Keep On Truckin'! By road, by rail, by air, land or sea — getting freight to its destination is demanding. Goods need to arrive on time — every time. No excuses — just do it! It's a challenge even under the best of conditions. But when the destination's off the beaten track, the job becomes even more imposing — unless you have tools you can count on. Like FileMaker Pro — the award-winning database software application from FileMaker Inc.!

Business Challenge

American Fast Freight is a $60–million–a–year company that's got shipping down to a science. For nearly two decades, this Washington State–based firm has been serving customers all across the vast expanse of America's Last Frontier — the state of Alaska, and also handles shipments to sunny Hawaii. Using every available form of transportation — trucks, trains, planes, even steamships and ocean barges — American Fast Freight gets the cargo to its destination. But the most vital tool for American Fast Freight isn't an impressive cross–country tractor–trailer, or a sleek ocean–going vessel.

Successful Solution

It's a FileMaker Pro database.

The application is called 'QuoteTrack' — because it tracks quotes! And it greatly simplifies what used to be one of the company's most onerous chores – preparing a quote. 'When a report comes in from a sales representative via the web, we use QuoteTrack to move from that initial lead all the way through the preparation of a quote,' explains MIS Director Jeff LePage. 'When we were routing paper through the system this used to be a rather convoluted process and things could disappear on people's desks. But FileMaker streamlines the whole procedure. Using the QuoteTrack application lets us complete the quote procedure in about a third as much time — and there's no paper to get lost!'

American Fast Freight uses both Macintosh and NT operating systems at its various shipping–and–receiving points, so FileMaker's flexibility is vital. 'Multi–platform support is very important to us,' notes Jeff. 'We need an application that works equally well on both operating systems.' Likewise, FileMaker's well–known ease of use fits naturally into the fast–moving Fast Freight scene. 'I like how easy it is to develop with FileMaker,' continues Jeff. 'You can get something ad–hoc up and running really fast, and it can be a quality tool with a minimum of labor involved.'

I like how easy it is to develop with FileMaker,' continues Jeff. 'You can get something ad–hoc up and running really fast, and it can be a quality tool with a minimum of labor involved.

— Jeff LePage, MIS Director, American Fast Freight