TRANSPORT AND MATERIALS HANDLING
DRIVING UP TRANSPORT PRODUCTIVITY
Route optimisation and electronic proof of delivery are increasingly being used in the sector thanks to logistics operations taking on Podfather’s software, as BMJ finds out.
M
erchants Transport, the heavy construction product transportation company, has transformed its delivery operation with an electronic Proof of Delivery system from Podfather.
Drivers use an App to capture date, time and geo coded photographs and customer signatures. This information is simultaneously shared with the back-office, giving management and support staff total visibility of the delivery operation as it unfolds. The details can also be shared with the customer via an automatically generated email or a secure log-in to the Podfather system, and the Merchants Transport’s accounts team can also access delivery information if required. Providing deliveries to builder’s merchants and construction sites, the Leicestershire-based company operates a mixed fleet of artics with curtain sided and flatbed trailers, rigids with flatbeds and HIAB cranes.
Prior to implementing the software, Merchants relied on paper delivery notes, which had the potential to cause delays in responding to customer queries, leading to credit notes being issued unnecessarily. It also relied on paper-based vehicle checks for the fleet of HGVs, a workflow the Podfather solution has also digitised.
“Before Podfather, PODs were paper only versions containing a signature and a date,” says Martin Hemley, transport supervisor at Merchants Transport. “In the case of a query we had to either wait until the driver returned to the office or, as a minimum, until they were parked up for the night so we could speak to them safely.
“Due to a rising amount of POD queries and disputes from our customers’ customers we realised we needed to be able to deliver more information, more quickly. We knew we wanted a system that was user friendly for our office team, for our drivers and for our customers, and following extensive research, testing and supplier meetings, we decided Podfather was most suited to our requirements.”
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“Podfather has exceeded our original requirements and expectations, giving us everything we needed and more.” Hemley continues. “The improvements in efficiency and the service we now provide to our customers has certainly been surpassed. “Some of our bigger accounts have embraced Podfather and now say they couldn’t work without it. In fact, one of our customers has made it a requirement of our terms of business with them as it has greatly reduced the amount and value of credits they issue to their customers for damaged and missing items.”
Route optimisation
Delivering concrete blocks and aggregates to builders’ merchants, ground workers, house builders and developers, the third-generation family-run business, has reduced its transport administration resource significantly since it began to use the Podfather system. Using its own fleet of delivery trucks as well as external hauliers, Denis May produces and distributes 375,000 concrete blocks a week across Cornwall and Devon. Working with Builders Merchants such as Bradfords, Jewson and Travis Perkins and Groundworkers such as Fred Champion, Denis May makes around 250 block deliveries a week and delivers around 5000 tonnes of aggregate. Podfather was implemented as as the first stage of a major IT project that has now seen the company replace its outdated CRM software with an ERP solution from Sage.
Sally Hodgson, business support manager at Denis May & Sons Ltd says: “Podfather ticked all the boxes for functionality and performance, it was compatible with Sage, and the development and support services on offer were first class. However, it was the little things that made the difference. They didn’t care that we were a relatively small operation, nor that we worked differently to other delivery models. Podfather was committed to working us to make sure the system performed as we needed it to perform, and delivered tangible results, from the outset.”
Since implementing Podfather, the management of the transport operation has been fully automated; each day the system guides drivers through a series of vehicle checks, providing early warning of defects and forthcoming maintenance issues. Daily delivery schedules are intelligently planned, taking into account load volumes and delivery locations, and schedules are sent directly to the drivers mobile app. Customer ETA notifications are sent to alert customers when their materials will be delivered, and the transport department has a real-time view of every truck and every delivery, providing early notice of any delays or issues. Electronic proof of delivery documents are reducing the company’s reliance on paper and improving the flow of information between delivery drivers, customers and the finance department.
Hodgson says: “Before we started using Podfather incomplete or mislaid delivery notes were the bane of our lives. Paper documents had to be manually entered into the system and missing documents meant there was sometimes a delay in our invoicing process. Since implementing the system, it takes our transport department literally half the time it used to take to manage the delivery operation and our finance team no longer has to spend a day a week chasing down delivery notes so they can issue invoices.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net January 2025
Top: Denis May & Sons, and, above, Merchants Transport, are both now using Podfather to improve delivery and transport efficiencies.
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