Case Studies

Transportation Industry - Home Delivery 

Newmarket, NH—Business operations software developer, Profit Tools, Inc., has released a new package of applications for one of the fastest-growing segments of the trucking and freight transportation industry: residential delivery services. Companies that deliver, assemble and install household products on behalf of retailers are using the software to automate scheduling, dispatching, tracking, storage, billing, and incentive pay for driver/installers. Demand for home delivery—from furniture and appliances to clothing and groceries—is on the rise, particularly in high-income areas, industry sources say.

"Our business has doubled in the last 12 months," says Annie Kennedy of Elite Delivery in Oakland CA. With a staff of 23, five trucks and a warehouse, Elite makes "white glove" deliveries of high-priced furniture from manufacturers such as Z Gallerie, Crate and Barrel, and Thomas Mosler, into the homes of the rich and famous, the likes of Sharon Stone and Carlos Santana. "We got our system installed just in time," Kennedy says. "Aside from accounting, we were all manual before we started growing like crazy. No way could we have done this without Profit Tools."

Since most home deliveries are by appointment, accurate scheduling is critical. To plan effectively, dispatchers must know driving distances and times, and how long each installation will take. More important is the ability to adjust on the fly when things go wrong. "Profit Tools calculates mileage and drive times between stops, and prints the driver’s itinerary along with maps, directions and special instructions," Kennedy said. "It flags us if we’re in danger of missing an appointment, so we can either call the customer to reschedule or change our itinerary to stay on track."

Summers Transportation of Kankakee, IL, another Profit Tools user, provides home delivery in addition to household moving and commercial freight transportation services. Handling retail products including furniture and entertainment systems, Summers, like Elite, provides assembly, placement and removal of packing materials. "We needed higher efficiency in our front office, and better tracking of deliveries, equipment, and personnel," said Joe Powers, MIS manager for Summers, "and we needed tighter control across all three segments of our business. My criteria for software was that it had to be low cost, Windows based, easy to learn, and capable of giving us the management reports we needed."

"In segments of the industry like this one, where the rates are generally fixed, efficiency is critical to the success of the carrier," said Profit Tools president Brian K. Widell. "Competition is based on service and cost, and Profit Tools gives carriers an edge on both. And, for carriers who want to diversify into other areas, our software was designed for organizations that operate in multiple trucking modes at the same time."

Source: Press Release provided by the Vendor

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