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Milk and its distribution have come a long way over nearly two centuries. The milkman of the 1950s would have a hard time imagining the sheer scale and complexity of the distribution operations that are performed today. Through constant innovation this producer has positioned themselves as a national leader in the production, packaging and distribution of foods and beverages. By investing in the implementation of a modern yard management system like SAP Yard Logistics (SAP YL) they are staying true to their culture of innovation in all aspects of their business operations. With Westernacher’s help our client was able to realize better service to their customers by addressing bottlenecks in the throughput of their yard operations.
From 15 minutes to less than 5 minutes per truck by intelligent check-in with SAP YL.
Every company that relies on trucks for the distribution of their products has its own set of challenges that must be ironed out to operate with the seamless efficiency of an assembly line. A good place to start, is well, at the start. Westernacher’s implementation of SAP YL did exactly that by putting an emphasis on where all trucks start their process in the yard: the check-in gate. By providing the team with a simple-to-operate yet powerful application to streamline both the collection of information from the driver and the communication of instructions back to the driver, the act of checking trucks into the yard has never been easier. The intelligent check-in has cut down the check-in time from almost 15 minutes to less than 5 minutes per truck.
Having the right tool for the job is a distinguishing factor in driving superior results.
Those who incorporate technology more will accomplish more work with less effort. SAP YL is the right tool for the food and beverage yards of today when it is leveraged as an integrated platform that enables automation of those necessary but trivial aspects of yard management. Gathering information from and distributing information to the driver is orders of magnitude faster when 80% of it is already known prior to arrival. Upon arrival providing the driver dynamic routing information is further automated via SMS messages throughout the process. Eliminating this bottleneck during check-in creates the opportunity to work upstream to the next bottleneck in the unending pursuit for continuous improvement. Perhaps now, difficult issues such as not enough drop trailers and yet too many total trailers in the yard can finally get the level of attention it deserves.
The era of the milkman going door to door is long over for most of us, but if you feel like your yard is stuck in that era, give us a call. The next customer success story we write about could be yours.
