etc) that are quantified automatically on time cards. To maximize accuracy and efficiency, the most specific set of service type unit of measures should be used so that there is as little manual calculation as possible. For example, travel before minutes should be excluded from the transportation hours since they may be paid at a different rate, and the time card approver would not usually know the parking location of each truck and how long it would take to mobilize to the job site. In addition, XBE allows some service type units of measure to be rated for export (such as material per ton), but excluded from trucking time cards. If you’re not sure what combination of service type units of measure to use, please ask XBE. If you’ve set it all up right, there should be very little (if any) manual downstream data entry.

Trailer Classifications and Equivalencies

Trailer classifications are also specified at the job production plan level. For example, a job production plan may list Sweeper and Tri Axle. Each trailer classification can optionally have equivalencies. In general, these are the other trailer classifications that will operate equivalently to a primary trailer classification in the context of a job production plan. For example, in some situations, a Quint Axle may be equivalent to a Tri Axle (its physically capable of working on the job but not more valuable than a Tri Axle). If that’s the case, then it should be added as an equivalency for the job production plan (and upstream in the related template). But, keep in mind that these equivalencies can differ quite a bit from job to job and need to be thought through carefully. In addition, you need to decide if truckers will be paid according to the trailer classification that’s tendered (i.e. the Quint Axle would be paid as a Tri Axle in the above example), or as assigned (if a Quint Axle is assigned, it will be paid as a Quint Axle). It might not be obvious if mistakes are made in these settings until after the time cards are submitted, so whoever is managing time cards should scan for possible issues if equivalencies are required.

Rates

Rates are added to trucker and customer tenders based on the service type units of measure on the job and active rate agreements. For each service type unit of measure, the lowest price per unit for the highest importance group is added to the tender (with additional tie-breaking offered at the shift-level if shift-level criteria are present on the rate). XBE’s rating engine can handle almost any situation, but with that power comes complexity that can be difficult for someone to understand if they’re not very familiar with the details. For that reason, we recommend that all rate management be handled by a specialist. In addition, due to the potential long-term consequences of any rate change on the trucking market, we recommend that all rate changes be reviewed by a committee prior to implementation to ensure that long-term objectives are being adequately considered. Finally, the lineup includes a helpful “Rate Comparison” tool that makes it easy to review tender rates in one place. We recommend that this tool be used regularly to scan for anything that looks unusual. Any changes to rates after tender acceptance should be seen as a violation of trucker trust and avoided aggressively.

Constraints (Minimums)

Many organizations utilize minimums to reduce risk for truckers and ensure capacity in difficult periods or for scarce equipment. These are particularly difficult to administer manually since they require looking across all time cards on a driver day, excluding amounts from certain service type units of measure, excluding squandered amounts due to incidents, and normalizing to a common unit of measure. XBE’s driver day time card constraint feature handles all of these issues, and also integrates minimums into the tender process which is more explicit and professional. Some people are anxious about utilizing constraints because the feature can be a bit intimidating. But, the errors, inefficiency, and unprofessionalism inherent in manual minimum management is far too big of a problem not to address. We recommend that the specialist made responsible for rate management also be responsible for constraint management. We also recommend that the driver day list screen be used to scan driver days for shortfalls to sanity check the application of constraints against general expectations.

Driver Assignments

Accurate driver assignments impact time cards when driver-specific rates are implemented (which are somewhat rare, but supported and used by a handful of customers). In addition, driver assignment matters to time cards when constraints are used since driver days are built by grouping shifts during the same time period that are assigned to the same driver. In particular, be on the lookout for missing assignments, or when the same “driver” (usually the dispatcher) is being assigned to many shifts during the same day. This is an anti-pattern that should be corrected.

Equipment Assignments

Accurate equipment (trailer) assignments may impact time cards because many rates are scoped to trailer classifications. For example, the transportation per hour rate for a Tri Axle might be $100 and the transportation per hour rate for a Quint Axle might be $115. If there are multiple trailer classifications permitted on a job, then it is possible for the wrong rate to be applied if the wrong equipment is assigned. Incorrect equipment assignment would generally be caught through the material transaction matching process, but awareness of its role in time card management will help make clear why it’s important to manage the accuracy of the equipment assignment itself (not just the matching of the material transaction to the shift).

Material Transaction Comprehensiveness and Accuracy

Material transactions are obviously critical to time cards that are quantified by the ton. But, material transactions also important for time cards that are quantified by the hour because the data helps to spot incorrect times and likely incidents. We recommend that material transactions are created for all work, whether on-site or off-site, weighed or not, at an internal or external material site, and whether or not there’s an integration. With comprehensive and accurate visibility into material transactions, everything else about time card management can be done more confidently. Material transactions that are integration-sourced are generally comprehensive with accurate times and quantities, but need to be managed to ensure that they’re correctly matched to trucking shifts. XBE has robust automation to reduce the manual burden of matching, but missing or incorrect data on the ticket or plan can cause material transactions to be unmatched or incorrectly matched. XBE’s “checksum” features help sort this out, and we recommend that each organization have at least one expert that understands everything about matching integration-sourced material transactions. On the other hand, user-sourced material transactions tend to be matched correctly, but can have data quality issues (wrong time, wrong number, wrong quantity) or be missing entirely. Clear expectations to drivers and field operations staff clear up most issues so long as there is active same-day monitoring of the overall process. Finally, while material type matching is generally accurate due to the up-front setup of the job production plan material types, it is important that this accuracy is managed, especially when trucking and material rates are scoped to material types.

Trucking Start Times

The time card start time should be the time that the truck started to work at the shift’s start site. XBE provides an “implied start time” which is the earlier of the scheduled start time (if confirmed via an on-time and on-location check-in) or the first load time (which is the first material transaction time if the start site is a material site, or the first material transaction time offset by the drive and load time if the start site is the job site). In general, the implied start time should be the start time. Of course, there are exceptions. But, management should pay careful attention to any time card start times that are different from the implied start time. Sometimes the check-in time can be incorrectly selected. In other situations, the scheduled start time is selected when there is not evidence that the driver was at the start site on time. XBE’s time card management screen highlights differences between the implied start time and time card start time. Given the first material transaction time, the scheduled start time, the check-in time, and driver location data, it’s typically fairly easy to determine when the start time should be. Any strange start times that are unexplained by the data should be explained in a comment on the time card submission.

Trucking End Times

The time card end time should be the time that the truck was done performing work directed by the job. XBE provides an “implied end time” which is the time of the last transaction offset by the time to the dump site of the last segment of the job production plan. This time can be used to easily spot outliers that require further investigation, but is often not accurate enough to use as a default. Reasons for a difference between the implied end time and actual end time include unplanned waiting time at the job site, longer-than-expected drive times, trucks that are sent back to the material site but not reloaded, and waste material hauled back to the material site. If truck locations are visible via GPS, it is usually easy to determine the accurate end time using the driver movement chart. When unplanned work is required that isn’t easy to explain otherwise, a crew member should utilize broadcast notifications to direct drivers to do that work. Those messages, when combined with final material transaction times and GPS data, should make every end time very clear. Finally, the end time should not be used to quantify travel times or minimums (as explained in other sections).

Trucking Down Time

Trucking down time is used to represent time between the start and end of a driver’s shift that should be excluded from the transportation hours. Trucking incidents will result in down time by default. Incident down time is the sum of the overlap between incidents and the shift start to end times. When necessary, incidents can be excluded from automated down time calculations, and down time can be set directly on a time card even if there aren’t incidents. We recommend using incidents to document all down time because it makes the source of the down time explicit and visible to all parties.

Best Practices for Successful Time Card Operations

We have reviewed the common fallacies and the critical elements to time card accuracy - now we will review the best practices to implement or refine within your organization.

Submission Management

If time cards are quantified entirely by material transactions (not by time), we recommend using “auto time cards” from the time card management screen to build and submit time cards automatically. This relies on the accuracy of material transaction acceptance and matching (covered above), but removes any additional effort and minimizes error.

If time cards are quantified by the hour, we recommend creating and submitting time cards via pre-approvals. Pre-approvals move control of the creation of time cards to the field (from the driver) which avoids time card padding and disagreement. The pre-approval will create a matching time card and schedule submission according to the submission offset setting. A pre-approved time card will be submitted and approved after the offset, and unless changed, will be approved automatically also. If the trucker disagrees with the pre-approval, they can cancel its submission, change the time card, and resubmit. Over 98% of pre-approvals are submitted automatically without disagreement.

Whether auto-approved or pre-approved, we recommend that time cards be submitted on the same day as the work to ensure that memories are reliable regarding any disagreements.

Approval Management

It is critical that time card approvers take their role seriously. XBE recommends that approvers be formally certified in the time card management process of their company (you can use XBE certifications to keep track of this too). Until you’re confident in the strength of the time card approvals, XBE recommends turning on “time card auditing”, especially for job production plans that are quantified by the hour. When enabled, this explicit post-approval step is required for an approved time card to be invoiced. If you require time card audits, it’s important to ensure that any post-approval changes are explained to the person responsible for the mistaken approval. Otherwise, the audit will weaken the upstream approval and cause truckers to lose trust in the process.

The branch-level time card management screen was designed to make auditing extremely fast and effective. XBE recommends that the people responsible for managing time cards generally become expert in this screen.

We recommend that time cards be approved (and audited if applicable) within one day of the work.

Cost Code Allocations

Time card cost is usually allocated to cost codes related to the job. By default, this will happen automatically and proportionately based on the scheduled time of related job production plan segments and their cost codes. The allocation can be adjusted for an individual time card, or a group as needed. Cost code allocation can occur after time card approval, but must be done prior to invoice batch exports in most cases.

Invoice Offsets

Invoices are generated automatically each evening from approved time cards after the offset number of days has passed. An offset of greater than zero is used to balance the desire to avoid invoice changes with the desire to post invoices to the ERP as soon as possible. We recommend as short of an offset as the maturity of your time card management process allows, but not shorter. You can have a low offset even with an immature time card approval process if you utilize the time card approval workflow. Time card changes post approval should be very rare, and are a sign of an out-of-control time card management process.

Related Topics

This newsletter covered a lot of ground, but did not cover much about service type unit of measure selection, rate setting and negotiation, or trucking surplus management. These related topics are all critical and significantly impact trucking cost as well. We recommend that at least as much focus be placed on those areas as is spent on time card management itself.

The Importance of Formal Policies

It is very important to be explicit about all trucking time card policies, both internally and externally. Maintain a single document listing specific expectations in all of the areas covered by this document. Ensure that everyone that has related responsibilities is educated in all aspects of these policies. Treat every breach of policy as a big deal that needs to be corrected immediately.

As always, XBE is here to help you with any of these topics. Please let us know if there’s anything you need.

Best Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Effective Incident Management In Any Company Culture

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 19:00:00 -0500

Some people believe that unless their company has a culture of direct communication and performance management, incident management will fail.

That's not true! While that sort of culture might make incident management a bit easier, it's not at all required.

When incident management fails, it's usually because the continuous improvement effort stops, not because it was ineffective.

To prevent the work from stopping, match your incident management approach to your company culture.

If the company culture is matter-of-fact and high paced, that'll do. Use public communication, leverage Occam's Razor, and push for quick resolution.

If the company culture is reserved and deliberate, no problem at all. Be careful not to embarrass anyone in public, be more thorough in your root cause analysis, and manage projects formally.

If you notice that someone is responding negatively to an incident, ask yourself how you can make the incident management process as culture-consistent and gentle possible. It's easier to change the incident management process to match their expectations and sensitivities than vice versa.

Your organization has years of profitable experience with its current culture, and you'll do best by working with it, not against it.

That's not to say that all cultures are created equally - that's not true either.

But you don't have to wait for a perfect performance-oriented culture to get to work solving the root causes of recurring incidents.

Leadership may recognize opportunities to improve the culture along the way, and that's great. Hoist those insights out of your incident management efforts and continue with the culture as it is in the meantime.

XBE is always looking for ways to make incident management as effective as possible for any type of company. If you have any related feature ideas, please let us know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Announcing The Raftaar, XBE's First Performance-Oriented Hackathon

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:00:00 -0500

Watch this is as a video newsletter instead!

XBE's first ever performance-oriented hackathon event, The Raftaar, will be held on November 2, 2022 from sunrise in Goa, India to sunset in Kansas City, Missouri.

During this event, three teams of XBE engineers will work together on speed-related innovations that will be started and finished on the same day. The goal of The Raftaar is to make a meaningful impact on users, and to support XBE's culture of performance-related engineering.

XBE has put significant effort towards optimizing performance this year with great results, and we want to sustain this effort. Examples include features that streamline workflows, preload data, decrease server response time, suggest actions, notify about important events, and automatically provision server resources based on demand.

We will announce the results of the event in the week after The Raftaar, but we hope that you'll feel it before then!

The team captains for this event are Naiya Shah, Juliana Thayil, and Pankaj Kataria. If you have performance-related ideas or would like to participate in any other way, let any XBE team member know.

We look forward to seeing the results of this event on our platform, culture, and community. Plus, it'll be great fun.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Let's Maximize Driver Location Visibility

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 19:00:00 -0500

This is also available as a video newsletter!

XBE released our first native iOS and Android apps in May 2019. We had 35 users that first day (including XBE staff and their family members). It seemed like a lot at the time!

Up until then, the only driver location visibility we had was related to check-ins and material transactions. With the introduction of the native apps and telematics integrations a bit later, that all changed.

Since May 2019, over 7,300 people have used XBE native apps, and XBE has integrated with telematics from Keep Truckin', Samsara, and Digital Fleet.

September 2022 will be the first month during which over 50% of all driver time has its location visible.

While 50%+ is pretty good, when we look at the branch-level it's clear that much higher driver visibility is achievable.

There are two XBE customers with location visibility above 80%. In both cases, they operate relatively large trucking fleets and have hardware telematics that are integrated with XBE.

There are two other XBE customers with location visibility above 70%. One of those customers owns a relatively large fleet but uses the XBE app exclusively to report location data. The other does not own any trucks, does not not have any 3rd party telematics integrations, and relies exclusively on external haulers running the XBE app to report location data.

There are five other XBE customers with location visibility above 60%. They represent a variety of situations in the above categories.

In other words, any XBE customer can achieve high driver location visibility. If you own assets with integrated telematics, we can integrate those with XBE. If you rely entirely on external capacity, they can be managed to achieve similarly high location visibility.

I asked Troy Malone from Curran Contracting to share how they've achieved 70%+ visibility with external haulers.

By building a good working relationship with the drivers and letting them know I'm available to them. I also tell them that XBE is to help them get paid what they are owed by using their GPS. I can't fight for you if I don't have your GPS to show or justify what you say. So they have been receptive...

We've added various features recently to make it easier to manage driver location visibility:

Self-service location tracking diagnostic tools on the Now screen
GPS unavailable notifications for drivers
Better logging of location tracking diagnostics
Additional driver location visibility status indicators

We also continue to build additional ways to leverage location data:

Better arrival timing estimates
New driver-movement chart incident creation via time range selection workflow
Enhanced driver route visibility via movement chart time range selection

We're also planning additional features related to driver visibility including:

Automated site event creation
Enhanced implied end time estimation

XBE was designed to work great with or without driver location visibility. But let's face it, it's even greater with.

Trucking No-Show Uncertainty Management Cheat Sheet

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 19:00:00 -0500

With trucking capacity tight, trucking no-show risk is elevated.

Follow these tips to minimize the impact of trucking no-shows on your operation:

Estimate total number of no-show trucks for a given lineup
- Use statistics!
- Factor in causal variables (day/night, holiday proximity, mobilization distance)
Categorize drivers by no-show probability
- Keep it simple - high, low to start
Estimate impact of no-show trucks by job
- Number of trucks (lower = more impact due to relative production impact)
- Mobilization distance (higher = more impact due to difficulty of replacement)
- Planned duration (longer = higher impact due to higher marginal cost)
- Other consequences (additional days, customer satisfaction, damages)
Assign high-risk drivers to jobs with the lowest no-show impact
- Distribute risk through trucker assignment as possible
- Communicate to truckers re: assignment strategy given no-show probability
  - Don’t assign flakey drivers to high-impact jobs
  - Don’t assign flakey driver together
  - Assign flakey drivers to later shifts in the rotation
Follow-up with high-risk drivers post assignment
- Contact them directly to reinforce assignment and encourage communication
Dispatch an insurance pool based the expected number of no-show trucks
- The ideal insurance truck is flexible, centrally-located, and versatile
- Consider starting insurance trucks on stockpiling if centrally located and flexible
- Communicate to the trucker and driver about their role
Communicate to planners re: insurance strategy and need for accurate plans
- No local insurance decisions
- No local rationing decisions
Schedule time to assess the impact of no-shows and re-dispatch accordingly
- Leverage no-show impact estimates
- Consider mobilization costs
- Consider updated job production plan details
Assess no-show management performance each day and adjust accordingly
- How accurate were no-show estimates?
- Was risk distributed to the lowest cost places?
- Were replacements managed optimally?

Have anything to add to this cheatsheet?
Want to see any new features based on these ideas?

Let us know! We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Improving Leadership Communication and Strategy Management Using XBE

Sun, 07 Aug 2022 19:00:00 -0500

In periods of change and uncertainty, leadership communication is critical.

For most companies, Summer 2022 is one of those periods.

Unless most team members share the same context, explicit messaging is more effective than implicit understanding.

What is the situation?
What is the plan?
Who should do what by when?
How are things going?

The more that is unknown, the more that needs to be said.

The XBE platform has many features to enable great communication:

Newsletters can be published at the branch, customer, and trucker level and made visible to specific types of users. This is a great way to stay in regular broadcast communication with large groups of people.
Culture values can be defined at the branch, customer, and trucker level and are visible throughout the XBE platform. This helps to reinforce behavioral norms and expectations.
Public praise can be used to recognize team members whose actions are consistent with their organization's values. This boosts morale and reinforces culture-consistent behavior.
Job production plan comments enable communication about operational specifics in context and in view of all stakeholders. Recap comments automatically appear in daily job production plan recaps.
Individuals can subscribe to projects and job production plans to receive all relevant communication about the work that matters to them.
Meetings can be used to record attendance and notes in a public form that can be referenced later.
Individuals can subscribe to specific types of incidents to be notified about issues related to their functional areas of responsibility.
Broadcast messaging can be used for ad-hoc communication with various internal and external stakeholders related to a specific job production plan.
Driver messaging can be used to communicate directly with individual drivers in a way that is visible to other team members and is bi-directional.
Comments and attachments can be made at the project level to keep higher-level information in one place.
Incidents — including their comments, root cause analysis, and action items — enable public research, discussion, education, and decision making.
Photos and videos can be attached to most anything to make content more engaging and understandable.

There are few pieces of information that few people need to know.

Most information worth saying is worth broadcasting.

When a leader isn't heard, they should speak up.

We love to see XBE used as the leadership communication platform for many of our customers.

If there is something else that we can do to help you get your word out, please let us know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Amazing Results From the 2022 Summer Jugaad

Wed, 29 Jun 2022 19:00:00 -0500

XBE hosted its first bi-annual Jugaad last week. The event was a friendly internal team-based competition to build the most popular feature release in a single day. You can read more about the purpose of the event (and it's name!) in the pre-event press release.

We split into three teams:

Team Mavericks
The Copy Pasters
The Chachas

All teams had at least one server-side engineer and one client-side engineer. Non-engineering team members were added from other areas of XBE, and there were even some special guest customer team members. There was plenty of work to go around including release note writing, design, server-side programming, client-side programming, testing, cheerleading, trash talking, and tea brewing.

The event began at sunrise in Delhi, India and concluded 25.5 hours later at sunset in Kansas City, MO. All programming had to occur during that window.

Somehow, the teams kept their features secret throughout the process. That made the big reveal even more exciting when the release notes were published at the conclusion:

Feature 1. Tender Rate Match Debugging Tools (aka "Why Doesn't This Rate Match?!") by Team Mavericks

This amazing feature provides a suite of debugging tools that make it much easier to figure out unexpected rating outcomes. The feature was designed to automate answers to the three most common rating-related questions:

Why is this rate not matching this tender?
Why was this rate not applied on this tender even though it's matching?
Which tenders does this rate match?

This is one of those features that you'll either never know about, or wonder how you lived without.

Amazing work by Milind Alvares, Benjamin Fleischer, Colenso Castellino, Matt Lerner, and Katie Austin.

Feature 2. Driver Incident Requests by The Copy Pasters

This long-time-coming feature enables drivers to initiate the incident creation process for their shift. For example, imagine that a driver broke down and is waiting for a tow truck to fix a blown tire. Instead of calling or txting to describe the problem, the driver can now create an incident request that will communicate the same information and also be convertible into an incident.

Fantastic team effort by Juliana Thayil, Shirish Parsekar, Chandramohan Naik, Kayla Devine, and Grant Wollenhaupt.

Feature 3. Rachel, Your Multi-Plan Editing Assistant by The Chachas

Sometimes, planners need to make the same edit to multiple plans at once. This has always been true, but is now more common since most XBE customers manage some portion of their backlog in the platform. Supported change types include job number, planner, material site, material type, status, or cost code. This feature takes care of tricky bulk edits accurately, quickly, and safely. It can preview changes, is built to perform well on large operations, and performs change sets as transactions (either all changes are successfully made, or none are made).

The feature was inspired by Rachel Sullivan from Gallagher Asphalt (a special guest team member) who had plenty of first hand experience with the manual approach to solving this problem.

Great job by Sean Devine, Hassan Shaikh, Pankaj Kataria (in spirit - it was his wedding week!), Jessica Paes, and Rachel Sullivan.

The Summer 2022 Jugaad stuffed an absurd amount of work into 1 day. The teams deployed 8,000 lines of code across the client and server. Release notes were drafted before programming started and were published by the time sun set. Work was frantic and focused and around-the-clock.

It was so fun! While similar to the work that XBE does every day, the different team structure, time constraints, competition, and vibe was a welcome break. Plus, it was incredibly rewarding to see what we're capable of in such a short period given the talents of our team and our solid infrastructure.

The next Jugaad will be in 6 months in Goa, India. We'll be rested and ready! If any member of the community is interested in getting involved, let us know! The more participation, the better.

XBE Hosts Summer 2022 Jugaad

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 19:00:40 -0500

XBE is hosting its first bi-annual Jugaad on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. The event is a friendly internal team-based competition to build the most popular feature release in a single day.

"Jugaad" is a colloquial Hindi word that means “a flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources in an innovative way”. It has a positive vibe to it, and captures the spirit of XBE's product development efforts.

The goal of the event is three-fold:

Learn something new
Create beneficial features
Build lasting relationships

Based on those goals, the following rules were developed:

Teams will be 2-3 programmers plus any other members of the XBE community
Each team will create a single release note and matching feature
All programming must happen on the day of the Jugaad
Release note writing and development planning can take place prior
The winning team will be the one that receives the largest customer response to its release note

"Some of my favorite programming memories are Rails Rumbles during the early 2010s," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "The first couple years of XBE felt like an extended hackathon, and we're excited to bring some of that energy to 2022."

As XBE is a global team, collaboration will take place remotely between team members in India and the USA.

XBE encourages programmers interested in joining its team to apply at www.x-b-e.com/hiring/software-developer.

Results will be announced after the completion of the Jugaad once the release notes are published.

About XBE XBE is the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders. The best run on us. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

XBE Customers Rapidly Implement Fuel Surcharge Programs

Sat, 14 May 2022 07:00:41 -0500

XBE released support for cost indexes and automated rate adjustments on February 24, 2022. While diesel prices rose throughout 2021, prices continued to increase in early 2022 along with most other commodities due mostly to demand pressure. The war in Ukraine, which also started on February 24th, then caused significant supply pressure and uncertainty.

At the end of 2020, average diesel prices were $2.63/gallon. By the end of 2021, the price had risen to $3.61/gallon. By February 21, 2022, right before the war in Ukraine began, the price had risen to $4.05/gallon. As of May 9, 2022, the price was $5.62/gallon. In just over 16 months, diesel prices had increased by 113%.

"While fuel surcharges are very common in other segments of the transportation industry, they're only somewhat common in material hauling (especially asphalt and cement)," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "A typical truck hauling materials might average 25 miles/hour with a fuel economy of 4.5 miles/gallon. If rates had been negotiated at the end of 2020 when diesel was $2.63/gallon and the rate was $100/hour, then diesel cost would have represented 14.6% of revenue. Typical operating profits for a well run material trucking company are ~15% of revenue. And so, the rapid run up in fuel would erase all of the profits (and then some) of most trucking companies if rates stay the same for the rest of 2022."

But, the problem is not just that fuel prices have risen, it's that fuel prices are uncertain. Whoever bears that risk must have corresponding balance sheet reserves or some other form of insurance. Since most material trucking companies are small with thin balance sheets, their cost of capital is relatively very high as compared to their large contractor customers. That means that over the long run it is less expensive to have contractors bear the fuel price risk, not trucking companies.

The ideal fuel surcharge adjusts trucking prices to match changes in fuel costs. There shouldn't be an over-recovery or under-recovery, but a tight fit between the cost and revenue curves.

XBE designed its rate adjustment infrastructure to make it easy to create and implement optimal fuel surcharge schedules. This includes support for negative adjustments when prices fall, multiple and arbitrary cost indexes, and multiple adjustments. Application of rate adjustments is completely automated, and the effect of rate adjustments is visible within tenders prior to acceptance.

Using these capabilities, XBE customers have been able to implement the fuel surcharge programs make sense for their truckers and customers.

Adoption of these features has been rapid. Within three months, the percentage of XBE customers' trucking costs subject to a fuel surcharge went from 0% to 52%.

While everyone would prefer low and stable diesel prices, that's not the situation that we're in. The XBE platform makes it easy for customers to focus on solving their business problems knowing that the software will take care of the rest.

About XBE XBE is the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders. The best run on us. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

SCDOT Adds XBE E-Ticketing as a Qualified E-Ticketing Software Product

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 08:00:35 -0500

XBE was named as a Qualified E-Ticketing Software for Asphalt Mixtures supplied to SCDOT projects after meeting all requirements stipulated in its Qualified Product Policy 107 in field evaluations.

XBE released the initial version of its E-Ticketing feature in March 2020. E-Ticketing enables contractors to provide live electronic visibility to project owners and developers regarding materials being delivered to job sites. The SCDOT E-Ticketing requirements include advanced functionality such as offline-mode, delivery time verification, qualified weighmaster stamping, and explicit acceptance and rejection by field inspectors.

“XBE is committed to providing qualified E-Ticketing features to all of our platform customers,” said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. “The SCDOT was a pleasure to work with throughout the process, from the conference room pilot to the successful field demonstration. We’re happy to see them put our platform to good use. We're thankful for our South Carolina customers who partnered with us and the SCDOT to ensure project success.”

XBE does not sell a stand alone E-Ticketing product, but includes all E-Ticketing features in its core software platform. To learn more, schedule an intro at www.x-b-e.com/schedule-intro.

About XBE XBE is the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders. The best run on us. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Horizon Live 2022 Recap

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 19:00:00 -0500

XBE hosted Horizon Live 2022, our first user conference, from February 28th to March 2nd in Kansas City. It was a great success, and we're excited to share some of the highlights.

By The Numbers

Attendance and engagement blew away our expectations.

122 attendees
22 companies
17 sessions
35 speakers
20 release notes
2 parties

We surveyed attendees after the event, and they loved it!

Overall: 9.0 / 10
Networking: 9.2 / 10
Content: 8.7 / 10
Venue: 8.7 / 10
Plan to attend future XBE events: 9.5 / 10

Countless Little Touches

The XBE team did a fantastic job sweating the little details that made the event so special. Some of my favorite bits include:

Hand-written "Mad Libs"-style thank you cards
XBE-branded tote bags, t-shirts, notebooks, coasters, and more swag
Attendee awards (best dancer, best accent, etc)
Personalized entry music for every speaker
Six styles of custom XBE stickers

No detail was too small to care about except for Grant Wollenhaupt's shorts on Tuesday morning. They were too small.

Hot Topics

With such a large and diverse group of attendees, the topics of conversation and presentation were wide ranging. A handful of themes stood out:

The XBE community is bigger than people realized!
The Gallagher Asphalt team has done an impressive job blazing the trail regarding long-term scheduling and backlog management and others are ready to follow in their footsteps.
People are hungry for technical content and networking opportunities - the more, the better.
Everyone struggles with the same challenges and benefits from collaboration and shared solutions.

Top Shots

We loved the photos captured by Mark, our event photographer. Here are 10 favorites:

Wind In Our Sails

Horizon Live 2022 was XBE's first event, and it was a lot of work. But, every bit of energy that we put in was returned to us two-fold.

We're thankful for the relationships (new and old), collaboration, and insight that we gained. It's amazing to see the community connecting in new and valuable ways.

Stay tuned for a recap video in the coming weeks!

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Two Weeks Until XBE Horizon Live 2022 - Already 100+ Registered Attendees

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0600

XBE Horizon Live 2022 is only two weeks away!

XBE customers are great planners, and so we aren't too surprised to see 100+ people from 17 companies registered already.

A variety of functions will be represented including Ownership, Construction, Manufacturing, Logistics, and Administration.

There's content to appeal to everyone including new feature announcements, panel conversations, technical deep dives, case studies, and more.

We also have some special guests and entertainment planned to keep things lively.

Plus, we've built in plenty of time for socializing and networking.

If you're registered already, gold star to you!

If you haven't registered yet, it's not too late!

We're excited to see you there.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Hosts "Cocktails and Conversation" At NAPA Annual Meeting

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 08:00:36 -0600

XBE is pleased to host a casual networking event in conjunction with the 2022 NAPA annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ.

Date: Monday, January 24, 2022 Time: 3PM - 10PM Location: 7734 East Rovey Avenue, Scottsdale, AZ 85250

Any member of the extended XBE community should feel free to stop by any time for any duration.

We'll provide drinks, snacks, stories, and music. What will you bring?

We look forward to seeing everyone!

Who Will Get What From Horizon Live?

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 18:00:00 -0600

We've heard from many people in the XBE community about their excitement regarding Horizon Live 2022, our first community conference. There are already dozens of people registered, and more come in every day.

You may be wondering who from your organization should attend the conference and how they should expect to benefit.

We expect attendance from a wide variety of people including:

Owners and executives
Construction management (office and field)
Manufacturing management (plants and quarries)
Administrators (accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, etc)
Human Resources management
Safety management
Information Technology management

Attendees can expect to benefit through:

Education on XBE features and techniques
Exposure to the approaches and outcomes of peer organizations
Providing input on the future of the XBE platform
Networking with members of the XBE community

Please feel free to ask XBE team member to review your list of planned attendees if you have any doubts.

Once you've decided on who will attend, please have them register. That will help us ensure that we make appropriate accommodations.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO

XBE Horizon Live 2022 Customer Conference

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0600

We're excited to announce XBE's first in-person customer conference, Horizon Live 2022! The conference will be held in Kansas City from February 28th through March 2nd.

The agenda and registration form are up at www.x-b-e.com/horizon-live-2022.

Please register as soon as you are able. That will help us finalize some of the logistics.

The XBE community is amazing, and we're excited to have everyone together in one place!

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO

2021 Year In Review

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 18:00:00 -0600

2021 was the best year yet for XBE and its community. We're thankful for the great work that we've done together. Our purpose is to create competitive advantage for our customers, and it's been incredibly rewarding to see that happen. While there is much more to do, we'd like to look back on the past year and acknowledge the progress that has been made, and the people responsible.

Customers managed $100M+ of trucking volume through XBE in 2021, a 70%+ increase over 2020. We added 3,100 new user accounts, enabled dozens of new integrations, and processed more than 1.2M material transactions. It was our biggest year yet, by far.

We also expanded our Horizon customer collaboration initiative to include team meetings every 1-4 weeks to review new features and priorities, added Waypoint calls to discuss strategic and leadership topics with customer executives, and saw a 2X increase in usage of customer Slack channels. The collaboration has never been better, and is a steady source of value for us all.

As for the software platform, it was an incredible year. We published 63 release notes and deployed hundreds of additional speed-ups, enhancements, and fixes.

It's difficult to pick favorites, but if we have to, our top 10 new features are:

Daily recaps
Plan monitoring grid including XBE TV
Trucking surplus dashboard
Enhanced shift assignment workflow
Bulk changes of plans (statuses and schedules)
One-click transaction creation and adjustment in the driver movement chart
Material demand forecast
On-time starts dashboard
Automated check-in via GPS or material transaction
Developer trucker certification spend tracking and reporting

The platform is faster and more stable than ever despite significant growth and feature expansion. We're in a great position to continue innovating on multiple fronts. Wait until you see what's next!

Lastly, I'd like to thank the entire XBE team for their excellent work. Milind, Benjamin, Chandra, Colenso, Grant, Matt, Pankaj, Theresa, Kayla, Shirish, Cinatra, Katie, Juliana, Riley, Hassan, Sherry, Dinesh, and Sam. You're amazing.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO

Winter 2021 Development Focus

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0600

Thanksgiving leftovers are gone, the Christmas tree is up, and it's time for XBE to transition into winter development mode.

Each year, XBE makes our largest advancements to the software platform between December and March. As customer activity decreases with cooler weather, our product team has additional time and attention to give to new areas that require extended periods of uninterrupted focus.

This winter, we're focusing on a few key themes:

Vision
Communication
Comprehensiveness

Vision

The biggest opportunity for most customers is to more clearly see the gap between the status quo and what is possible. While we've solved this problem in some key areas such as trucking planning & surplus, there's much more work to do. We need to pay closer attention to the way that we manually assess customer situations and ask how we can ask and answer those questions automatically. Most of the analysis that we're doing in our operations team can be converted into algorithms. Additional customer/operations/development collaboration in this area will produce excellent new diagnostic capabilities.

Communication

As vision improves, communication must also. Once opportunities are visible, it's the job of leadership to help everyone see what has become apparent to them. We can make this much easier by adding additional types of notifications to the platform related to anything worth knowing, and also by expanding the functionality of newsletters. Additional notification types will create renewed demand for more notification preferences, and so that will also be a priority. In addition, we'll improve the educational content and related features in the platform to ensure that all users know as much as possible related to their job responsibilities. We believe that people are smart enough, but they might not know enough. Our goal is to deliver the info they need when they need it.

Comprehensiveness

Some customers use the platform to coordinate all types of resources (materials, trucks, crews, equipment). Other customers focus on a subset of resources (trucks+). In addition to working with customers on related change management projects, we'll also be working on additional capabilities in non-trucking areas to even out the comprehensiveness of the platform. For example, we'll add support for time sheets for crews and equipment (now available for drivers), and we'll add additional export types to reduce job cost accounting latency for all resource types while improving administrative efficiency. While we're quite pleased with the progress that has been made to widen the platform's footprint, we're not done yet.

As always, we love to collaborate with customers as we work through details in each of these priority areas. Please engage with us in your #horizon Slack channel about anything that comes to mind.

Thanks for a great 2021! We're excited for what comes next.

XBE Enters New York State Liquid Anti-Strip and Warm-Mix Asphalt Market with Fastac®

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 06:00:16 -0500

XBE announced the introduction of its anti-strip and warm-mix product Fastac® into the New York State market following NYSDOT approval.

Fastac® is a well-designed liquid anti-strip agent (LASA) that provides superior adhesive performance and is unmatched by peers in health and safety. With its ability to double up as a warm-mix additive (WMA), it eliminates the need to inventory multiple products, leading to cost savings and increased convenience.

As part of XBE’s green chemistry line, Fastac® provides the benefits of compatibility and environmental-friendliness as well as being non-toxic and assuring no tank corrosion. Customers using a WMA/Stripping Agent for NY-NJ Port authority and NYSDOT jobs will value its workability and odor-free nature. No bad smells make it the preferred product for crews.

You can view the New York State Department of Transportation’s Approved List of Materials and Equipment on the NYSDOT website.

Additional information on Fastac is available at www.x-b-e.com/chemistry.

About XBE XBE creates chemical additives to overcome challenging asphalt construction problems. Designed by contractors for contractors, every product is field-tested, conditions-based, and results-driven. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com/chemistry or email Matt Lerner at matt-lerner@x-b-e.com.

Creating And Embracing Scarcity

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 19:00:00 -0500

This is a case study about maximizing long-term profitability in asset-heavy low-margin businesses by creating scarcity for competitors while embracing one's own limits.

It will be published in an upcoming issue of Asphalt Pavement magazine.

The article was written by Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE.

Part I. Philosophy

For asset-heavy businesses with high marginal costs (e.g. asphalt producer/pavers, heavy civil contractors, etc), sustained profitability depends on creating scarcity for competitors while embracing one’s own limits. While “good markets” are great, they don’t last forever.

“The world isn't fair, Calvin."
"I know Dad, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?”
― Bill Watterson, The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury

For Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.
― Alexander Pope, “An essay on criticism”, 1709

Create Their Scarcity

The only kind of infrastructure worth more than it costs is the kind that competitors couldn’t buy for the same price or that wouldn’t help them if they did. When capital is cheap, cost itself is not a deterrent.

When deploying capital, focus entirely on the relative advantage of the investment. Do not create identical capacity. Investments make you better when they make competitors worse. Undifferentiated capacity is a liability.

Gain exclusive license to technology. Acquire differentiated land. Merge with a competitor. Develop proprietary intellectual property. Build a values based culture. Buy or build what they can't. Competitive advantage is leading the market where competitors can't follow.

When pricing, market leaders must remember their advantage. When they forget, competitors won’t. A small competitor is only capable of wrecking the market with help. The market leader that took the bait started the problem. Pricing mistakes by market leaders echo.

Embrace Your Scarcity

In “good” and “bad” markets, competitive advantage can be attained by embracing scarcity while others seek abundance. More capacity than needed is too much. Room to breathe is prudent, but not enough for someone else to start a fire.

Operationally ignore advantages. Surplus crew, truck, manufacturing, and inventory capacity creates an umbrella for competitors. Your cushion is their springboard. If you don’t run out of capacity sometimes, you have too much.

Plan don't buffer. Bring the whole picture into view. Let everyone see. Create options. Quantify uncertainty.

Profitability is a function of advantage, not efficiency. Management has leverage over efficiency, not advantage. Tomorrow’s profits can be traded for today’s comfort. Equity depreciation follows peak profits.

Don’t forget to add all assets not in use to the denominator when calculating utilization. EBITDA is only part of the story. Buy to the trough. Rent to the peak. Benchmark with possibilities.

Part II. Case Study: Gallagher Asphalt

Gallagher Asphalt has been in business for over 90 years. Its excellent reputation for quality has helped maintain its position as a trusted supplier of asphalt pavement solutions for South Chicagoland even when the market became saturated with competitive capacity.

Once the great recession of 2008 hit, the competitive advantage that Gallagher once enjoyed wasn’t going to be enough for the company to thrive in a time of up-and-down demand, surplus capacity, and aggressive competition. While the market was experiencing a modest balance of work in both public and private construction markets, budgetary troubles in Illinois created a volatile outlook for infrastructure spending.

To prepare themselves to seize the opportunities and weather the infrastructure demand, Gallagher pursued a strategy of Operational Excellence Through Innovation by embracing limits and maximizing both people’s performance and asset utilization.

The operational transformation included the following changes:

Invested in the XBE software platform to digitize, integrate, and optimize all planning activities in order to increase visibility and operational precision.
Restructured management organization and trained the entire team on enhanced planning and continuous improvement processes.
Divested surplus equipment and increased equipment reliability.
Reduced size of owned truck fleet.
Increased early-season demand to leverage underutilized plants.
Increased cross-functional collaboration to maximize coordination and reduce resource buffering.

“We continue to achieve good results in a financially unstable market by doing more and better with less,” explained Will Gallagher. “As our visibility into all aspects of our operation increased, it became clear that we had capacity available just-in-case we needed it, but that we didn’t actually need it. Better visibility led to more understanding and confidence which led to better decisions and improved financial results. Now that the demand forecast is looking brighter, we’re positioned to increase both our volumes and profitability. The better we’ve gotten, the better we can get. Gallagher Asphalt has some big things in the pipeline. We’re thriving.”

Part III. Externalities

We’re no longer solely judged by the value that we put out in the world. Our excesses, especially as they relate to atmospheric CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions, are subject to regulation, tax, and judgment.

Embracing scarcity improves profits, and also reduces negative externalities including the carbon footprint of operations. For example, let’s calculate the impact of optimized planning and execution on the trucking-related carbon footprint of a typical paving operation.

The difference in trucking efficiency between an average paving operation and an optimized paving operation is approximately 10%. In other words, for every 100 trucks, 10 will not contribute to production.

To calculate the carbon footprint of the 10% we need to calculate the carbon impact of the unnecessary mobilization, and the unnecessary idling since the same number of trip miles would be required.

The average mobilization distance to and from the job site is approximately 50 miles per day per truck. A typical truck might work 200 days per year. Given 10% waste, that means that 20 days of mobilizations were unnecessary. At 5 miles per gallon, that’s 200 days x 10% waste x 50 miles per day / 5 miles per gallon = 200 gallons of diesel burned to mobilize unnecessarily. In addition, a typical truck burns 0.5 - 1.0 gallons of diesel per hour while idling. Assuming an 8 hour day, that’s 200 days x 8 hours per day x 10% waste x 0.75 gallons per idle hour = 120 gallons of diesel to idle unnecessarily. In total, the difference between average and optimized trucking is approximately 320 gallons of diesel consumed per year.

The carbon footprint of 1 gallon of diesel is 22.44 pounds of CO₂. Therefore, the cost of average trucking is approximately 22.44 pounds per gallon of diesel x 320 gallons of diesel = 7,180 pounds (3.6 tons) of CO₂ per truck. For a typical trucking fleet of 50 trucks supporting a paving operation, that’s 359,000 pounds (180 tons) of CO₂ emitted unnecessarily.

The average truck working 200 days hauls 24,000 tons per year. Given the average CO₂ per ton of asphalt of 0.0104, the carbon footprint of the average truck year is 250 tons. By optimizing trucking, the carbon footprint can be reduced ~1.5%.

Trucking is not the only significant contributor to carbon emissions. Others include the liquid asphalt content of the mix design, the distance from the aggregate source to the plant, the mode of transportation of the aggregate to the plant, the mix temperature, the aggregate moisture content, the asphalt production rate at the plant, the distance of the plant to the job site, and the maintenance strategy of the asphalt pavement itself.

In most cases, it costs less to emit less CO₂ — but you do need to think more.

Part IV. Scarcity Assessment

Look at the matrix below. Assess the degree to which your organization is creating competitive scarcity and embracing operational scarcity by comparing yourself to the philosophy for each dimension outlined in Part 1.

Doomed: Organizations that have neither created scarcity for others nor embraced scarcity themselves are doomed to live off their balance sheet until it cannot support the replacement of their depreciating assets. Many doomed organizations were formerly privileged but sheltered new competitors under the umbrella of low asset utilization. Doomed organizations with a solid balance sheet can theoretically turn it around, but seldom without leadership or ownership changes.
Surviving: Organizations that have embraced their own limits as a means to generate cost advantage can survive even in very difficult market conditions. As they bide their time, these organizations should be on the hunt to invest in infrastructure (e.g. vertical integration, differentiated technology, market intelligence, etc) that is unavailable to their competitors.
Privileged: Organizations that are complacent in their current advantage will gradually drift towards the doomed quadrant. Only by seeing a more challenging future will the privileged organization embrace scarcity, invest in new capabilities, and ultimately thrive.
Thriving: Advantaged organizations that continue to create scarcity for competitors while embracing their own scarcity operationally will thrive but never feel comfortable. To stay in this quadrant, the organization must embrace the constant struggle.

Part V. Conclusion

Value is scarcity — sometimes yours, sometimes theirs.

The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we still are not thinking.
— Martin Heidegger, "What Calls for Thinking"

A plan is just a thought.
— Joseph Goldstein

We have to stop and think it through.
— Cookie Monster, "Smart Cookies Must Stop the Crumb"

XBE TV Now Available

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 12:00:02 -0500

XBE customers can now display a live job performance monitoring slideshow on the big screen televisions around their offices. This view provides a rich real-time visualization of expected and actual job production and efficiency. The feature builds on XBE's popular Plan Monitoring feature.

"XBE has always been mobile-first, with richer experiences available on larger devices such as iPads and desktop computers," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "With XBE TV, we've added an entirely new way to leverage the real-time data and analytics available in the XBE platform. Building a shared story is necessary for transformational change. XBE TV provides yet another way to communicate with the entire team about how things are going."

XBE TV is available today for all XBE customers.

About XBE XBE is the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders. The best run on us. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

What To Expect When Reading "Daily Recaps"

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 19:00:00 -0500

XBE recently released "Daily Recaps", a feature that provides a concise and rich summary of recent jobs delivered automatically via email.

"Daily Recaps" further reduce the effort required to stay informed about large numbers of jobs. With more information comes more answers, but also more questions!

Therefore, keep in mind these what-to-expect guidelines when reading and reacting to them:

The data might not tell the entire story, but the recap should.

Recaps quantify actual performance vs. expected performance for both production and efficiency. When there's significant variance, metrics should hint at the reason, but won't explain the root cause. You should expect incidents and recap comments to fill in the gaps. When they don't, you should ask questions.

Incidents should inspire confidence that lessons have been learned.

The primary purpose of documenting incidents is to learn lessons so that mistakes aren't repeated and opportunities are seized. It's not enough to see a proper accounting of what transpired. You should expect a breakdown of the problem and a plan for corrective action.

Additional context should explain the data, not dispute it.

You may see incidents and comments used to provide an alternative version of the recap. In most cases, this is incorrect and counterproductive. If the automated recap incorrectly explains something, then XBE will work to make improvements to handle that case. But generally, conflicting comments are a warning sign. When you see them, collaborate with the source to build a shared story.

When data is missing, a process change could create visibility.

There are recaps in which some data might be missing. For example, if a crew is dumping millings at a site without a scale or tickets, there might not be material transactions. There are solutions for all of these situations that are available right now, and we believe that adopting these solutions is usually worth the effort.

Job interactions should be carefully planned for and thoroughly explained.

Some jobs interact because they share a job site, material site, trucks, or other resources. Look out for these relationships and evidence of cross-job planning, communication, coordinated execution, and consolidated analysis.

Further analytical innovations are possible.

The analytics in the recap have been steadily refined over the last three years and are still improving. XBE is interested in adding and refining metrics, and welcomes related ideas and collaboration.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Adds Daily Recap Email Feature

Wed, 04 Aug 2021 10:00:09 -0500

XBE customers now have automated recaps of all jobs delivered by email twice per day - once for day jobs, and once for night jobs. The recaps contain rich and concise summaries of all aspects of job performance including:

Planned and actual quantities, rates, and timing
Planning and dispatch timing and responsibility
Material and job site locations and distances
Planned and actual trucking quantities, cycle times, load factors, visibility rates, and surplus estimates
Detected and created production, trucking, administrative, and safety incidents
Comments from superintendents, foremen, project managers, and other collaborators

"Email was the original 'killer app'. That's as true today as ever," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "We took inspiration from popular email newsletters when designing our new 'daily recap' feature. It's hard to beat the convenience of having it show up in your inbox twice a day."

The daily recap feature is available immediately to all XBE software customers.

About XBE XBE is the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders. The best run on us. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Recap of 2021 NAPA (National Asphalt Pavement Association) mid-year meeting

Wed, 21 Jul 2021 19:00:00 -0500

NAPA in-person meetings resumed this week after an 18-month COVID hiatus. XBE is an active NAPA member and had multiple team members in attendance. We sponsored the opening night reception, participated in multiple committees, and had a table in the hallway with the most popular swag at the event (nice pens and Binaca spray).

The event was in Nashville, so there are plenty of fun stories to tell, but this newsletter is going to be all business.

Here are the 5 most important takeaways that we believe might be interesting to the XBE community:

1. The expected impact of the emerging "infrastructure bills" on road construction is $110 Billion over 5 years.

Jay Hansen, Executive Vice President for Advocacy at NAPA, did an excellent (and enthusiastic) job reviewing the infrastructure bills and what they mean to our industry. There were many interesting and helpful details in his presentation (see link below), but I found it particularly helpful to see the breakdown of where the funding increase will go.

I encourage you to download and read his full presentation.

2. The impact of proposed "Buy America" changes would be very significant to the industry, but there is a pathway to exclusion that has momentum.

Jay also provided a short history lesson on "Buy America" and explained its likely impact on the asphalt industry if passed. According to estimates that he cited, 10% of liquid asphalt cement used in the US is imported (mostly Canada). The percentage is much higher along the east coast where there is only one refinery of note (in New Jersey). While there is progress being made to receive an exclusion on the requirement, this is an area worth watching closely.

More information is available in his full presentation (same as linked above).

3. The industry's demand forecast is quite good with input cost inflation providing some short-term headwinds.

George Reddin, Managing Director of FMi Capital Advisors, provided an excellent presentation about the outlook for US construction generally and construction materials specifically. Of course, we all know how much stock to put in forecasts, but the statistics were solid and up-to-date, and the rationale was sound. In particular, I found the chart about input cost inflation vs. bid prices to be notable - it's important not to get caught up too much in the short-term ups and downs, but they're real enough to demand attention. Finally, he included some good information about M&A activity in the space that's worth reading.

You can download his full presentation here.

4. Reminder that there are readily implementable technologies available (that might not be in use!) that will lower the carbon footprint of asphalt manufacturing.

There was a great document presented during the Committee for Engineering, Application & Practice session. It’s an analysis of the cost/benefit of various techniques for reducing asphalt’s carbon footprint (mainly in manufacturing). All of the items are worth review, but I was particularly interested in stockpile moisture mitigation, reduced production mixture temperatures, and cold and in-place recycling as opportunities that might be under-leveraged.

You can download the matrix document here.

5. You can manage safety leadership by following a careful roadmap.

I had a great conversation with Jeremy Ramberg, Director of Shared Services of Lehman-Roberts, about their safety program. He shared with me a great document (linked below) that summarizes their roadmap to improving safety culture. While it all looked familiar, I was impressed with the details. In particular, check out the facets of their leading indicators, their focus on managing the leadership metrics first, and the use of crew observations to pull in management.

You can download their 2-page "Live Safe Work Safe" flyer here.

Of course, the real highlight of the event was seeing so many XBE community members. As we grow, the value of the network grows even faster. We love to see it!

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Releases First Customer Testimonial Video Featuring Superior Bowen

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 12:00:49 -0500

XBE is excited to release its first customer testimonial video featuring Amanda Mohr, President of Superior Bowen, Kansas City’s largest site work and road contractor.

Mohr highlights the role XBE has played in Superior Bowen’s continued success. In particular, she describes how XBE provides transparency and real-time analytics that have improved decision making in the field and at the bid table.

Superior Bowen was an early adopter of the XBE platform and has enjoyed a competitive advantage afforded by lower variable costs, a better understanding of its operations, and empowered employees.

“Amanda said it better than I will,” said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO.

You can view the testimonial here.

For more information on Superior Bowen’s breakthrough performance improvements facilitated by XBE, read this case study published in our Horizon Newsletter.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About Superior Bowen Founded in 1948, Superior Bowen is one of the largest asphalt paving and sitework contractors in the Midwest. Our construction and site prep experts have experience in a wide range of development projects, including solving a variety of location or terrain challenges. Customers rely on Superior Bowen to manage all aspects of project site development. Through decades of proven performance, Superior Bowen has built a reputation of reliability, which gives customers a certainty of outcome and a standard of quality that consistently exceeds specifications.

XBE Adds Equipment Movement Management Functionality

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:00:12 -0500

XBE, the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders, today added a robust set of new equipment movement management capabilities to its industry-leading horizontal construction management software platform. These expanded equipment movement features are deeply integrated with XBE's core job production planning and dispatch capabilities which enable customers to manage the requirements and movement of all types of resources including raw materials, finished materials, equipment, and labor.

Some of the differentiated equipment movement management features include:

Automated equipment movement requirements from inbound and outbound job demands
Flexible one-off equipment movement locations
Automated trip construction
Multi-stop trip specification
Equipment movement requirement file attachments (i.e. permits)
Single-click dispatch (including tendering, rating, acceptance, assignment, and all other logistics features)
Streamlined driver trip instructions
Equipment movement stop completion

"Prior to today, XBE worked fine for equipment movement dispatch, but fine doesn't create competitive advantage," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "Today's new equipment movement management features integrate seamlessly with XBE's excellent job production planning and equipment requirement capabilities. We now provide a first-class ability to coordinate and administer the movement of equipment in the most efficient and transparent way possible. We've figured out how to satisfy the needs of construction, equipment, logistics, and administration stakeholders without compromise. I can't wait to see all of our customers take full advantage."

The equipment movement management functionality is available immediately to all XBE software customers.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Making The Possible Possible

Sun, 25 Apr 2021 19:00:00 -0500

Friday, April 6, 2018 was an important day. It was one day after XBE's front door was shot with 6 bullets, but that proved unimportant. We'd find new temporary office space when I returned to Chicago the following week. It's just as well that we didn't find the shooter or motive.

I was in Kansas City to meet with Superior Bowen's Operations team. By then, XBE had only managed 2,600 of Superior Bowen's trucking hours ever. A month later, we'd manage more than that for them each week. It took our full efforts to source and dispatch their daily trucking requirements during the initial ramp. It didn't get much easier that summer. But, our full efforts weren't going to be enough to make the collaboration successful. We needed to change the way jobs were planned.

First, we needed to prove that better planning mattered. To do that, we scrubbed and analyzed three years of ticket data to estimate the unproductive time in each cycle.

Nobody could agree on the target non-driving minutes per cycle. Everybody could agree that it was below 51.

In discussions with executive management, we targeted 27 minutes of non-driving minutes per cycle. This was higher than what was possible, but if achieved would be a huge victory.

"Showing the math" on an example job made the case somewhat effectively to field management.

We feared that crews would mistake increased focus on trucking efficiency as a shift away from production maximization. We attempted to maintain balance by focusing some of the discussion on techniques to maximize production.

On the the last slide, almost as an afterthought, a list of the features in development were listed. None of them were available at the time.

Not mentioned in that feature list was the "lineup" - the process of converting job demand into a group of dispatches. At the time, we handled that process manually.

We weren't worried about our time. Automating the lineup would have to wait for 2019. Efficiency would matter only when we were effective.

We held the "Production Planning" meeting when we could see what was possible, but well before we had the tools to achieve it at scale. That's how it should be. As a leader, you don't have to know how to achieve what you can see on the horizon before you discuss that vision with your team. Even after you know how, you still need to help your team believe they will improve.

Last Friday, I checked in on Superior Bowen's progress against their goal. They're now 22% more efficient than 2017. Their average cycle in 2021 includes only 22 minutes of non-driving time, and they're still improving.

As for the XBE platform, its long since had all of the features listed on that last slide, along with hundreds of others discovered and built along the way. Lineups are totally automated too! The platform manages 17X the volume that it handled as of April 2018, and our operations team is the same size.

There was a time when all we really had was faith in what was possible. Then we made it possible.

Stoic Leadership Is The Secret

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 19:00:00 -0500

I've worn glasses since fifth grade. Mr. Robinson noticed me squinting at the chalk board in math class and called my Mom. The prescription was always strong. I doubt I ever saw well.

I didn't wear those glasses in junior high. They looked fine - it wasn't that. Blurry vision made my skin look clear, and that made me feel attractive. I had average complexion, but that's not saying much. I preferred my pimple-less fantasy to acceptance and action.

Seeing is believing (if you can bear it)

Increased visibility usually leads to positive change. But first... denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, and hard work.

We spend our youth creating an identity, and the rest of our lives defending it. Alternative ideas and narratives threaten every facet. Paul Graham says to "Keep Your Identity Small", and I keep trying.

The identity of an organization is its "culture" and "brand". Organizations protect their identities from external threats, for better and worse.

Analytics are like mirrors - seductive, fickle, and unforgiving. Glimpse triumph and endure the never-ending ugly battle against entropy.

Analytics are indifferent to the narrative, and insensitive to our identity.

Analytics are uncooperative and curt, talking over our stories.

Analytics are critical. We must be positive.

The visibility that XBE provides to all aspects of job performance is powerful and scary. Guide your organizations to the truth. Be understanding and generous. Acknowledge the differences between what they see and what you've said. Do not want good news or fear bad news.

Stoic leadership is the secret.

Let me know if you struggle to maintain this balance. Let me know if you don't!

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

Curran Contracting Adopts XBE Software Platform

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 08:00:06 -0500

XBE is pleased to announce an agreement with Curran Contracting to implement the XBE software platform to seamlessly control and optimize its field operations and logistics.

As a national site development, infrastructure, and paving contractor, Curran was looking for ways to adopt lean construction practices into their trucking and equipment operations. XBE will support Curran’s growth plans by increasing innovation, eliminating waste, and extending their competitive advantage in the public and private sectors.

“When we were presented with the XBE platform, we recognized it was not merely a truck dispatching and e-ticketing solution,” explains Mike Pachla, Vice President, Civil Operations, Curran Contracting. “We found a comprehensive tool that will streamline our trucking management and also help the entire team with planning, managing and improving field operations.”

Curran Contracting is the third new enterprise customer to sign on with XBE since the start of the year. XBE’s growth in its early years was deliberate, focused on building a robust product to address the complex challenges of initial customers while collaborating with those customers to ensure successful change management. As XBE matured, its customer base and user community grew organically, driven by referrals from existing customers to their peers.

"It's quite special when an existing customer feels so positively about the benefit of working with XBE that they're willing to recommend us to one of their industry peers," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "We were connected to Mike Leopardo at Curran Contracting by Dan Gallagher at Gallagher Asphalt. It was clear that Curran would be a great fit with the XBE community from our very first conversation, and their strategic and collaborative approach to the selection and implementation process has been outstanding. We're excited to see how far we can go together in 2021 and beyond."

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About Curran Curran is a site development, excavation, mass grading, paving and asphalt sales contractor serving GC's and developers nationwide. Curran have been a leader in both the public and private transportation sectors for 85 years. For more information, visit www.currancontracting.com.

Case Study In Breakthrough Performance Improvement Resulting From Game Tape Reviews

Mon, 05 Apr 2021 19:00:00 -0500

In the 2020-10-15 edition of the XBE Horizon newsletter we discussed the value of doing daily "game tape" sessions to review job performance and identify opportunities to improve. As a follow up, the 2020-12-07 edition was about the importance of competing with what is possible instead of the estimate or past performance. Then, in the 2021-02-15 edition, we introduced the "trucking surplus" metric as a concise quantification of trucking efficiency. In this newsletter, we'll provide a case study from Superior Bowen that demonstrates the breakthrough performance improvement that results from putting all of those ideas to work.

For the past four months, XBE has collaborated with Superior Bowen to transform their job planning and adjustment process. These are our notes on what we've learned so far.

Clarify your baseline and goals.

Superior Bowen's strategy was to build on the solid logistics foundation that they'd developed from 2018 - 2020 to dramatically improve the efficiency of their 2021 jobs using the the planning, monitoring, analysis, and adjustment processes described in previous newsletters.

In 2020, their average trucking surplus was 25.9%. For 2021, the goal was set to 16%.

Maybe we weren't optimistic enough! For the 23 crew days in March, Superior Bowen's trucking surplus dropped all the way to 13.2%, almost 50% better than the 2020 average. And for the 20 days thus far in April, the trucking surplus has been only 10.1%. While the early season is milling-heavy (which is generally a bit more efficient), there is every reason to believe that the improvement will be sustained, and that it will correlate with improved crew efficiency too.

Educate during down time.

Key to the early season success was a concerted effort over the winter to train superintendents, project managers, plant managers, and the executive team on planning and analysis in XBE. We assumed nothing, and trained from first principles. While 2021 will be the fourth season of XBE's partnership with Superior Bowen, many capabilities are new, and plenty of old features are unfamiliar. Training built both the capabilities and confidence of team members. Software features were explained within the context of the company's overall strategy. It was also an opportunity to identify leaders that can be counted on help others along the way.

Study the details as a team.

Shared understanding is required to make progress as a team especially when we're mostly apart. To help build that collective knowledge, the executive team began meeting for 30-60 minutes every afternoon to review the day's results and the following days' plans. The meetings were slow and deliberate. Since the XBE platform makes all the information readily available, we didn't need to focus only on the summary and the exceptions. We had the time to review the details of every job and mull what we'd learned and what could be improved. The meetings were relaxed and fun, and helped to build camaraderie and shared ownership.

Maximize the production rate.

Uncertainty regarding the maximum production rate results either in under-production or over-trucking. We found that different team members would calculate production rates differently and that additional training, tools, and focus in this area will help output and efficiency. Stay tuned for more in this area soon.

Lean into the culture.

Bend the process to the culture. For Superior Bowen, it works best to lean into strengths, pursue excellence, build consensus, and respect functional lines of authority. Other organizations might be more command-oriented, or more matrix-managed, and that's fine too. Whatever the culture, go with it.

Seeing ain't seizing.

It takes practice to analyze performance accurately, and it takes practice to make optimal tradeoffs in the face of uncertainty and time pressure. It's hopeful to think that decisions will come naturally once performance is visible, but that's only step one. It takes discipline and humility to convert insight into action, and we can't take either for granted.

Celebrate the process and the outcomes.

Superior Bowen has taken care to celebrate the small victories along the way, both from a process and outcome perspective. For example, in the most recent "Meeting of the Minds" remote presentation for all salaried employees, Trey Bowen, CEO of Superior Bowen, provided an update on the "optimization" pillar of the 2021 strategic plan. During that update, he explained the importance of the initiative, described the work that had been done thus far, and reviewed the early results. He highlighted the success of specific people and jobs and even showed a handful of plan monitoring charts from XBE. The attention felt good for those that were celebrated, and provided positive motivation for the entire team.

Compete externally, collaborate internally.

It's tempting to make a competition out of an initiative like this, but you should resist. Internal competitions are status games, and there can be only one winner. We want to lift everyone together, not separate the haves and have-nots. Instead of creating a competition, praise good work specifically, point out general opportunities to improve, and encourage lateral assistance.

When the work seems done, start a new project together.

Don't see the frequent executive team meetings as a temporary step to improve performance, but as an asset that can tackle a continual stream of opportunities. For example, once the daily planning and adjustment process becomes second-nature and the trucking surplus is under control, it might be time to focus on demand-balancing, or incident analysis and remediation. The habit is hard to form, and you should be reluctant to break it.

If you have your own story to share, I'd love to hear it. And if you need help implementing a similar strategy and we aren't already collaborating with you on it, please be in touch.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

TDOT Adds XBE as Qualified E-Ticketing Software Product

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 08:00:35 -0500

XBE, the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders, was named as a Qualified E-Ticketing Software Product by the TDOT E-Ticketing Committee after meeting all automated delivery requirements stipulated in its Special Provision 109ETAS.

This recognition comes a year after XBE added E-Ticketing features for all customers in March 2020. While first developed for cost reduction and convenience purposes, E-Ticketing was quickly leveraged to reduce the physical proximity of drivers, crews, and inspectors to help stop the spread of COVID-19. XBE has worked with many customers and owners throughout the year to ensure that their specific requirements are met by the XBE platform.

“E-Ticketing is a feature that XBE has taken very seriously," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "We were initially focused on improving the collaboration between our customers and their project owners. But, in the early days of the pandemic, it became clear that the technology could be leveraged to benefit the health of the community as well. Thankfully, the danger from COVID-19 will be in the past soon, and it's exciting to see states like Tennessee embrace E-Ticketing permanently.”

XBE does not sell a separate E-Ticketing product, but includes all E-Ticketing features in the core platform used by all of its software customers. To learn more, schedule an intro at www.x-b-e.com/schedule-intro.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

XBE Releases Opportunity Assessment Calculator

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 08:00:43 -0500

XBE, the science and technology competitive advantage of horizontal construction leaders, today made a new Opportunity Assessment calculator available for free on its public website at www.x-b-e.com/opportunity-assessment. The calculator is based on years of profit improvement results of XBE customers, and is meant to be used before and after the implementation of the XBE platform.

The tool helps link software adoption to operational change to financial improvement. It allows for customization of volumes, rates, and degree of improvements. Default values for all parameters are available for asphalt, aggregate, and excavation operations. Scenarios can be bookmarked to be shared with others and compared.

"It's fun to have processes automated and stakeholders collaborating in real time via cutting edge technologies to plan, execute, and analyze their jobs. But, it's even more fun to see those changes pay off in meaningful year-after-year financial improvement," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "Our customers consistently improve their profitability and return on capital through great leadership, the adoption of XBE technologies, and solid change management. We decided to share this tool to help others design their path to the same outcome."

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

XBE Enters Missouri and Oklahoma Asphalt Liquid Anti-Strip and Warm-Mix Markets

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 17:00:37 -0600

XBE announced the introduction of its anti-strip and warm-mix product Fastac® and release agent Notac® into the Missouri and Oklahoma markets following DOT approvals.

Fastac®, part of XBE’s green chemistry line, is a well-designed liquid anti-strip agent (LASA) that provides superior adhesive performance and is unmatched by peers in health and safety. In addition to the benefits of compatibility and environmental-friendliness, Fastac® is non-toxic and odor-free — no bad smells or tank corrosion. Fastac® can double up as a warm-mix additive (WMA) which can eliminate the need to inventory multiple products, leading to cost savings and increased convenience.

Proven to perform with all asphalt mix designs, Notac®, another green chemistry product, is used primarily as a truck bed and tool release agent. With no environmental effects, variable dosage rates, and a high flash point, Notac® is a highly effective release agent, safe and easy to use for multiple applications.

XBE also offers PG Mod® (basic rejuvenator), RASpave® (mid range rejuvenator for basic performance requirements), RAPpave® (top end rejuvenator for high recycle mixes and performance testing sensitivity), REpave® (cold patch additive) and Nutopp® (surface rejuvenator overspray for pavements or roofs) — all shipped directly from our facility in totes or bulk.

“We are excited to enter the Missouri and Oklahoma markets with our asphalt additive solutions. The XBE software platform is used by multiple leading paving contractors in each state, and with these approvals we've expanded the ways in which we create competitive advantage for our customers.,” said Sean Devine, XBE's Founder and CEO.

Oklahoma Approved Products List: - Fastac - Notac

Missouri Approved Products List: - Fastac - Notac

XBE Continues Expansion Into Ready-Mix Concrete Industry With Geiger Ready-Mix Co.

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 12:00:36 -0600

XBE, the leading science and technology platform for horizontal construction optimization, announced a new agreement with Geiger Ready-Mix Co. to provide software to automate and optimize its logistics operation. With 5 locations, Geiger Ready-Mix is the largest producer of Ready-Mix concrete in the Kansas City Metro Area.

"As Geiger continues to grow, we need to take this company to the next level and we feel very confident that XBE is the right business partner to help us accomplish that," said Todd Geiger, President & CEO. "We are excited to work with XBE to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our supply chain."

XBE began as a technology-enabled dump truck brokerage and grew into a comprehensive software platform providing closed-loop planning, execution, analysis and continuous improvement capabilities for horizontal construction leaders. Geiger is the second large Ready-Mix customer to onboard with XBE in early 2021 as the company continues to expand its services for the segment.

"Todd Geiger and his team are committed to doing things the right way, and we're thrilled to be helping them automate and scale their values-driven approach," added Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "We're busy with implementation now, but the quick wins aren't far behind. We're excited to play our part in Geiger's transformation over the next few years."

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About About Geiger Ready-Mix Co. Geiger Ready-Mix is a fifth generation family-owned local business since 1892. Built on a foundation of core values, Geiger’s 123 year success in the building material business is renowned in the Kansas City Metro Area. As building material suppliers, their uniformity continues as seen on their iconic red & white mixer trucks. For more information, visit geigerreadymix.com.

XBE Expands Into South Carolina With Fastac And Notac Additives

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 08:00:34 -0600

XBE announced today that its anti-strip and warm-mix product Fastac is now available for immediate use in South Carolina. Irving Oil in Charleston will be blending the product at their Buckeye terminal.

The SCDOT requires the use of an anti-strip to meet their performance specifications and has approved Fastac as one of their qualified products. Fastac is part of XBE’s green chemistry line that not only provides great performance, but also is unmatched by its peers in health and safety; no more bad smells or tank corrosion. In addition to being a liquid anti-strip agent (LASA), Fastac can double as a warm-mix additive (WMA) to eliminate the need to inventory multiple products.

In addition to Fastac, SCDOT also approved XBE's truck bed and tool release agent Notac to its respective QPL.

XBE's other asphalt chemistry products include PG Mod (basic rejuvenator), RASpave (mid range rejuvenator for basic performance requirements), RAPpave (top end rejuvenator for high recycle mixes and performance testing sensitivity), REpave (Cold patch additive) and Nutopp (Surface rejuvenator overspray for pavements or roofs).

“We are excited to enter into this new partnership with SCDOT and Irving Oil. Our additives have been used successfully in North Carolina since 2014, and we're glad that South Carolina contractors now have access to those same benefits,” said Sean Devine, XBE's Founder and CEO.

About XBE

XBE creates chemical additives to overcome challenging asphalt construction problems. Designed by contractors for contractors, every product is field-tested, conditions-based, and results-driven. For more information, visit https://www.x-b-e.com/chemistry or email Matt Lerner at matt-lerner@x-b-e.com.

SCDOT QPLs - Notac (release agent) - Fastac (anti-strip) - Fastac (WMA)

How To Reduce Unnecessary Trucking Expense By Setting And Managing "Trucking Surplus" Goals

Sun, 14 Feb 2021 18:00:00 -0600

Everyone has always wanted a single metric to represent the efficiency of their trucking operation.

"Are we over trucked?"

Unfortunately - especially for construction operations - it can be a difficult metric to define, let alone calculate. Some of the questions without clear answers include:

How should we classify the time when trucks are idle due to job or plant down time (planned or unplanned)?
How should that classification change if the down time lasts for hours?
How should we consider different production rates throughout the day?
How should we count under-staggered trucks at the front of the day?
How should we quantify the impact of late starts?
How should we quantify the impact of late sign outs?
How should we account for driving time that is slower or faster than anticipated?
How should we account for plant load out or dumping time that is slower or faster than anticipated?
How should we account for the impact of different rates of production throughout the day?

Even with answers to the above questions, the data required to make the calculations has never been consistently available.

But, with the recent release of the fully automated "trucking surplus" metrics and dashboard this winter, we finally have a normalized approach for comparing trucking surplus between jobs and over time.

The purpose of this newsletter is to more fully explain the trucking surplus metrics and recommend a management approach that will optimize your trucking expense.

What does the "trucking surplus" metric represent?

Trucking surplus is a measure of the % of trucking time that was practically unnecessary given the balance between the rate of supply and rate of demand throughout a job day.

A low % indicates that most truck time was spent doing something that was unavoidable given the supply and demand characteristics of the day. A high % indicates that significant time was wasted that should have been avoidable.

Let's look at some examples:

This first example shows a job production plan with an extremely low surplus (5%).

Some details of note:

The planned surplus was also relatively low (8%). In order to consistently achieve low actual surplus outcomes, this is extremely important.
While the plan calculated that one fewer trucks were needed than dispatched, the actual possible cycle time was slightly slower than was planned which made that extra truck required to hit the planned production rate.
There was a detected production incident at the job site at 12:30AM that created a bit of surplus between 12AM and 2AM (though given that it's a night job, there was probably very little that could be done to reclaim that time).
Aside from the effect of the detected production incident, things couldn't have gone much more smoothly. There was little waiting at the job site or material site, and the drive time was relatively consistent.

To calculate the actual surplus, the platform uses observed values for cycle time, production rate, and load factor and simulates the day to determine how many trucking hours were required to achieve the actual outcome. It uses as much GPS data as is available and triangulates with statistical cycle time measures to determine what's possible.

The keys to this job's efficiency were:

Accurate planning
Tight dispatch
Solid operational execution

If there's a process breakdown at any of the above steps, the job will either be over trucked or won't hit its production targets. Given that construction management is understandably risk averse regarding production goals, the natural outcome is to over truck as insurance. But, as this job shows, when all three processes are working in harmony, production goals can be achieved with little waste.

This second example shows a job production plan with an extremely high surplus (43%).

There were breakdowns in all three key areas listed above.

The production rate was incorrectly estimated
The quantity of trucks dispatched was too high even if the production rate was achievable
The trucks were not staggered adequately which was the fault of the dispatch itself, not the plant (given that they were just following instructions)
The management of cutting trucks at the end of the shift was too loose

If we look at one specific truck, it's not difficult to see the surplus (most of that orange time).

Since this surplus metric is calculated automatically using all available information and considers all the fiddly questions outlined above, we can use it to track how well we're doing at any level with confidence.

A "Trucking Surplus Dashboard" is available at the customer level that does just that. You can set a target trucking surplus amount and see the opportunity from a reference period, and how well you're doing against that goal during the comparison period. These metrics are calculated at the material type, planner, project manager, month, and job number levels. In addition, you can see "Hall of Fame" days where the target surplus % was achieved.

Now is the perfect time to put in place a formal trucking surplus management program for 2021.

We recommend the following specific steps:

Ensure that all team members are educated on the planning, dispatch, monitoring, and analytics tools mentioned above.
Review past performance to become familiar with the current state of your trucking surplus.
Set a specific trucking surplus goal for 2021. In general, we believe that 15% is an achievable goal for most organizations.
Build your planning and dispatch processes for zero surplus.
Monitor plans actively to coordinate adjustments that will reduce surplus.
Review the actual surplus of plans daily to identify opportunities to improve these processes.
Celebrate the wins! It's beautiful to see it all come together as in the first example above.

One of the great things about managing trucking surplus is that it has the side benefit of causing many other related processes to improve. You can't do well in this area without doing well in general, especially if you're also pushing to maximize daily production (more on that in another newsletter!).

If you have any questions about this topic, any related feature ideas, or need help refining your trucking surplus management program, please let us know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

XBE Enters Bulk Materials and Concrete Segments With Long-Term Agreement With Ozinga

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 06:00:49 -0600

XBE announced its expansion into the bulk materials and concrete segments of the horizontal construction industry following a year-long pilot with Ozinga, a leading provider of bulk materials and concrete solutions across the Midwest and South Florida. Ozinga announced its long-term commitment to XBE with the following statement:

Ozinga is excited to partner with XBE and implement their logistics dispatch solution to help us streamline our logistics operation. As a company with haulers in different lines of business, one challenge we face is bringing visibility to the invisible data from hauling. Using XBE’s solution will solve this issue and provide a digital chain of custody for all hauling records.

Aside from the technology, we also chose XBE due to their team, knowledge of the industry, and proven track record of success. The XBE team has been working with us over the past year on a pilot that was tailored to our specific needs. Throughout this phase, our comfort level and respect for the XBE team has grown tremendously.

We look forward to building our future with XBE and work with a company that shares our purpose, values, and commitment to success.

The XBE software platform was built to support all segments of the horizontal construction industry, but most initial customers were primarily focused on asphalt production and construction. Throughout 2020, XBE worked with Ozinga to ensure that its software platform met the needs of their large and complex logistics operation. The pilot's success was due to the underlying strength of the XBE platform as well as XBE's ability to develop innovative shared solutions to complex problems.

"The XBE team is thankful to provide Ozinga with the software platform that will extend their competitive advantage," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "Working with Ozinga has made us improve, and the entire XBE community has benefited. We can't wait to see what comes next."

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About Ozinga Ozinga is a fourth-generation family-owned American business in the construction materials and logistics industry. They build the places we live, work, and play by providing concrete, aggregate materials, and energy solutions in multiple states through a fleet of barges, boats, rail, and the iconic red and white striped concrete mixers.

2020 Year In Review

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 18:00:00 -0600

Before listing the top features and achievements of 2020, I'd like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the entire XBE community for partnering with us to achieve so many great things during the past year. Without you, none of this would matter.

By almost any measure, 2020 was our best year yet. We supported 138% more activity vs 2019 - over 661K trucking hours! Since our first full year of operation in 2017, we've enjoyed compounding annual growth of 157%. All the while, our customers are managing many more of their business processes on XBE than before, leading to significantly higher value and exciting new opportunities. We're ready to double again next year (notwithstanding challenges getting out to meet with new customers due to COVID).

Speaking of, the pandemic taught us (forced us!) to stay connected in new ways with customers every day, even when apart. Since the XBE team is distributed around the world, we're used to collaborating remotely, and so we leveraged some of the same tools that we depend on internally. Most importantly, we added Slack channels for each customer. We experimented with this in 2019, but made it a standard part of our onboarding process in 2020. It's been a great success and we're looking forward to adding additional integrations between the XBE app and Slack in 2021 to make auditing and exception management more automated and professional. In addition, we did our best to replace our COVID-cancelled Horizon conference at the last minute with remote content. It wasn't the same, but it wasn't bad, and gave us the idea for these newsletters (which seem pretty popular). This is the 6th newsletter that we've sent, and we'll keep it up. While we didn't see customers in person that much this year, we've never felt more connected.

On the product side, it was a remarkable year of big new features and enhancements. We published our 100th release note of the year today (we couldn't leave it at 99!). In addition to these release-note-worthy new features and enhancements, we deployed bug fixes, performance enhancements, and little polishing touches every day.

It was hard to pick favorites, but here are our top 10 new features of the year:

Speed! Speed! Speed!
Job production plan monitoring with enhanced driver movement analytics and real-time actual trucking surplus metrics
Medium-term schedule review and management
Crew requirements and scheduling
Job production plan activity feed, comments, and alarms
Trucker report cards
Incident management and reporting expansion
Aggregate hauling enhancements including flexible shifts, new service type unit of measures, and automated approvals
Lineup expansion including rate previews and comparisons, shift builder, dispatch statuses, fulfillment error notifications, and a new driver move workflow
E-Ticketing including inspection and rejection

The pace of new releases will continue to be brisk in 2021. We have a long list of high-value projects to complete, and we are making good use of the slower winter months (as you may have seen through recent release note activity). Our technical debt is low, and that allows us to continue to innovate rapidly while maintaining quality.

Finally, while I have your attention, let me thank the entire XBE team for their great work this year. Milind, Benjamin, Colenso, Pankaj, Chandra, Shirish, Juliana, Grant, Kayla, Katie, Matt, Cinatra, Stephanie, and Theresa. They're the best!

Regards,

Sean Devine Founder & CEO

Good Contractors Compete Within, Great Contractors Compete In Their Market, But The Best Contractors Compete With What's Possible

Sun, 06 Dec 2020 18:00:00 -0600

According to conventional wisdom, the best organizations leverage healthy competition as a key component of their management approach and corporate culture.

While I agree that competition is valuable, it's possible to choose the wrong competitors. The purpose of this newsletter is to help identify the right competitors and avoid common competition traps.

Local competition is almost certainly not the best

I was a very good high school football player, at least when compared to my local competition. I grew up in a rural town outside of Albany, NY, and I was fast enough to be a stand out running back and kick returner. That's how I measured myself until the very last football game that I ever played. I was one of the four running backs in the Upstate NY Senior Bowl game on Thanksgiving weekend of 1995. It was an "all star" game with players selected from schools of all sizes from around the state. Of the four at my position, I was clearly the fourth best. Perhaps that was the best that I could have ever been - I'm not exactly a physically imposing specimen. But I'll never know because I'd spent the previous four years measuring myself against the teams I was playing, not the teams I could play. Being the best in my little world was holding me back, and I never went any further.

This same phenomenon happens often in our industry. Since the business is so local and fragmented, most contractors have been exposed to a very limited set of competitors, and odds are that those competitors aren't excellent. But eventually, if and when we're exposed to the bigger world around us, we find out that what we'd seen was possible is much less impressive than what is possible.

Achieving what's possible requires selflessness

One of the benefits of playing football in a small town is that there was relatively little competition within the team. We didn't have enough players that were viable candidates at each position for that to be a serious problem! We had to make the most of what we had and help each other if we had a chance of winning each weekend.

Horizontal construction is a team sport too, and it requires tight coordination across functions and companies. While American culture and industry is built on individualism, a contractor built on the same will be an average performer. Instead of glimpsing what's possible for all in the differences between crews and plants and trucks, an individualistic organization will see and reward "the winners". This might lead to improved performance at the margin, but will not improve most team members, and will cause the organization to miss out on "breakthrough" improvements. Instead, the differences should be studied carefully to understand who needs help, and what ideas should be leveraged everywhere. Additionally, when determining who should be promoted, a primary consideration should be whether a team member made their peers better. Only by rewarding selflessness can management compete with what's possible.

If you only have a couple of great crews, and they don't make the other crews better, you'll be no better than good.

The best contractors compete with what's possible

To be the best, you need to imagine what's possible - it's the only relevant benchmark for the best organizations. Even though perfection is unreachable, the best organizations keep trying. And since it can't be fully achieved, it has to be glimpsed and imagined, but with the clarity of careful observation. Given its elusiveness, "the possible" needs the organization's full focus. Any distractions arising from internal politics and local relativism will rob the team of the cohesion and perspective required to win.

To imagine what's possible as a team, you must first be demand-driven, and then work backwards to balance the resources required to fulfill that demand with minimal waste. You can't achieve more than the demand allows for, and if you try, you'll only do worse. On the other hand, if you are supply-driven, you'll wind up fixated on maximizing the asset utilization of one particular type of asset (i.e. crews, plants, trucks) and mess up the optimal resource trade or underperform for the customer. The time to be supply-driven is at the bid table, not in daily operations. Once you've won the business, information about the award must be communicated to all stakeholders accurately and with as much lead time as possible to drive downstream planning decisions.

Optimally balancing resources requires a precise understanding of the capabilities of each component. At what rate will each roller compact given the temperature and mix design? How fast can we produce each finished product? How much of each finished product can we inventory? What can each truck haul per load on each route? What will the drive time be in both directions? What are the other demands on the plant during the same time period? You can't use averages, and you can't round up all the way down.

To succeed, the team needs to expect each part to deliver what it's capable of and plan accordingly. That level of precise execution leaves no extra time for any team member to try to do someone else's job. As Coach Sapienza said, "We can't have the Right Guard worrying about what the Left Tackle's not doing".

Some specific practices that indicate that an organization is competing against what's possible

Here are some of the telltale signs of an organization chasing what's possible:

Everyone sweats the small stuff while staying positive
Demand is visible as job production plans far in advance of the production date
Teams review lessons learned from all plans to identify ideas that would work everywhere
Knowledge is made public through detailed comments, incidents, and action items
Success is celebrated publicly to help draw attention to effective practices
Benchmarking meetings are conducted with organizations in different industries and geographies
Experts are identified and leveraged as trainers of peers
Outcomes are fed back into the estimation and bidding process
Questions are asked without reservation, and answers are provided freely

We've built the XBE platform to enable this strategy, but there's a long way for us to go. As always, if there is something that we can do (software, data, introductions, insight, etc) to help you compete against what's possible, let us know.

Regards,

Sean Devine
Founder & CEO, XBE

We're Not Going To Rename "Incidents" To "Opportunities", But We Probably Should!

Sun, 08 Nov 2020 18:00:00 -0600

If half the secret to optimizing operational performance is careful planning of each day's work, the other half is learning from all significant deviations between planned and actual performance so that avoidable issues aren't repeated. XBE calls this process "Incident Management", and it's the key to continuous improvement.

Most teams find incident management challenging for two main reasons:

Strong cultural aversion to placing attention on mistakes and problems
Unfamiliarity with continuous improvement tools

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

When a company's culture makes incident management uncomfortable or punitive, familiarity with continuous improvement tools won't matter much. Therefore, let's focus first on what norms get in the way and what changes will make continuous improvement possible.

If you want to be great, you can't be good enough.

The only way to continuously improve is to believe you're not good enough in the first place. Otherwise, any suggestion of significant improvement opportunity either doesn't have urgency, or (even worse) is an identity threat. Unfortunately, it is very common for company cultures to be built (explicitly or implicitly) on the idea that the company is already good enough. Given that the primary motivation of most employees is to stay employed, and the most common non-economic reason for an employee to be let go is because of a culture/values mismatch, most employees in most companies are fearful of having any attention drawn to incidents that they played some part in.

While culture change takes time, it happens most quickly when new norms are made explicit and modeled at the top of the organization. Implicit and inconsistent expectations make for slow and scary change. Once an organization has demonstrated that it sees incidents as valuable assets to be mined for sustained improvement, then competence with continuous improvement tools starts to matter.

Division by zero is meaningless.

Efficiency is a measure of the resources consumed to produce a unit of quality output ($ / ton). As we learned as kids, you can't divide by zero, and so if we reduce cost (the numerator) but have zero quality output to show for it (the denominator), it's meaningless. Effectiveness first, efficiency second. This is true for the core operation, but also for the incident management process itself. Don't worry about how efficient you are at managing incidents until you're good at it.

The secret to problem solving is knowing what problem you're solving.

With the distinction between effectiveness and efficiency in mind, we must study variance to find what actually went wrong in the planning and/or execution of jobs. We call these "incidents", and they should both quantify the impact on output (effectiveness) and input (efficiency). Any "significant" incidents should be recorded immediately, whether or not you know why they happened or if anything could have been done to prevent them. When determining the definition of "significant", you may want to consider other policies that you have (safety, purchasing, etc) and go with something consistent. In general, you won't regret the time that you spend documenting incidents if you have dependable downstream triage and improvement processes.

Time moves in one direction, memory another.

While impacts on output and input are self-evident and therefore easy to document, the circumstances and decisions that led to the incident are not always so obvious. As time passes, it becomes difficult to accurately collect the information needed to do a proper root cause analysis. Therefore, we recommend researching incidents quickly and thoroughly, whether or not you have the resources available to make immediate improvements. The recorded information won't fade, and memories certainly will. In XBE, we recommend using the "Root Cause" feature to record this research to keep organized and focused while driving upstream until you find where action could have changed the fates (or not).

Action items convert the heat of incidents into progress.

Without knowing the root cause, you can't take action, but just because you do doesn't mean you will. It's critical to triage root causes into action items and manage them through completion. Success requires agreement about the solution, delegated ownership, resource availability, and a deadline. Organizations that don't act to address the root causes of visible incidents not only absorb the opportunity cost of inaction, but can also damage their culture.

For everything else, comments.

There is great power in shared context. And therefore, if something isn't self-evident in the data and might be helpful to posterity, make note of it.

What can we do to help?

Whether you have a feature idea, a question about existing capabilities, or a process/change management challenge that we could help with, let us know. The XBE community has made tremendous progress in these areas, and we're here to help lift everyone to the next level.

On How World Class Teams "Watch Game Tape" As Part Of A Never-Ending Continuous Improvement Process That Helps Them Achieve Their Potential

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 19:00:00 -0500

The longest NBA season in history finished last week, after teams spent up to 95 days in the "bubble" at Walt Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. In a recent interview about the experience, Jared Dudley, a veteran bench-warming virtual player-coach was explaining how he came to believe that Rajon Rondo is, next to LeBron James, the highest IQ player in the league. His proof didn't come from what "Playoff Rondo" did on the floor, but rather what he saw Rondo see during film sessions. Dudley explained in detail how Rondo was able to break down James Harden's step-back timing, how he came up with the plan to pressure Jimmy Butler with whoever was closest to him in transition, and how he learned what it would take to effectively contest the three point shot of Duncan Robinson. To figure it all out required Rondo to slow down past games, carefully analyze outcomes and spot patterns, and then communicate that information to teammates with confidence and evidence.

This description reminded me of how the best construction teams carefully study each day's job production plans to learn everything possible before they go out to the job again, but also how that practice is inconsistently followed and insufficiently leveraged. When teams are at their best, I've seen them "watch the game tape" to:

Refine the actual load factors vs. the expected load factors for a given set of trucks on a particular job
Identify production incidents that hadn't been created that required further research that led to adjusted plans and continuous improvement action items
Study the plant's load cadence vs. the schedule to determine where better coordination is required
Spot plant manufacturing bottlenecks that could be solved by rearranging production timing, production rates, and inventory strategies
Determine the actual possible net productive cycle time to refine the trucking demand curve
Review alternative routes taken to find the optimal one to communicate out to drivers
Better sync the job site production start time with the inbound flow of materials
Understand the actual impact of train-related stoppages on material flow to determine the probable cost-benefit of adding buffer capacity
Identify planning error tendencies by planner to see opportunities to increase planning training and buttress planning decision making
Refine expected production rates using benchmarks
Find opportunities to choose better supply and dump site locations, and more efficiently dispatch trucks based on their locations and equipment types.

And that list just scratches the surface of what teams learn when they carefully study their work.

Unfortunately, it's all too common for teams to only watch the game tape when there's "a problem" (a.k.a., when the job is losing money). To go back to the basketball analogy, imagine if Frank Vogel, the L.A. Lakers' head coach, only coached when they were losing, and only watched the games in which they were blown out. That would cause his team to play up or down to their competition, not achieve anywhere near their potential, and ultimately be good but never great. Instead, the best coaches study every moment of every game to find what works and what doesn't in the details so that they can refine their game plans in a never-ending continuous improvement loop.

Specifically, we recommend that all teams consider the following practices:

Meet regularly (up to twice a day!) to review job performance in detail to spot opportunities to refine planning and execution
Use all of the analytical tools at your disposal (plan monitoring, job history, etc) to study production and supply
Record your findings in plan comments and incidents so that knowledge is retained and shared with your entire team
Create job production plan alarms so that you're notified proactively at pre-defined production moments to test hypotheses and make refinements
Verify assertions using data to avoid over-reacting to anomalous events
Teach everyone that might benefit from these techniques how to do it themselves

And of course, the XBE team is here to help in any way that we can. While we don't have the field experience of your teams, we've watched a lot of game tape and have seen a variety of approaches! The techniques above work, and they require education and practice. There's no need to delay - you can start today.

XBE Announces "Gap Here" Program For Graduating High School Seniors

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 07:00:48 -0500

With even the most optimistic outlook for the 2020-2021 academic year looking bleak, many graduating high school students that had planned to attend college are facing a difficult choice:

Pay full price for a second rate experience, or
Delay college entrance until conditions improve

To help these young people make the most out of a difficult situation, XBE has created its "Gap Here" program. When hired into this program, participants will receive:

Real responsibility as part of a team helping the best construction companies optimize their operations
Training on all skills required to be successful in a distributed professional environment
Full-time pay

"I keep a figurine of baseball icon Ichiro Suzuki on my desk as a reminder to always 'go with the pitch'," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "If I was a graduating high school senior, I'd rather get paid to learn on the job for a year or two until the uncertainty regarding COVID-19 settles than take on a pile of student debt for who-knows-what. That's why we created the 'Gap Here' program - to give these students a better option."

The following positions are available:

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply now before available spots are taken.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

XBE Enables E-Ticketing Solution for All Customers

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 16:48:15 -0500

XBE recently enabled general E-Ticketing capabilities for all contractor customers. In addition, XBE is collaborating with customers and their owner stakeholders (DOTs, local municipalities, commercial customers) to ensure that E-Ticketing specifications effectively serve their health and quality objectives. As the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically accelerated the rate at which E-Ticketing is being adopted, XBE has shifted priorities to ensure that all customers are prepared and compliant immediately.

"Thankfully, we were ready for E-Ticketing to become a priority," said Sean Devine, Founder & CEO of XBE. "Our robust material transaction platform integrates with all ticketing and point of sale systems and provides robust security and configurability to ensure that only the right people can see the data that they should for each job. While E-Ticketing is only one facet of our comprehensive platform to eliminate paper and reduce physical proximity, it's an important one."

XBE expects E-Ticketing specifications to expand and refine throughout 2020, and will continue to adapt and leverage its industry-leading infrastructure to keep its customers out front.

To learn more about XBE's specific E-Ticketing solution and how it integrates into the overall XBE software platform, schedule an intro today today.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions based on Chicago, IL. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Contact Sean Devine, Founder and CEO sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757

XBE Offers White-Label Customization For Software Platform

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 12:00:54 -0600

The XBE software platform can now be customized to match the color and logo of each customer's brand.

"We never intended for the XBE brand to be as prominent as it had become in our customers' daily lives," said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. "Our mission is to be the infrastructure that enables fundamental competitive advantage in horizontal construction. Just as with the roads that we help construct, if we're too noticeable, there's probably something wrong! Moving our brand into the background is far more consistent with our values, and is great for our customers."

Thousands of people — crew members, logistics coordinators, drivers, dispatchers, plant operators, inspectors, estimators, executives, and administrators — collaborate via the XBE platform each day and night. This change won't impact their daily work, but it will make that work feel more integrated and consistent.

"With more than 90 years of business in Chicagoland, I am proud to wear the Gallagher brand that we have built up over so many years.” said Will Gallagher, Project Manager at Gallagher Asphalt “I believe our brand symbolizes operational excellence through innovation; we are always pushing to provide a high quality product and experience. When I logged into XBE on Friday afternoon and I saw the platform labeled with the Gallagher brand it was exciting to think about our employees, suppliers, and customers continuing to have that same brand-consistent experience every day."

White-labeling was made generally available to all XBE customers on November 1, 2019. To help support this change, XBE's brand color has been changed to grey.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions based on Chicago, IL. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Contact Sean Devine, Founder and CEO sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757

XBE Relocates Headquarters To Lacuna Lofts In Pilsen

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 08:00:06 -0500

XBE moved its headquarters today to Lacuna Lofts, a vibrant building in the south end of the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago.

"After enduring an unplanned year in a WeWork, it's exciting to call Lacuna Lofts our new home," said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO. "It's a better fit with our corporate culture, and an excellent environment for team members to collaborate and customers to visit."

Lacuna Lofts was originally the world's largest macaroni factory (the mailroom is the old boiler room), and was converted to its current mix of artist lofts, offices, and event space over the past 30 years.

While it will take a few weeks to get settled in with new furniture and decor, XBE is happy to accept visitors anytime.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of horizontal construction optimization solutions based on Chicago, IL. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Contact Sean Devine, Founder and CEO sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757

Superior Bowen Invests in XBE to Accelerate Growth of Horizontal Construction Optimization Platform and Network

Sun, 08 Sep 2019 06:00:06 -0500

Superior Bowen, Kansas City’s largest sitework and road contractor, announced an investment in XBE, the leading science and technology platform for horizontal construction optimization. After experiencing XBE’s platform firsthand as an early customer, Superior Bowen will expand its role with XBE to guide further platform development and grow the company’s customer base.

“Back in June 2017, we heard about a team in Chicago working on a new software platform to optimize logistics for asphalt paving companies,” said Matt Bowen, COO, Superior Bowen. “At the time, we weren’t sure how many trucks we hired each day, let alone how many we utilized. Given our 70+ years of trucking frustrations, we called to learn more. The day after that initial conversation, XBE's Founder, Sean Devine, met us at our office, and two years later, we optimize our entire daily operation using the XBE platform.”

XBE started as a technology-enabled dump truck brokerage and is now a comprehensive, closed-loop software platform for the planning, execution, analysis and continuous improvement of horizontal construction jobs. By integrating the end-to-end process within a single platform, XBE has unlocked the value of planning and analysis by reducing the uncertainty of operational execution.

“You can’t improve something without first getting it under control,” said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. “And for that reason, we started at the bottom with dump trucks — the hard-to-manage thorn in the side of horizontal construction that connects the quarries, plants and crews. Once we could effectively handle the dispatch-to-payment process without compromise, things got interesting. We’ve been innovating solutions to the industry’s largest profitability levers ever since.”

The evolution of XBE’s platform is the result of its clear vision and active collaboration with its earliest customers, including Superior Bowen and Gallagher Asphalt. Working closely with these and other customers gave XBE a valuable daily drip of insight and feedback. This steady iteration built a platform that addresses big opportunities while also making the daily lives of team members more effective and efficient. Today, the XBE platform is relied on by thousands of personnel on job sites, at the plants and quarries, in the trucks, and back at the office.

“We’ve always felt that we had a tight handle on our trucking,” said Dan Gallagher, COO of Gallagher Asphalt, also based in Chicago. “Now that we’re half a season into working with XBE, we can see how much better we can be, and we can do something about it. XBE has given us the visibility to discover opportunities, the tools to plan quickly and at the right level of detail, and the ability to execute whatever strategy we choose. The XBE team has been very aggressive with providing updates to the platform. It’s not just where XBE is today, but where they are heading that excites us the most.”

Leading the way as an early customer, Superior Bowen helped guide the evolution of XBE’s platform by adopting new functionality first, and providing input to help guide ongoing development.

“If you want to make something strong, you need to depend on it, and that’s what we did,” Bowen said. “There were some harrowing early days, but that’s what created the opportunity that we’re seizing. After two years, the XBE platform is incredibly capable, and we’re betting this is just the beginning.”

As part of the investment, XBE has acquired Superior Bowen’s interest in two paving chemistry companies, Green Paving Solutions and Manchester Pavement Solutions. Through these two entities, the company produces several additives including; liquid anti-strips, cold patch additives, asphalt release agents, warm mix additives and compaction aids, rejuvenators and performance grade modifiers. These additions will expand XBE’s portfolio of science and technology capabilities as it positions itself to provide advanced solutions to the industry’s most vexing problems.

In addition, two former Superior Bowen employees have joined the XBE team — Brett Stanton as Chief Operations Officer, and Grant Wollenhaupt as Chief Commercial Officer. They bring recognized industry expertise, deep contractor relationships, and experience in the selection and adoption of the XBE platform.

About XBE Founded in 2017 and based in Chicago, XBE is the leading science and technology platform for horizontal construction optimization. XBE offers management system software, material science, and trucking capacity solutions to contractors and municipalities of all sizes. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Contact Sean Devine, Founder and CEO sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757

XBE Wins BGSA 2019 Supply Chain "Shark Tank" Competition

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 08:00:13 -0600

BG Strategic Advisors announced XBE as winner (both Judges' and Audience choice) of the The BGSA 2019 Supply Chain “Shark Tank,” at the BG Strategic Advisors Supply Chain Conference 2019, which was held at The Breakers in Palm Beach from January 23-25, 2019.

“Sharing the story of XBE and our vision for the future of construction logistics was a privilege,” said Sean Devine, Founder and CEO of XBE. “On behalf of the rest of our team, I’d like to thank the judges, attendees, and other contestants for making the event a great success.”

The Supply Chain “Shark Tank” finalists were judged by “Sharks” Herb Shear (former CEO, GENCO), Rob Howard (former CEO, Grand Junction, now a division of Target), and Jack Holmes (former President, UPS Freight).

Ben Gordon, BGSA CEO and “Shark Tank” moderator of said, “While all of the finalists’ presentations were impressive, Sean captivated the judges and attendees with his preparation, knowledge and energy.”

The other participants in the competition included:

Jonah McIntire, Managing Director, TNX Logistics
Akmann Van-Mary, CEO, SpotKew Technologies
Marc Held, CEO, ODYN
Annika Evertse, Co-Founder, SensorTransport
David Simmons, CTO & General Manager, Ping Asset Ltd
Daniel Powell, Co-Founder and CEO, Optimal Dynamics

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of technology-based construction logistics solutions. XBE built its platform from the ground up based on 20 years of experience, and it continues to aggressively expand the breadth and depth of its capabilities. XBE is headquartered in Chicago, IL and operates branches in the Chicago, Kansas City, and Charlotte markets with plans to expand nationwide. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

About BG Strategic Advisors Supply Chain Conference The BGSA Supply Chain conference is a one-of-a-kind, invitation-only event designed to bring together top industry leaders from all segments of the supply chain, and provides an intimate and candid setting where CEOs and leaders can privately network and explore ideas and opportunities with their peers.

About BG Strategic Advisors BG Strategic Advisors (“BGSA”) is the leading M&A advisory firm focused on the logistics and supply chain industry. BGSA specializes in providing supply chain CEOs with the tools to maximize their companies’ value. In addition to M&A advisory services, BGSA provides its clients with a broad range of investment banking capabilities, including equity capital, debt capital, board advisory, restructuring, and other capital markets services.

XBE Chicago Achieves Order Fulfillment Rate of 99.35%

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 13:00:00 -0500

In an effort to assess and improve its operational performance and customer service, XBE recently completed a comprehensive review of its fulfillment rate on customer orders for dump truck service. The analysis included all customer orders received by XBE Chicago in the 9 months from January 2018 through September 2018.

Ordered shifts: 2,644 for jobs in Chicagoland, southern Wisconsin, and northwest Indiana
Stockouts: 17 ordered shifts not fulfilled
Fulfillment rate: 99.35%

In order to provide additional transparency, XBE will publish its fulfillment rate on www.x-b-e.com starting in 2019. This is made possible by the XBE software platform which manages all aspects of construction logistics, from planning through payment.

“Providing customers with trucking capacity when and where they need it is job #1 for XBE. High rates of fulfillment not only maximize production, they also minimize over-trucking,” said Sean Devine, CEO of XBE. “We’re proud of the collaboration between XBE, our customers, and our suppliers that this fulfillment rate demonstrates.”

Contact Sean Devine, CEO sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757

XBE Completes Successful First Year of Operation

Tue, 02 Oct 2018 06:00:00 -0500

XBE LLC began its second year of operation today, after an amazing year of expansion, growth, and innovation. In its first year of operation, XBE achieved the following milestones:

$10M+ of transportation service managed
15K+ shifts completed and 96K+ driving hours coordinated
1,280+ active users
3 branches fully operational
1,990+ job production plans optimized and analyzed
91K+ material transactions processed and analyzed
135K+ notifications sent
17K+ pieces of shift feedback generated

In addition, XBE dramatically increased the breadth and depth of its proprietary construction logistics platform including the following new capabilities:

A comprehensive mobile-first app experience
Advanced job production planning, optimization, and analysis
Automated and manual shift feedback
Production incident management
Cost-code allocation with invoice integration
Check-in and check-out management
Flexibility to provide brokered capacity and transportation management services in any combination
Automated integration with plant management systems
XBE Now which surfaces the most important items for each user
Hundreds of small tweaks to increase quality and reduce manual work

"What a year! As we progressively achieved each of our first-year milestones it became increasingly clear how large of an impact we can have on the effectiveness and efficiency of the construction industry. We couldn't be much more excited for what's next — there's unending opportunity," said Sean Devine, Chief Executive Officer of XBE. "We give thanks to and are grateful for our contractor partners, trucking suppliers, and the incredibly dedicated XBE team that persevered through near constant change to make our first year a great one."

Contact Sean Devine, CEO sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757

Chicago-Based XBE Officially Opens, Providing Innovative Material Trucking and Logistics Solutions

Mon, 02 Oct 2017 06:00:00 -0500

XBE LLC today announced the official opening of its Chicago branch. During 2017, XBE tested and refined its proprietary construction material logistics solution through:

Over $2,500,000 of trucking service.
Over 3,400 completed shifts.
Over 29,000 trucking hours.

For contractors who are frustrated with trucking cost and service problems - and who isn't! - XBE is the comprehensive solution created to provide dependable capacity at competitive prices with clear communication and convenient tools to optimize planning and streamline administration. Because it designs and develops all aspects of its software platform, XBE has achieved a level of automation and decision support never before available to the industry.

“Since starting Rabine Paving in 1981, I've searched for a solution to our trucking challenges,” said Gary Rabine, Founder and CEO of the Rabine Group. “Over those 36 years we've tried everything from buying a trucking company, to running a trucking brokerage, to trying to build software ourselves - none of which were huge successes. But, as we grew Rabine Paving America and worked with hundreds of paving contractors across the country, I saw that they struggled with trucking too. So, I kept searching. Finally, with XBE, I can see the future of trucking in our business. It's here right now, and it's very exciting.”

More than $18 billion dollars are spent each year in the United States to move construction materials by dump truck. This includes aggregate materials (gravel, sand, dirt), composite materials (asphalt), recyclable materials (milled asphalt, broken concrete), and waste materials (spoils).

Material transportation is one of the largest cost drivers in heavy construction, and is a constant thorn in the side of most crews. It's difficult to balance trucking capacity to avoid wasted trucking hours and crew time. And, some problems such as break downs and traffic are inevitable and must be handled quickly and calmly.

Even if the operations are smooth, the administrative work is a challenge. Time-consuming and error-prone processes are required to ensure compliance with risk management rules and diversity spend targets. And each shift requires collection, auditing, and processing of time cards against rate agreements and receipts.

“We're so excited to open our doors to new customers, suppliers, and partners,” said Sean Devine, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of XBE. “We built our platform from the ground up using the lessons we've learned over the past twenty years. Our mission is to solve the entire construction material logistics problem in one integrated solution so that contractors and material suppliers can focus on their core businesses without worrying about trucking cost and capacity problems.”

XBE provides a complete construction material logistics solution including:

Trucking capacity sourced from independent suppliers and the internal fleet of the customer (where applicable).
Management services to handle all compliance, procurement, dispatch, finance, and administrative tasks.
Software to provide automation, decision support, and self-service visibility into all aspects of the transportation process.

“We take the long view, and we're focused on fundamentally improving construction material logistics. While there is so much more yet to do, we're proud of the solution that we've built already. We have a solid foundation and clear vision, and it's time to let people know about XBE.” added Devine.

About XBE XBE LLC is a provider of technology-based construction material logistics solutions. XBE built its platform from the ground up based on 20 years of experience, and it continues to aggressively expand the breadth and depth of its functionality. XBE was founded by Sean Devine, and is headquartered in Chicago, IL. XBE currently provides service to the Chicago market, and will launch branches across the country starting later this year. For more information, visit www.x-b-e.com.

Contact Sean Devine sean-devine@x-b-e.com (810) 844-3757