This is the second post of a 5-part series on driving operational efficiencies in fuels, lubricants and chemicals distribution, based on our 15 years of work in the logistics industry.
Are your drivers operating as efficiently as they could be?
With today’s driver shortage, your drivers’ efficiency is one of the keys to success for fuels, lubricants, and chemicals distributors. By utilizing a paperless delivery app, such as an electronic proof of delivery system, you can experience significant efficiency gains. This allows your company to deliver more products to more customers in less time.
By adopting a driver delivery app, you’ll establish consistent workflows for your drivers, leading to real-time visibility into every trip and order. This enhanced visibility allows for numerous advantages, including:
- Paperless deliveries
- Consistent workflows
- Route compliance
- Route and order visibility
- Truck inventory tracking
- Driver efficiency
- Reduced cross-fills/Contaminated deliveries
Benefits of Paperless Delivery Apps
A paperless delivery app brings about numerous benefits by eliminating the reliance on traditional paper-based processes. Paperless reduces the delays and inaccuracies of of processing paper and has significant labor savings, such as eliminating the need to re-key delivered quantities and decipher handwritten notes from drivers. Additionally, time savings arise from the reduced handling of paper (faxing/scanning), and reducing lost delivery tickets.
With a driver delivery app in place, centralizing dispatch and route visibility become possible. The app enables consistent driver workflows, ensuring adherence to essential steps and instructions. For example, if a driver under delivers, the app prompts them to provide a reason such as, tank full, customer refused, out of product, etc. Consistent workflows require all drivers to acknowledge instructions before starting a trip, like verifying orders, get tank readings, and other processes you want followed.
With a driver delivery app in place, centralizing dispatch and route visibility become possible. The app enables consistent driver workflows, ensuring adherence to essential steps and instructions. For example, if a driver under delivers, the app prompts them to provide a reason such as, tank full, customer refused, out of product, etc. Consistent workflows require all drivers to acknowledge instructions before starting a trip, like verifying orders, get tank readings, and other processes you want followed.
Traditional paper-based routing and delivery tickets lack the ability to track and enforce route compliance, even if the routes are optimized. Drivers may deviate from the planned sequence, delivering orders in any order they wish, without a system to confirm compliance. A driver delivery app tracks the actual route sequence and enforces drivers to follow their planned routes. Dispatchers can optionally give a one-time PIN code to allow a driver to go off-route temporarily, maintaining flexibility while ensuring overall compliance.
Increasing Driver Efficiency and Order Visibility
Driver efficiency includes reduced paperwork and time savings from efficient workflows. The app replaces manual processes with electronic proof of delivery alternatives, such as barcode scanning, eliminating the need for handwritten entries. It handles all delivery math, including the totalizer function, electronic capability to send and receive orders, trips, inventory, built-in maps navigation or commercial truck navigation, and better routes. Better routes are different than route compliance, as they optimize a sequence of stops.
Route and order visibility are essential components of the paperless delivery application. This feature allows you to see where a driver is during their route, what their actual start and stop times are per stop, and if they are on schedule. App visibility enables you to track metrics like gallons per stop and gallons per minute, providing insights into bulk delivery performance.
A delivery driver application provides configurable and consistent workflows that will significantly reduce or eliminate cross fills and contaminated deliveries. When cross-fills occur, the contaminated product is required to be pumped and disposed of and the correct product refilled. There is a safety cost as well as a product replacement cost. A mobile app can prevent this by providing:
- A 3-way match process requires the driver to scan the tote or compartment, confirm the product, and scan the tank barcode. All three must match, or the driver is warned of the wrong product and prevented from delivering.
- Scan the tank before filling to confirm this is the same product or a compatible product. For example, you can deliver CLEAR on top of DYED, but not the reverse. Or DYED for HOME HEAT.
- Perform a GPS and barcode validation to confirm the tank or asset is associated with that customer account.
The app electronically records and time stamps actions the driver should take to assist the driver, such as flushing, pump outs, and unloading. These features improve accuracy and compliance, elevating the efficiency of bulk logistics operations.
Truck Inventory Visibility
Truck inventory visibility is key to running an efficient logistics operation. Many companies use paper trip sheets and ask drivers to record loads and orders to track inventory. Paper trip sheets rely on the driver to follow steps and correctly transcribe delivery tickets to the trip sheet. Dispatchers can view trip sheets when drivers return but have no visibility to truck or trailer inventory throughout the day. When you get an emergency order, you must call each driver to check inventories and see if they can be re-directed. Knowing the app tracks inventory in real-time streamlines driver workflows and reduces their likelihood of “losing inventory.”
Step 2: Best-in-Class Bulk Logistics with Paperless Delivery Apps
Implementing a driver delivery app is the second step to best-in-class bulk logistics. A driver delivery application enables the other components in our 5-part series to drive logistics efficiency and customer service:
- Part 1: Route optimization – better routes, centralized dispatch
- Part 2: Driver delivery app – paperless, route compliance, driver efficiency, consistent workflows
- Part 3: Tank forecasting – order generation for ALL tanks (monitored and non-monitored)
- Part 4: Inventory control and visibility – track truck inventory, prevent cross fills
- Part 5: Customer service – email advanced ship notifications, proof of delivery, driver on the way
To improve your delivery efficiency, you need tools to make data-driven logistics decisions.
