The TruckStops routing and scheduling system from MapMechanics is playing a fundamental role in a nationwide carpet distribution contract won by Rhys Davies Freight Logistics. According to business implementation manager Gary Phillips: “If we had to do the same scheduling job manually, we’d have to turn off all the phones, avoid all interruptions, and spend the best part of the day on it.”
With TruckStops, he says, the scheduling task can be undertaken towards the end of the working day, and is done by staff who also have other administrative responsibilities. “It’s a much quicker and more dynamic process than it could possibly be with traditional manual scheduling.”
TruckStops forms part of a wider programme to evaluate the latest information technology with a view to extending it to other operations in the Rhys Davies network. It is being used in conjunction with a mobile data system that has been introduced at depots and in vehicle cabs, allowing wireless transfer of delivery data to and from drivers and loading staff.
According to commercial director Mark Richmond: “Rhys Davies is keen to take full advantage of the latest technology. TruckStops is proving an important element in this initiative.”
Already, he says, using TruckStops on the carpet contract has demonstrated that it is possible to manage scheduling centrally, even when product is despatched from six separate regional bases.
Under the contract, which is with Belgian carpet producer Associated Weavers, product is brought in from the Continent, and stored at Rhys Davies bases in Whitburn (Scotland), Haydock, Wakefield, Birmingham, London and Cwmbran. Rhys Davies then delivers it to carpet specialists and retailers throughout Britain.
“When we were evaluating TruckStops, we were worried that it would be impossible for staff in a central office to produce schedules for vehicles based hundreds of miles away, without knowing local issues and being able to see the loads for themselves,” says Gary Phillips.
“In fact this hasn’t been a problem at all. So long as drivers keep us informed of any access problems or other delivery constraints, central scheduling works well.”
The attraction, he says, is that only one, or at the most two, people are involved in routing and scheduling, whereas with a conventional approach it could have taken at least four.
Twenty dedicated vehicles in customer livery are allocated to the carpet contract. In theory they work on a fixed-day delivery basis, running on regular routes optimised by TruckStops. In practice, though, Gary Phillips says TruckStops has given Rhys Davies the freedom to modify schedules on a daily basis.
“If loadings are light on some runs for a particular depot, we use TruckStops to see if there are any deliveries planned for later in the week that could be brought forward and allocated to an existing run. TruckStops ensures we can do this without breaking any of customer time window constraints or other pre-set parameters.” He adds: “Customers tend to be delighted to get their delivery earlier than planned.”
TruckStops is also used to plan collections of product returns, which inevitably arise when contracts are cancelled or there is some other issue with the product specification.
Carpets are collected from Ronse in Belgium by Rhys Davies’ continental partner, European Freight Logistics, and delivered daily into the six UK bases. Information about each load is pre-advised to Rhys Davies by EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), and is transmitted via Rhys Davies’ own in-house computer system to each depot. There it is uploaded wirelessly to mobile data terminals carried by fork-lift truck drivers, who scan each carpet off vehicles and check each item against the manifest.
Loading involves the same process in reverse, and additionally, delivery data is uploaded wirelessly to Symbol handheld computers carried by all drivers on the operation. These are used for checking off product at delivery points and capturing the customer’s signature. The terminals are also equipped for transmitting data back to base in real time by GPRS, and that capability may be used later on this or other operations.
Scheduling data from TruckStops is also uploaded to the driver terminals, so that they not only have a record of the product on board, but also a sequential list of delivery points.
The vehicles are 7.5-tonne or 26-tonne rigids and can carry up to 120 rolls, depending on their specification.
As Mark Richmond says: “What we’ve already achieved with this system is a lean operation that works efficiently and delivers absolute traceability to our customer. We always know what’s out for delivery today, what’s planned for tomorrow and what’s in stock.”
Rhys Davies Freight Logistics provides a range of dedicated and shared logistics services on a nationwide basis, including next-day pallet deliveries, full-load deliveries, warehousing and contract operations, and also offers international services through its freight forwarding division or via partnerships on the continental mainland.
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