Crossdock Retails

▌Challenge 

The retail group’s strategy aimed to streamline their vendor network by establish a new cross dock distribution center to execute consolidation opportunities. One of the major headaches with inbound shipments coming into a distribution is the dock congestion that occurs. The huge number of inbound shipments from vendors runs the risk of mistake on shipment damage and mishandling.  

The last-mile distribution which combines the orders of store delivery and home delivery making the truck planning decision complicated and the truck load efficient dropped. 

What worst is the engagement of new subcontractors who take care of the home delivery had no commitment making the customer experience bad. 

▌Pain Points

1. The sudden increase of inbound truck congests the loading bay of the distribution center 
2. Lack of KPI measurement on the subcontractors 

▌Solution 

LOGFLOWS offers three modules for the retailer group: 

1. The LOGFLOWS Q: the driver loading bay reservation and ticketing system;  

2. The LOGFLOWS TMS+: The control tower panel to monitor the inbound and outbound volume and measure the performance of the subcontractors in one platform;  

1. The driver loading bay reservation system is ready-to-use with both web application for warehouse control and mobile app for drivers. 

2. The TMS opens the opportunities to introduce the new, strategic carrier mix to service the store and home delivery.  The KPI measurement are standardized. 

▌Results

The first target of the project from the retail group is to reduce the average waiting time of the truck from 2hours to 1hour. Yet after 3months of system implementation, the average waiting time reduced to 30mins only. 

And what mores…… 

▸ INCREASE THE NETWORK VISIBILITY 

By using LOGFLOWS TMS+ for their own logistics team and the external (new) truckers, the distribution visibility and drivers’ performance are well improved. The system defines the workflow for both internal and external parties. 

▸ ROOM TO REDUCE THE LOGISTICS COST

The consolidation of inbound and outbound orders by one cross-docking DC could reduce the transportation cost.  

▸ AGILE APPROACH THAT CAN REPLICATE TO REGION EASILY  

LOGFLOWS TMS and other modules are all on subscription and cloud-based; the agile system approach allows both small and large companies, no matter local or regional based, could implement the system fast. The same logistics improvement strategy can be easily replicated.  

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Ecommerce Platform

▌Challenge 

The eCommerce platform was experiencing a significant growth and it comes along the increased demand from customers for real-time information about their orders,  

While these customer expectations are being increasingly common, the platform faces challenges when asking their subcontractors and the drivers to follow the Standard Operation Procedure (SOPs) which involved the phone call before delivery, take picture of the product in case of any damage, reschedule the delivery in case the 1^st delivery attempting is not success. But without any system to support, they find the subcontractor management is extremely difficult and, in worst, districted them from focusing on their core business – online sales and promotion campaign.  

▌Pain Points   

1. Make use of subcontractors makes the quality control very painful. 
2. The sales volume is unpredictable, so the capacity planning of the truck resource is difficult.  

▌Solution  

To become the most customer-centric eCommerce platform in Hong Kong, they make use of LOGFLOWS Customer portal and TMS. 

The portal is dedicated for their VIP customers who can place booking, check order status and download ePOD themselves with their own login.  
The TMS is a full-featured transportation and ordering system for their subcontractors and drivers to follow their daily orders and pre-defined work process. 

1. SaaS TMS charges on monthly basis; modules of the system are implemented by phases. 
2. Well defined workflow that client can apply immediately and adopt to the best practice in the market. 

▌Results

After understanding the expectation from client, it took LOGFLOWS team only 14 days to onboard the two subcontractors and their 68 drivers. 

The SOPs are setup on customer and project level which make the mobile app usage by the truck drivers very easy.