06/08/2019
A simple question in 2018 changed the way TDM Construction Ltd captured its trucking data. Marc Black asked the office to provide him with the details of a job.
“I was handed a stack of dockets,” said Marc. “This got me thinking. Why can’t we get trucking job details delivered to our phones or tablets in real time?”
TDM’s old paper-based system involved drivers filling in a docket each time they took a load on board. There might be nine different loads carried for three different clients over the course of a working day – and that’s just for one driver. At day’s end, all the dockets would be placed in a container in the truck yard for collection by office staff, and the drivers would go home.
A day or two later, all the information from the dockets would be manually entered into spreadsheets in the head office, and the process of accounting and invoicing could begin. But Marc wanted something better.
Marc started with Google, researching mobile data capture in the trucking industry. His online research turned up an AMS affiliate – HHA Associates. So Marc got in touch and found himself talking to software analyst Sarah Bennet.
“I explained what I had in mind and gave her one of our paper dockets. She agreed all the data I was looking for could be captured and made available online,” said Marc.
Sarah used the AMS platform to build a test version of the app Marc envisaged. Within a short time they had created a working version, which Marc gave to two of his drivers to trial for a fortnight. The drivers were equipped with rugged Samsung tablets and shown how to use the app in place of their old dockets.
The app design was intuitive, with simple drop down menus to select the relevant client and project name for each haulage job. Then all the driver had to do was enter the source (for example, a quarry or building site), docket number, tonnage and destination. At the end of the job the virtual docket was completed, and then automatically dispatched via the mobile phone network.
Marc Black says it’s made a big difference to efficiency. “Mum used to spend six or seven hours on data entry every week, and now she only needs an hour or so. Instead of manually entering every detail of every job, she just needs to check the information provided by the app.”
“If I’m at home and I need to invoice someone, I can do it on the spot. I don’t need to track the information down and wait until it arrives. And if Mum takes a holiday, I don’t have to take over her old data entry role. It’s not really productive for me to sit down for four hours of data entry at the end of the day.”
Marc found the whole experience refreshingly straightforward.
Contact AMS: http://www.ams.io/contactonline-demo/
