JK Vehicle Movements
Vehicle Logistics Management Platform
JK Vehicles are a European wide vehicle logistics company who move vehicles, both old and new for their customers. Drivers can be in numerous vehicles per day, driving them the length and breadth of the UK and further afield into Europe. As a specialist logistics firm, unique in the marketplace, there existed no off the shelf solution to meet their needs.
Having worked with a system previously, JK Vehicles had far outgrown its capabilities and it was having a negative impact, rather than positive. The challenge was to ensure that the drivers out and about every day had a really easy to use application, from which they could get their work information, and submit information back easily and quickly. Furthermore, the Planning Team in the office needed to not only see exactly what was going on at any one point, but also when planning the next day's work, have all the tools and information at their fingertips so that planning became much smoother.
The Synergi Tech team spent many hours with JK Vehicles, in their planning office, seeing how that part of the operation worked. Our Solutions specialists then spent time mapping out the data, logic and workflows that would see our Developers able to make a start on the build of the Application. We started with ensuring all the data entities, such as Customers, Contract Rates, Jobs, Drivers, Vehicles were all built with all the relevant information, and then worked on all the supporting user interface to manage all the entities.
Implementation & Development
How we brought the solution to life
For the planning system, we worked heavily with the Google Maps API and built in live updating, route and distance calculations, estimated time, and status filters so that the Planning Team could, at a glance toggle between scheduled jobs and jobs still requiring to be planned in and allocated. Once the jobs are all planned and allocated, automated SMS text messages are sent to the drivers with quick secure links for them to login to their Driver portal and download all the information. We also built an Android application that accurately reports the drivers' location every few minutes, allowing the office to see where drivers are and forewarning customers of any delays.
Results & Impact
Measurable outcomes that drive business success
Reduced night-time planning from 5-6 hours to automated process
Saved 2+ hours daily through automated SMS messaging
Real-time driver location tracking across Europe
Automated invoicing and payroll integration
Improved customer satisfaction through proactive communication
Business Impact
Long-term value and transformation
With night time planning sometimes taking 5-6 hours, and manually messaging drivers alone taking up a further couple of hours every day, the automation and time saving that our application has provided has been huge. JK Vehicles have rolled out the new application to its entire roster of drivers and all jobs are now being started, planned, tracked and managed via the new application.
Ongoing Partnership
Continued collaboration and support
Extending the system now, we are building a full Customer Portal onto the application which will not only allow JK Vehicles' customers to load up new jobs themselves, including getting an automated indicative cost, but they will also be able to track in-progress jobs live. The integration with Xero, and closing the loop of stock and inventory control with financial accounts processing, the time savings in the automated invoicing alone add up to over 15 man-hours per week.
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