Mobility logistics system speeds deliveries

Busselton Freight Services (BFS) Metro & Regional Logistics has chosen the TransLogix Sapphire Transport Management Suite to provide a totally integrated logistics system to manage all BFS’s mobile assets [trucks] and employees in real time.

BFS is a diverse transport and retail business which delivers grocery products in Western Australia using its 34 trailers, 21 prime movers, four rigids and five ancillary light vehicles. Sapphire’s GPS and mapping software enables BFS to use PDA technology and, via a single screen, make decisions about how to best organise deliveries and minimise costs. This has really helped to maximise efficiency, streamline operations and enable everyone to see the chain of events in real time.

All drivers have the Sapphire system on a PDA in their trucks, which enables them to see what they need to do and by when. This puts each driver in charge of their load and able to record all the information needed in real time, resulting in much less paperwork.

“The TransLogix Sapphire mobility system and technical people impressed us from the start. Once we had seen the system in action we realised that clearly this was the best system on the market for what we needed to do,” said Allan Price, General Manager, BFS Metro & Regional Logistics. “Mobility is a very important part of our business and our fleet management. It gives us information in real time, which allows smart decisions to be acted out in a prompt manner. It also allows transparency of our business to be viewed by clients, thus providing value for money in the service we offer.”

Better management across the whole delivery system means that cost savings can be made. For example, now that delivery requirements and patterns can be analysed, in many cases it becomes possible to deliver the same volume of items in fewer deliveries. This saves everyone time and money. The system has helped BFS increase its revenue per hour by over 16% in the first three months.

“We have exceeded our initial objectives and met some very ambitious on-delivery on-time goals,” said Price. “We have created an accurate and efficient freight delivery system, so everyone benefits. The new system has helped cement a long-term relationship with IGA and Metcash, and we are now in a very strong position to tender for more business as the opportunities arise,” he added.