Transportation: Trans4 Logistics

Situation

STAPLES Business Depot is Canada's largest supplier of office supplies, business machines, office furniture, and business services to small business and home office customers. The Staples catalogue and online store sell more than 7,000 office products.

Trans4, a division of TransForce, provides last-mile logistics for Staples Canada. Trans4's Staples branded fleet of 130 owner-operators delivers from 16 different hubs across six provinces.

The current paperwork process provided no accountability for customers, clients, or drivers. Paperwork was error prone, inaccurate, and easy for drivers to falsify. Proof of deliveries took significant time to locate and space to store. Significant increases in delivery volume severely impacted delivery efficiency; paperwork simply can't scale.

A new way for the two companies to operate was required. Specific project goals were:

• Barcode scanning at 4 touch points for unmistakable package accountability
• Eliminate the dot-matrix printed waybills which took 1-2 hours per night to divide among the delivery zones
• Centralized visibility of the national fleet at any time during the day
• Operate in French & English
• Customer signature capture
• Proof of delivery available on the Trans4 website within 24hrs of delivery
• EDI 214 delivery confirmations must be received into Staple's order system

Solution

The project solution was named "iTrac".

1. Electronic orders information is received nightly from Staples. These orders are processed and stored in an Oracle 9i database.

2. Staples dock workers use 15 Intermec 750 handhelds at their main distribution centers to scan each package as skids are built for the line haul trucks. This is the first scan. A software solution for Staples was required because their version of internally built WMS didn't allow for scanning.

3. The skids arrive at Trans4's distribution hubs and are broken down and scanned with Intermec 750s as in the building. This is the second scan.

4. The packages are then placed in loading areas for each driver.

5. The drivers arrive with their Intermec 763 and download their route through a Wi-Fi network. The routes are made up by geography matching and load balancing based on internal rules on the server software.

6. If there was a new version of the software available, iTrac would automatically update itself.

7. The driver sequences his route on the handheld because he hates being told by software the order to do the stops. The delivery windows to hit are 9am-5pm, so the order of stops is not important.

8. The driver loads the truck from last to first stop, scanning each package onto the truck. This is the third scan.

9. When ready, the driver confirms the starting of the route by entering odometer and fuel readings. At this point the device utilizes Bell 1x cellular modems to communicate in real-time with the server. The device is able to receive unsolicited messages from the server should dispatch send additional stops to the driver.

10. The driver performs each delivery by first scanning the packages (this is the fourth scan) and then requesting a signature capture. Within 20 seconds of delivery, the delivery confirmation is sent to the server through 1x including the signature. This would then spawn the sending of an EDI 214 confirmation to staples.

11. If the customer is closed or otherwise unable to receive a delivery, the system marks the order for redelivery the same day or the following day based on specific business rules.

12. Every failed delivery attempt receives a doorknocker. The doorknocker's barcode is scanned and the number and timestamp are sent to Staples as proof of delivery attempt.

13. Trans4's centralized dispatch is able to view route status from a dashboard ASP.NET application.

Technology

Handheld

The drivers perform an average of 50 stops over a 10-12 hour period. The Intermec 763's superior power management was chosen over Symbol as the right tool for the job. Within the warehouses only Wi-Fi connectivity was required, so 750s were deployed.

Network

The owner-operators do not travel back to Trans4's hubs at the end of each day, they go directly home. This data transfer challenge was overcome by using Bell Mobility's 1x cellular network, faster than GPRS. All data and proof of delivery signatures were transferred in real-time to the server after each delivery. To save money on data transfer, Nuway implemented two layers of proprietary compression.

Mobile Software

The iTrac application is a Smart Client C# .NET 1.1 running on PocketPC 2002 and 2003. All working data is stored in a local SQL CE2 database. Data is synchronized with the server through optimized custom web service calls.

Server Software

The iTrac order processing and messaging architecture are C# ASP.NET 1.1 web services. The Dispatch Dashboard tools are ASP.NET 1.1 so they are accessible across all 16 hubs.
All server side data is stored in the legacy Oracle 9i database.

Benefits

• No more paper! Drivers spend less time on paperwork, more time on the road delivering.
• Proof of Delivery on the Trans4 website 30 seconds after delivery exceeded customer's expectations!
• Complete piece tracking provides accountability of receivers, drivers, and customers. No more finger pointing.
• Real time fleet visibility eliminates "morning chaos" and cell phone usage on the road.
• Accurate delivery data lays the foundation for accurate billing and payroll.
• Standardized training and service level from the entire fleet. New drivers simply follow the screen prompts.

Customer Information

Todd Norton, Director of IT
Trans4 Logistics
905-565-1090
1865 Meyerside Drive, Mississauga, ON, L5T 1G6