Civica Case Study
DHL improves efficiency of logistics
operation by 150%
DHL Supply Chain, the global logistics and supply chain management company has
been working with a large supermarket chain for several years, since winning the
contract for distribution.
The contract includes managing the distribution of goods to stores across the South
West of England. To manage the administration and servicing requirements of their
distribution fleet, DHL decided to invest in a fleet management solution and chose
Tranman from Civica.
Based at the Regional Distribution Centre in Bristol, DHL’s fleet consists of 89 tractor
units, 10 rigid vehicles, 198 trailers, as well as a few cars and vans. All servicing and
MOT work is carried out in-house at the Vehicle Maintenance Unit (VMU). Where
possible repairs are carried out on site with a bodyshop for accident damage repairs.
The VMU employs nine mechanics and operates a 24/7 operation in order to reduce
vehicle downtime and maximise the availability of vehicles for deliveries.
"Although DHL’s fleet size has remained
relatively consistent over the last four
years, the revenue of the Vehicle
Maintenance Unit has gone up by
DHL is responsible for carrying out all scheduled servicing of the fleet and recharges
the customer as part of a fixed price maintenance contract. The VMU has five users
accessing Tranman to manage vehicle maintenance. On a daily basis, drivers report
any vehicle defects and the maintenance work is scheduled and administered using
Tranman. Work is intelligently scheduled to meet the business requirements. For
150%."
DHL’s customer the busiest part of week is the end of week, so planned servicing is
Alison Udall
Alison Udall, Commercial Manager, DHL Supply Chain comments "The fleet
Commercial Manager, DHL Supply Chain
scheduled to be completed by Wednesday.
represents our customer’s brand and therefore has to be kept in an immaculate
condition. Vehicles are checked by drivers every day and defects reported, all
accident damage must be repaired immediately. "
Fleet software benefits
The Tranman system has evolved since its installation four years ago. Initially it was
used solely for charging out. All the pricing for stock is recorded in the system which
has resulted in less administrative errors. An additional benefit is that a previously
labour intensive process has been automated, DHL are now able to cost jobs
properly and make sure revenue is recovered.
Alison Udall describes the situation, "Before Tranman we just didn’t have any
accountability, our recharging was inaccurate and we were drowning under
mountains of paperwork."
London, UK
Leeds, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7760 2800
Tel: +44 (0) 113 244 1404
2 Burston Road, London
Vanguard House, Dewsbury Road
SW15 6AR
Leeds LS11 5DD
marketing@civica.co.uk
marketing@civica.co.uk
www.civica.co.uk
www.civica.co.uk
Warranties are an area where DHL has been able to reduce costs.
DHL also use Tranman dashboards to monitor fleet performance at a
Warranty work is now properly managed and claimed for. Using Tranman to
glance. DHL chose services due by week, MOTs due by month and
record standard work types, DHL has made substantial cost savings by
driver licence checks as their key performance indicators. Alison Udall
ensuring claims are submitted to the manufacturer and followed up.
concludes, "All the information you need is available at the touch of a
button! "
With the introduction of Tranman, the workshop is now operating more
efficiently. "Initially our staff were resistant to change, but we have been able
to make real savings through automating our processes. Parts issuing is
much improved and everything is traceable. This has saved us a lot of
money through accurate monitoring of stock," says Alison Udall.
Tranman records a full audit trail including which mechanic has worked on
Tranman has been proven to help DHL meet its objectives of
prioritising safety, minimising off road time and reducing fleet costs.
The biggest achievement explains Alison Udall is, "Although DHL’s fleet
size has remained relatively consistent over the last four years, the
revenue of the VMU has gone up by 150%."
each vehicle. Free text notes can be added against each a job record which
helps when dealing with queries later on. Similarly if a job takes longer than
expected this is now reported along with the reasons why, which helps to
make sure jobs are accurately costed.
Another benefit of using Tranman is the ability to upload photographs against
vehicle records, this has proven to be especially useful for hire kit. Any
items hired in to supplement the fleet can be photographed and saved in
Tranman if they already have damaged bodywork which has given DHL
evidence to dispute charges which they may be billed for later.
Improving driver safety
Driver management is another area where Tranman has been able to deliver
cost savings. Driver safety and complying with duty of care legislation is an
important part of fleet management and DHL use the system to monitor and
record all driver training and driver licence checks, making sure their drivers
are safe and legal to drive.
Paula Stanton, VMU Administrator, DHL Supply Chain explains how
information collated in Tranman is used for accident management. "Tranman
highlights areas we can improve on, the system reports indicate if specific
drivers are having more accidents, so we can investigate these cases and
then recommend retraining. For example we had a recent case where the
system flagged that a specific driver had recently reported several cases of
accident damage. We looked into this further and all the accidents were
relating to damage to rear lights. As a result we were able to request to send
the driver on a reversing refresher course."
Analysis of accident data has also highlighted specific locations and
supermarket stores where more accidents occur. Paula Stanton continues,
"When we notice an increase in accidents taking place at the same store we
About Civica
Civica Group Limited (www.civica.co.uk) is a
market leader in specialist systems and
outsourcing services that help organisations to
improve service delivery and efficiency. The
group supplies more than 1,800 customers in
the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and
the USA, including 94 per cent of the UK’s local
authorities.
arrange for a site visit to check if anything has changed. Often it will be
something simple, such as a new bollard positioned in a bad place. By
recording detailed information about the accident, we have been able to
request low cost solutions to improve visibility and prevent further damage
and expensive repair costs."
Tranman provides the management team with monthly reports of driver
performance, accidents and fleet costs, enabling them to measure exactly
how the contract is progressing and to analyse trend information.
London, UK
Leeds, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7760 2800
Tel: +44 (0) 113 244 1404
2 Burston Road, London
Vanguard House, Dewsbury Road
SW15 6AR
Leeds LS11 5DD
marketing@civica.co.uk
marketing@civica.co.uk
www.civica.co.uk
www.civica.co.uk