Distribution software

A key step in managing service and delivery organizations is knowing where your customers are.  In addition to our batch customer geocoding tools, we can geocode individual customers, view them on a map, and view groups of customers on a map.

goRoam.MobileHub users  can simply load the customer edit form and click the ‘geocode me’ button to get a geocode based on the customer’s address.  As always, you can enter detailed routing as well as tags. One or many tags can be assigned to a user to allow grouping and sorting according to your business rules.

We have also added a new ‘Customer Map’ control that takes advantage of geocoding to select groups of customers and view them on a map.  The typical use would be to view and confirm customers by route, delivery sequence, tag, city, etc.

Notice that you can select one or many customers to view. When you move your mouse over a customer, the customer details are shown.  Note that the customer map can be printed.

For customers who need more accurate geocodes than street maps provide, we have added the ability to synchronize goRoam mobile deliveries with vehicle GPS systems such as GEOTAB. This is important when you have a customer’s  geocode at the street address, but in fact deliveries and service are away from the street. For instance, with customers such as Wal-Mart or HomeDepot, the typical geocode is at the street but service and deliveries are at the back dock which may be 400+ yards away. If you set a geofence alert at the street, you will not have accurate alerts or time on site reports.  

We now support this in batch for large scale GPS geocode updates/corrections.  Customer GPS coordinates can be updated in batch or exported to a CSV file for other applications.

5 technologies have proven to drive reductions of 30% of total distribution costs versus manual systems for bulk companies, resulting in less trucks,  less labor hours, and fewer miles.  Your competitors have used these technologies to get more stops per day, optimize keep-full delivery and increase gross margins 2-4%.  

BizSpeed, Compsee and Zebra sponsored a webinar through Bulk Transporter on Dec 16, 2009.  You can hear about these technologies and –

• Where they have been successfully implemented in your industry 
• When applying these technologies what works and just as important, what doesn’t work
• What are the costs are involved in a deployment and how they can be justified

The webinar is online at

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=178735&s=1&k=182F60D3883FAA4092BDCC9B38752093

In order to efficiently route deliveries, customer addresses must be geocoded. Geocoding is the process of taking an address and translating it into GPS coordinates – latitude and longitude.  The GPS coordinate is what all route optimization and territory planning tools use to develop routes.

BizSpeed has updated our geocoding toolkit to use Microsoft MapPoint 2010, Yahoo Maps and Google Maps for geocoding. Whether you are delivering to a commercial customer or a residence, we can help you geocode your delivery addresses.

The geocode toolkit allows you to load a CSV data file and process each record to calculate the geocode.  A typical problem is that customer addresses are not entered correctly – according to US Postal Service Carrier Route convention.  For example, when entering a customer address, your customer service may enter:

995 Highway 20
MIDDLEBURY, IN 46540

However, the correct address is.

995 U.S. 20
MIDDLEBURY, IN 46540

BizSpeed’s geocoding tool uses MapPoint for the initial geocoding pass. If unsuccessful, we use a customer’s Yahoo API key and attempt to geocode with Yahoo Maps.  Yahoo Maps does a better job interpreting street name differences. If still unsuccessful, we write an output file that lists all the variations of potential addresses along with a link to the address in Google Maps.  For each address, we provide a link to show the address in Google Maps or to show the GPS position in Google Maps.

To perform customer geocoding, you simply:

1. Load the geocoding toolkit.
2. 
3. Load the CSV file containing the delivery addresses (address, city, state, zip and customer ID)
4. Process the file.
5. For each record processed, whether found or not, you can click and launch Google Maps with the address or with GPS coordinates to  find or confirm the lat/long and location.
6. If a correction needs to be made, find the right address update and simply copy it into the geocoding toolkit to save the changes.
7. 
8. To View in Google…
9. 
10. To view in Google Maps by GPS…
11. 

Accurate geocoding is critical to developing optimized routes and optimize distribution territories. BizSpeed provides our toolkit for existing distribution customers, and for more complex solutions provides geocoding by recording GPS from our Proof of Delivery software or by matching POD delivery times with GPS coordinates from on-board GPS solutions such as GeoTAB.

The most efficient bulk distribution companies have used technology and business process changes to drive significant distribution efficiencies.   We have seen reductions of 30% of total distribution costs  versus manual systems – less trucks, labor and miles.  Additionally, we have seen increases in delivery efficiency for keep full accounts where the best companies deliver > 90% of contracted amounts versus averages of manual systems at less than 70%.

With margins often being fixed, especially on national accounts, companies must improve distribution efficiencies in order to be competitive and profitable.  This roadmap outlines the business processes and technologies BizSpeed has seen have the highest impact or interest. For each area, we present:

• What the efficiency is
• Why it is important
• Where it fits
• Symptoms for investigation

The areas addressed include:

• Distribution Efficiency Assessment – analysis of actual orders, distribution centers and efficiency
• Keep Full Analysis – analysis of auto-replenishment efficiency
• GPS – tracking, exception reporting, engine diagnostics, directions and plan-vs-actual analysis
• Wireless Tank Monitoring – remote tank monitoring
• Mobile – Proof of Delivery and automated field data capture
• Route Optimization – optimizing the scheduled stops for fewest miles, least trucks, least labor
• Dispatching – electronic dispatch board for managing deliveries and pickups
• Metrics and Data Warehousing – monitoring and analysis of current and historical distribution

While the characteristics of pickups and deliveries range bulk distributors (fuels, lubes, chemical and hazmat), there are common threads to achieving an efficient distribution network. BizSpeed provides solutions through our own software as well as through partner software and hardware to address all of the areas listed. For more information please contact us at:

• Toll free: 866.270.0541
• sales @ bizspeed.com

For access to the full whitepaper, please register below.

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BizSpeed has released support for wireless truck scale integration with Mettler Toledo and Fairbanks electronic scales. According to Chris Henry, BizSpeed’s President, “We’re excited to provide support for truck scales. This is particularly helpful for bulk customers, as the wireless integration with our goRoam mobile allows fully electronic integration where a driver can roll over the scale, print a ticket from the scale and have their volume calculated automatically by goRoam when they weigh heavy and weigh light.”

From a driver standpoint, the wireless integration allows drivers to have their volume calculated automatically without having to rekey or manually calculate. From a management standpoint, we electronically capture truck weight from the scale in near real-time, so you know when and what the truck plus product weighed.  For single product deliveries, such as bulk bleach, we calculate volume based on the product density and product weight, minus the weight of the truck and trailer. This allows management to know exactly how much product was loaded.

Each delivery in the goRoam mobile application records quantities delivered per tank, along with stick readings. Drivers know exactly how much inventory is left on the truck at each stop, and management has the same visibility in near real-time. When drivers return to the plant and weight light, we calculate the remaining product and can compare that against deliveries for exception reporting.

With the goRoam and MobileHub architecture, BizSpeed has a straightforward model for additional scale model integration. The current models supported are:

• Mettler Toledo IND780 for existing Model 7560 MTS
• Fairbanks FB 3000 Series Instrument

For more information on bulk scale integration and wireless mobility,  please contact BizSpeed here or at toll-free 866-270-0541.

BizSpeed and RedPrairie worked together to deliver the goRoam mobile solution at Petroliance, and East Coast fuels and lubes distributor.  Petroliance uses RedPrairie’s FleetCtl  for scheduling and route optimization.  FleetCtl is integrated with BizSpeed’s goRoam mobile solution for a complete wireless delivery system.  Optimized orders are pushed wirelessly to drivers and once delivered, returned to the dispatcher electronically in near real-time. 

We are rolling out Liquid Controls LCR-II meter integration which captures exact amounts of product delivered for fleet fueling and sends updates wirelessly to the goRoam server.

The complete press release is available at Business Wire  (here).

We updated the BizSpeed website with more details on goRoam for Bulk Pickup and Delivery. Key customers types include:

• Fuels
• Lubes
• Chemicals
• HazMat pickup (Hazardous Materials)

The update includes a number of screenshots of key components such as:

• Forecasting
• Dispatch and Scheduling Board
• Dashboard Metrics
• Meter integration (Liquid Controls LCR II meters) for fleet fueling

For a full review, visit the site http://www.bizspeed.com/products/goroam-for-bulk-pickup-and-delivery/