DPD
DPD’s morning delivery operation had become a victim of the company’s own success.
With volumes rising 10% a year, by 2018, DPD’s 65 depots were stretched to their limits with deliveries increasingly delayed.
Something had to change. DPD’s solution was to use handpicked staff, including experienced DPD drivers, to develop a new route optimisation system.
Using Quantum, DPD’s 7,000 drivers now hit the road 45 minutes earlier than before and are routed more efficiently to delivery addresses.
Improvements include a 10.4% leap in driver productivity, a 3.4% reduction in CO2 per parcel, four million more “right first-time” deliveries a year and a £12m fall in annual external courier costs.
Judges liked how the project delivered key benefits to both customers and employees and improved DPD’s financial performance.
Elis
Despite using three telematics providers, laundry services specialist Elis was struggling to monitor its 750-strong fleet’s safety and performance.
Collating data was difficult and access to camera footage could take weeks. Something had to change and so in 2017 the company switched to telematics provider Webfleet Solutions, rolling out a fleet and driver efficiency programme using Webfleet’s OptiDrive 360, integrated with ICanProve’s 360-degree on-board camera.
Since launch the new technology has delivered a 58% fall in inefficient or unsafe driving incidents, with idling falling 76% and speeding virtually eradicated.
Insurance claims costs have also dropped by a third, saving Elis £1.2m on insurance claims handling.
Judges said Elis had brought together multiple technologies to deliver impressive results, against challenging targets.
FreshLinc
Temperature-controlled distribution specialist FreshLinc brings around 120 fresh produce loads daily from mainland Europe to the UK.
Faced with the long term challenge of illegal immigration at the Channel ports, FreshLinc installed Aquarius IT’s mobile app Clandestine Check.
The app provides live tracking data and photographic evidence which links to the company’s tachograph data.
The technology has not only significantly reduced the risk of inadvertently transporting illegal immigrants - and the severe fines that infraction brings - but is also a winner with
FreshLinc’s customers who can continuously track, trace and audit their product’s progress from dispatch to delivery.
Judges praised FreshLinc for taking a difficult problem and delivering a strong integrated technological solution.
Palletforce
The Palletforce Technology Trident system is a trio of apps which has seen the network reach a new performance benchmark.
ePOD2 sends live updates on consignees’ pallets via SMS, email and Twitter and scans paper work, cutting members’ time spent on this task by 80%.
Alliance Sense tackles delivery failure by using artificial intelligence to analyse historical data, boosting delivery performance from 97.2% to 99.1% in just six months.
The third app, dubbed Pallet Selfie, allows members to see pallets unloaded and loaded, slashing handling errors by 15% to just 0.016%.
Judges said the entry showed real innovation as well as benefits to productivity, safety and accountability.
Pall-Ex
With B2C deliveries growing fast Pall-Ex wanted to offer customers improved tracking and visibility technology.
The solution was the Nexus core operational system, consisting of three B2C services.
MyNexus gives B2C end-customers delivery visibility, whilst NexusGO tracks all consignments on the move and allows drivers to make risk assessments on locations to ensure safe collection or delivery.
The in-house team also developed NexusAPI, allowing Pall-Ex’s B2B customers’ operational systems to integrate with the Nexus system to ensure smooth deliveries.
Our judging panel liked the way the system “blurs the boundaries” between pallet services and parcel delivery companies.
Tarmac
Tarmac’s decision to replace its legacy paper tickets system with an electronic proof of delivery app in 2019 has seen it save 16.9 tonnes of paper, speed up dispute resolutions, improve cashflow and deliver greater cost accuracy.
The ticketless delivery system, known as ePOD, is used for the company’s aggregates, asphalt and RMX deliveries, replacing a paper ticketing system which produced 37.5m paper tickets a year.
The app, which uses “sign on glass” technology, provides in-transit visibility for both Tarmac and its customers and enables real-time add-on management and proof of delivery.
Our judges liked how the app enhanced Tarmac’s customer service levels, saved significant amounts of paper and improved associated work flows.
- The Motor Transport Awards will take place on 17 November 2020 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Book a table now to avoid disappointment.