Lane Group
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Lane Group: Most effective use of IT in manufacturing and logistics
Project: Enhanced supply chain
Business goal: To use IT to improve service levels and reduce costs.
Project partner: PA Consulting Group
Award sponsor: Vodafone
Today, most highly mobile workforces are likely to be issued with handheld devices, whether smartphones, PDAs or email devices like the BlackBerry. But few organisations take full advantage of these devices' capacity for real productivity and efficiency gains.
Lane Group, a contract distribution company with 600 staff and 500 vehicles, has developed three applications in-house which streamline scheduling, customer interaction and mobile package tracking to ensure a smooth delivery process from warehouse to customer.
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Through its customer relationship management system the company can manage the whole order cycle, from delivery arrangements to customer answer queries. Details from this are then fed into the Lane Group's transport management system, which provides route planning and delivery scheduling capabilities. It also provides drivers with details to ensure trucks take the most efficient route.
The two systems can then work out package sizes and weights, along with driver availability, to provide the most efficient method of utilising the fleet to make deliveries. After each drop the transport management system captures feedback on fuel, delivery times and exceptions to create performance reports linked to service level agreements. Drivers carry a PDA equipped with barcode scanning technology and in-cab printers, data from which helps track packages and provides delivery status for customers.
Maps and delivery data are uploaded at the depots each morning, making the crews truly mobile. The system handles 150,000 order deliveries a year and scans 2.5 million items. The results are increased customer satisfaction, lower shortages and damages, faster response times, less manual paperwork and full supply-chain visibility for drivers and customers alike.
The three systems generated payback in nine months, with savings in fuel, overtime and the number of vehicles on the road. Furthermore, they provide far enhanced operational visibility and control which has radically improved Lane Group's service to its blue-chip customers.
The Effective IT judges recognised Lane Group's technological achievement for its transformational impact on the business. Also impressive was its development over 18 months by an in-house team of just four. Even competitors agree that this specialised set of applications is more functionally capable than many commercially available proprietary systems.
