Shepton Mallet, UK: Peter Green Chilled is monitoring stock better and saving time during a 9-month trial of a cross-docking app from Mandata.
“Time was when a single mislaid pallet could take hours to locate”, said Simon Nash, IT manager, Peter Green.
“Furthermore, if a customer wanted to know the exact location and ETA of their consignment, we would have to work hard to provide the information. What we needed was a workable solution with traceability at its centre and that’s when Mandata stepped in.”
The companies developed software using a barcode attached to the existing Mandata TMS database, that would scan, identify and locate any pallet in the system. The technology needed is easy to use and can be installed without disruption.
“The new software integrated seamlessly with our existing Mandata transport management system and soon gave us real-time visibility and control from all points of the operation,” Nash said.
“Every pallet is scanned at the beginning of its journey and from then until it’s delivered. We can monitor its exact whereabouts and progress – either by mobile or from the traffic office.”
The app also has a pallet enquiry function that enables the handler to see details of the job it belongs to, where it’s going and where it’s from. Once a trailer is loaded, a quick ‘warehouse sweep’ using the scanner, highlights any pallets which may have been missed from a load.
Pallet movements are logged and automatically updated within the Mandata TMS, for access and data retrieval. The traffic office can view planned incoming loads, and depot locations are automatically assigned based on the job, cargo or postcode. “Once the app was ready to go we quickly raised the bar from paper-trails and telephones to a purpose-designed app which gives us and our customers full-time visibility and control,” Nash said.
“This looks like the future for us and no doubt for cross-docking operations across many transport sectors.”
