Xpedx finds Intergis Visual Control Room reduces costs, increases revenue potential

It’s all there on paper: Intergis’ Visual Control Room Solution has saved xpedx 10 percent of its transportation costs, allowed it to grow a major business division’s revenues and improved its customer service, while smoothly integrating with the company’s other business-critical applications.

Xpedx, a $6.7 billion subsidiary of International Paper, with a fleet of 1,000 tractor-trailers and drivers handles approximately 9,000 delivery stops per day from its 105 dispatch and warehouse locations. Orders from customers arrive at a dispatch facility, where the delivery stops are assigned to drivers and products are picked for next-day delivery. Xpedx needed a system that would integrate with its back office applications for customer relationship management, billing and accounts receivable, and warehouse management.

Xpedx routes and loads need to be assigned according to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations on driver hours and truck weights, as well as with customer-specific requirements, including specific delivery time frames. Prior to implementing an automated routing solution, xpedx determined routes manually.

“The biggest problem we had with manual routing was that with the complexity of all delivery requirements – fuel, equipment, and driver usage -- the potential for waste could be significant,” says Frank DeLost, director of supply chain logistics for xpedx. “We had what we called “daisy routes?: The warehouse was in the center and each route went out and came back like petals, which did not use our transportation resources in the most efficient way. It was also a time-consuming process. In locations processing 40 runs a night, manually routing those runs was very labor-intensive.”

To address these problems, xpedx investigated routing and optimization software systems, narrowing the field to four and eventually choosing Intergis Visual Control Room (VCR), a fleet management system.

Xpedx implemented the Intergis Visual Control Room (VCR) fleet and routing software, because it was an “open” system that could be networked with its existing business-critical applications. Xpedx performed this integration without acquiring special code or permission from the vendor, or worrying that its software wasn’t certified with the Intergis software. Some of its legacy systems were proprietary besides, and unlikely to be certified by many vendors. The fact that Intergis VCR is networked and housed on centralized servers was important to xpedx because the system could be accessed from any networked location.

Xpedx input the parameters of its routing requirements into VCR, which interfaces with xpedx’s customer relationship management (CRM) software and warehouse management system. With VCR, optimal routes are determined automatically, taking into account the DOT and other requirements, as well as the routes’ costs. For instance, if xpedx wants to add an additional stop to a route, VCR can create a mock-up of that run, including how much more it will cost, so xpedx can make an informed decision on whether or not to add it.

“A dispatcher is a specially skilled employee in our logistics operations, so if the dispatcher is sick at one of our smaller locations, there is no one else to cover for him,” says DeLost.

“Because the system is networked, a dispatcher in a nearby location can access the other location’s information and plan routes with VCR. This functionality led us to examine some locations where the dispatching function could be easily handled by another location.”

VCR also builds a pick and load list for the warehouse based on the route so the trucks can be loaded in reverse-stop order, making for more efficient stops. The drivers receive printed route manifests and download the VCR route information into an on-board truck computer system from vendor XATA Corp. This enables xpedx to track a driver’s performance against the optimum route solution created by VCR.

“We use the on-board computer to reward drivers for staying on their routes,” says DeLost. “This enabled us to recognize our top performing drivers.”

Intergis VCR is accruing savings for xpedx through route consolidation, which enables it to “right-size” its fleet. Overall, xpedx is anticipating a 10 percent reduction in transportation costs.

All in one package.
The Intergis VCR system is also benefiting xpedx’s packaging equipment division that sells and repairs packaging equipment and supplies to businesses throughout the U.S. With a cadre of 100 service technicians spread over 70 different locations, and each location managing the technicians differently, limited visibility of field operations hamstrung the corporation.

“Technicians’ work could only be tracked by the work orders they turned in,” says Mark Matthews, VP of marketing for packaging at xpedx. “Sometimes they made repairs for customers who wouldn’t get charged; there was no way for us to know the kind of work that was done.”

To help achieve a growth strategy for packaging, the company wanted to introduce a consistent program of planned maintenance to its customers. But the company needed to centralize its field service dispatching systems to improve efficiencies, visibility, and scheduling capabilities to make this possible.

Intergis VCR again proved to be the answer. When a customer calls, a dispatcher pulls up the customer’s information and creates a new work order in the customer’s file, entering as much information on the repair as possible, such as the make and model of the item for repair). The work order is sent to the appropriate tech (usually based on territory, but readily superseded by availability or skill sets), who receives an alert on a BlackBerry device. The tech accepts the service call, and through button pushes, indicates when he’s begun the call and when he’s completed the call. This information is automatically transmitted to the dispatch center.

“Billing is more efficient than ever before, because we have central control of the work that was done and an electronic record of work sent out to compare with paper work orders,” says Matthews.

Intergis VCR has grown the company’s preventative maintenance (PM) capabilities that save money in the long run and improve customer retention. “Our current mix of work orders is 90 percent break-and-fix and 10 percent PM,” says Matthews. “We want to grow PM to 25 percent over a three-year period, which would not be possible without the new system.”

The packaging division has been able to extend its hours, offer bilingual dispatch capabilities, along with its planned maintenance product offering.

It’s all there on paper: Intergis VCR has saved xpedx 10 percent of its transportation costs, allowed it to grow a major business division’s revenues and improved its customer service, while smoothly integrating with the company’s other business-critical applications.

To learn more about Intergis Visual Control Room and other Intergis Mobile Resource Management solutions, click on Contact Us.