Allegro Mobile Solutions

Background

Founded in 1997, GX Transportation Solutions Inc. is a privately-owned, asset-based, Canadian Transportation Company providing air, ground and ocean transportation all over the globe.  It also provides customized dedicated fleet services for companies that require their own trucking fleet - without the burden of the actual ownership of the trucks.

GX Transportation Solutions serves an automotive manufacturer’s dealer network in Ontario and British Columbia with a just-in-time dedicated delivery system.  In the system each automotive dealer has until 3pm each business day to place part orders to be delivered by 7am the next morning.  GXTS drivers pick up the parts from a distribution centre and deliver to the dealerships during the night.  While the system had been performing adequately for years, it was entirely manual. The process was paper-based and prone to error.  Although the average number of delivery errors was minimal, the impact was costly as several hours were spent by GXTS and their customer to remedy each error.

GXTS wanted to reduce errors and improve the audit trail for the pick-up and delivery process by implementing mobile technology.  The project’s goal was to have visibility of each asset at every stage of custody; from the distribution centre, to GXTS, on to the dealerships and back to the distribution centre.  The information provided would be invaluable, paving the way for operational improvements by the stakeholders.

The Solution

When researching vendors, GXTS approached a large courier company who had deployed well over 1,000 handhelds in their enterprise for a recommendation. This led them to Allegro Mobile Solutions, Motorola Enterprise Mobility’s 2006 Canadian Partner of the Year, which had extensive experience in developing and deploying large roll-outs for field service, transportation, retail and healthcare clients.

Solution Benefits

Improved Asset Utilization - The system gives visibility of the “delivery containers” with a container return visibility report.  The Customer was able to grow their dealer network by 20% without having to add additional containers,which normally would have required the purchase of 100 containers, saving $100,000 or improving asset utilization by approximately 20%.  By equipping drivers with mobile computers, GPS devices and printers, GX Transport was able overcome challenges and make improvements to their business across the board.

• With detailed reporting, GXTS can analyze the run times and can build better routes.
• With information of when drivers log in and out of their devices, payroll has been directly linked to the system.
• Each morning a report is sent to each stakeholder describing in detail the time-stamped activities that transpired the night before.
• District Sales Managers who visit dealers in the network are now able to run reports of exception history. Dealers who have a history of access issues (frozen locks, blocked entrances) now have high visibility, so that the causes of the issues can be quickly resolved.

Partnership