Ryder Inc.'s Integrated Logistics division is using wireless technology to improve on-time delivery performance of auto parts. Every business day Ryder makes 850 deliveries of auto parts and accessories to 930 Ford, General Motors and Saturn car dealership service departments in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana.
For the service departments, on-time delivery of parts and accessories is critical, as it enables them to meet commitments they've made to customers. In an effort to help ensure that this merchandise arrives at customers' sites on time, Ryder has implemented a mobile resource management service from Xora Inc.
Ryder provides its nearly 100 delivery drivers with mobile phones running the Xora GPS TimeTrack service. Ryder drivers use the Xora service on the phones to clock in and out from the field, and record information about completed assignments. Because the phones are equipped with a GPS receiver, Ryder office staff can track the location of its delivery staff throughout the day.
Ryder Integrated Logistics manager Daniel Purrenhange uses the Xora service to identify delivery delays and address customer questions. Using maps and reports generated by Xora and available over the web, Purrenhange can tell if a driver has been stopped at a particular location for longer than the normal time, how fast a driver is traveling, or where his drivers are in their delivery route at any given time.
This up-to-date information helps Purrenhange respond to problems or delays as they occur, rather than at the end of the day when it's too late. Also, if a customer calls with a question about the status of their delivery, Purrenhange can reply quickly by checking the Xora-generated maps and reports.
Ryder drivers also use the Xora service to indicate when a job has been completed. Each car dealership service department has a unique five- or six-digit code. Ryder drivers enter this number into the phones when they arrive at a customer site and then again when they leave to indicate that an assignment has been completed. As with the location information, the job-completion data is available to Purrenhange in the form of online maps and reports from Xora.
Several times a day, driver location and job data is exported from the Xora service to a dispatch summary report known as the Dedicated Delivery Service Matrix, which can be accessed over the web by Ryder customers that want real-time information about the status of their shipments. This tool enables Ryder to demonstrate to customers that it is complying with required service level agreements.
The result has been improved customer service at Ryder Integrated Logistics. Since implementing Xora GPS TimeTrack in February 2004, Ryder has increased its on-time delivery service rating from 92 to 97.5 as measured by its car dealership customers.
"By using a phone based service we avoid the complications associated with vehicle-mounted systems," says Purrenhange. "With Xora GPS TimeTrack we have instant access to information about the status of our delivery drivers, which enables us to better serve our customers and, by association, our customers' customers."
