Ryano logistics improves operational efficiency, cash flow and customer service using mobile scanners.
Objective
To provide a way to send to Ryano Logistics HQ in Moerdijk, real-time proof of delivery (POD) documentation when cargoes are delivered, allowing Ryano to update the shipper as to delivery status and, at the same time, invoice for Ryano’s transport services. The chosen solution must:
- Be a simple, cost-effective, easy-to-use- solution requiring minimum driver training or expertise.
- Provide a solution for both Ryano’s own fleet to trucks and for third-party charter truck operators.
- Deliver high quality images that can be shared with the shipper.
- Integrate with Ryano’s existing Transport Management System
Proposed solution
Based on Tconsult’s ‘‘Scangaroo” a mobile scanning application that have been specially developed for transport and logistics, the solutions consisted of:
- For the Ryano fleet, dash-mounted Canon scanners connected directly to the AddSecure Transport Management System already installed in each truck.
- For the Charter operators, Fujitsu scanners connected via WIFI to a Charter app running on the driver’s Smartphone or tablet.
- Document image delivery to, and integration with, Ryano’s back-office customer management & accounting system in Moerdijk.
Key advantages
Tconsult’s Scangaroo- based solution delivered a number of important advantages to Ryano:
- Allows Ryano to provide real-time proof of Delivery to their shipping customer as soon as the cargo is delivered and accepted by the consignee.
- Enables Ryano to invoice the shipper on receipt of the POD image, rather than when the driver returns to base days or weeks later, significantly improving Ryano’s cash flow.
- Within one integrated solution, allows Ryano to use charter trucks and drivers to meet transport demand fluctuations, avoiding the additional capital investment of expanding their own fleet of trucks.
- Allows Ryano to stay ahead of rapidly changing customer expectations is an extremely competitive market.
Spigraph partner of Tconsult, a Netherlands-based supplier of Smart Logistic Solutions, has provided Ryano Logistic’s truck fleet with cab-mounted scanners to allow key documentation to be sent for invoicing immediately on cargo delivery.
Business context
Ryano Logistics is a specialist transportation and logistics company based in the Moerdijk area (the Netherlands) that, amongst other things, provides road service across Europe. When one of Ryano’s trucks leaves Moerdijk on a delivery trip it could be carrying stand-by electricity generators, windfarm components, factory production equipment, mining equipment or an entire kit of support facilities for trade events. And when it leaves, the truck and driver may be gone for between two weeks and eight weeks, traveling as far North as the Norwegian North Cape and as far South as Gibraltar, dropping off cargo on behalf of Ryano’s customers. Although Ryano has invested heavily in fitting each of its trucks with on-board systems that deliver real-time location and telemetry data to their Transport Management System, the problem remained that once the truck and driver departed they didn’t zee any of the business-critical delivery documentation until the driver returned many weeks later.
The ”CMR”, Convention Relative au Contrat the Transport International de marchandises par la Route, is the most important document for road transport. In other words, an international agreement that contains the rights and obligations of the parties involved in road transport: the shipper, the carrier (i.e. Ryano) and the addressee. Once Ryano had signed the CMR to accept a cargo, they are responsible by law for the cargo until the consignee has accepted the delivery and counter-signed the CMR – at that point Ryano is released from all obligations, including insurance, and can begin the process of invoicing the shipper, using the signed CMR ad Proof of Delivery (POD). But in the situation that the CMR is carried by many weeks until the truck returned to Ryano’s depot. This unavoidable delay was having a significant impact on Ryano’s operational efficiency, it’s ability to invoice their customers in a timely fashion and, importantly, Ryano’s cash flow. So Ryano began looking for a technology-based solution to this business problem.
Solution
Ryano’s first port of call was AddSecure, a leading dutch player in the field of automation and the supplier of Ryano’s on-board vehicle tracking system and their HQ-based Transport management Systems (TMS). in turn, AddSecure introduced Ryano to one of their consulting partners, Tconsult, an independent expert in the field of Smart Logistic Solutions based in Zaandijk (the Netherlands). In 2014 Tconsult had developed a document scanning solution for transport and logistics projects under the brand name ”Scangaroo”. Working closely with Tconsult’s value-add distribution partner, Spigraph Network, and scanner manufacturers Canon and Fujitsu, Scangaroo’s primary Unique Selling point (USP) compared to other capture solutions was the clarity and quality of the document image – colour or black & White – that meant the document image could be successfully used in downstream business processes such as OCR data extraction and presentation to the customer as part of an invoice submission.
However, to complicate matters for Tconsult, Ryano’s normal business practice actually required two flavours of the Scangaroo solutions. Firstly, Ryano owned and operated a core fleet of twenty trucks that were fitted with the AddSecure tracking system (based on an ATX single-board computer) communication back to Ryano’s TMS. Secondly, when delivery requirements exceeded the capacity of their own fleet, Ryano rapidly contracted-in third-party charter trucks, as and when required, sometimes doubling their overall delivery capabilities. This capacity flexibility sets Ryano apart from many other logistics competitors but does introduce some challenging operational issues.
For the in-house fleet Tconsult added a Canon scanner onto the ATX on-board computer and adapted the Scangaroo scanning software to integrate with the AddSecure TMS. They also developed a bracket to secure the scanner on the dashboard of the truck, allowing the Canon scanner to be permanently mounted into the Ryano truck’s cab, with special design emphasis on ease-of-use for the driver, a key requirement if the solution was going to be effective in practice.
For the charter trucks a permanently installed scanner was not an option, so a variant of Scangaroo was developed that ran on a Fujitsu scanner that connected, via WIFI, to a AddSecure-provided Charter app running on the truck driver’s Smartphone or tablet. This in turn connects back to Ryano’s TMS via GSM data transmission. When a charter truck driver arrives at Ryano’s depot to collect a cargo, the driver is provided with the Fujitsu scanner and Smartphone running the application, and so temporarily including the third party driver into the overall CMR document capture solution.
Ryano Logistics improves operational efficiency, cash flow and customer service using mobile scanners.
Advantages
With the two solution variants in place, the driver – either Ryano’s or the charter driver – is able to scan the countersigned CMR as soon as the cargo is delivered and accepted by the consignee, with a high quality, process-ready image of the CMR available back at Ryano’s HQ in minutes, rather than weeks later as the case before. An invoice, together with a copy of the signed CMR showing delivery acceptance, can then be immediately sent to Ryano’s shipping customer.
” We started back in 2013 with four trucks equipped with Scangaroo and were able to do 20% of our invoicing via PDF” said Ernst van de Graaf of Ryano Logistics. ” By 2015 we had 9 trucks fitted with the latest ATX boards and Canon scanners and were able to do 90% digital invoicing with a copy of the signed CMR. By 2016 we had developed ten mobile Fujitsu scanners with the Charter app for our third-party drivers, taking the total number of on the road trucks able to send back signed CMR’s to 19, and were currently adding 5 more Fujitsu’s for a total of 24 trucks. We are also reviewing costs & benefits as to the remaining Ryano trucks as we continue to upgrade our own fleet.”
”It’s interesting to note that we get the same CMR benefits from the Charter drivers as we do from our own drivers without actually having to invest in our own trucks and associated kit – just the Fujitsu scanner and the software licences for Scangaroo and charter app. However, the on-board Scangaroo units in our own trucks give us more information as they are integrated with the AddSecure data stream coming from the truck, while the Charter app just delivers the CMR image.
Ernst Tjaden, Founder and CEO of Tconsult, added ”The CMR is a large and complex document that can be up to 10 pages long, and it is a challenge to create a solution that the driver can easily use to capture a high-quality image in the cap of the truck – they don’t have a desk in there! By integrating our Scangaroo software with the Charter application and the ATX on-board system then, via an API key, it is possible to oblige the driver to scan a document.
”Spigraph has been our scanner supply partner since we have started our company in 2010 and they also provide extended warranty and hardware maintenance services to our customers. We keep a small inventory that we can deliver very quickly to new customers, or to be able to send out a replacement scanner if needed – our customers really appreciate our fast response time. We license and support the Scangaroo software as well as provide custom kits for in-cab installations, along with an installation guide, plus any customer-specific software integrations.”
Peter de Boer, Senior vice president of Spigraph Network, adds: ”Spigraph is able to provide unique advantages for partners like Tconsult due to our wide reach of operations in over 20 countries, best-in-class portfolio and value-added services, We are working together with Tconsult in a true partnership: in addition to providing scanners and service, our team also helps Tconsult expand their business across the globe with local sales expertise and Spigraph’s unique ” Marketing as a service” program. This provides a true win-win for both companies: Tconsult can leverage Spigraph’s wide geographic reach and local resources across Europe and Spigraph is able to develop a stronger business relationship with Tconsult.”
Next steps
Regarding future plans for Tconsult, Ernst Tjaden added: ”In addition to work with Ryano’s ATX-based solution, we integrated Scangaroo with TomTom and Garmin on-board computers. We have also noticed that the stand alone version of Scangaroo, used by Ryano’s Charters, is very populair with smaller transport companies. Their customers also expect a professional, high quality scan that can be used in downstream processes, inclusing OCR, so we have worked hard with Spigraph and the scanner manufacturers to ensure all versions of Scangaroo deliver on this critical requirement. There are other competitors out there in the market but they typically deliver poor image quality – Scangaroo’s ability to create high quality images form the Canon and Fujitsu scanners is one of our strond USP’s.
”We are a very customer-focused team and we can see a large European-wide market for document capture solutions in the transport & logistics sector, witch means that our pan-European relationship with Spigraph is very strategic for Tconsult. Today we have 2.500 trucks driving with Scangaroo solutions installed, and we expect this to reach over 5.000 installations by the end of 2016.”
”We are working with Tconsult to evaluate using OCR to read our Charter sub-contractor’s Account Payable Invoices (we receive around 7.500 per year) and sub-contractor’s CMR (around the 8.500 per year)” said Ernst de Graaf of Ryano. ”This would save us a lot of time as we could enter transport invoice directly into our TMS and banking systems – today this is all done manually from paper, including all authorization processes. Certainly our goal is to have a paperless operation within 2 years. We would also like to adopt standardized XML-based invoice formats that have been defined by the Dutch Government so we can implement true eCommerce exchanges rather than sending PDF’s as we do today.”
”We are achieving our goals of greater operational efficiency and improved cash flow, but in addition there are direct benefits for our own customers in providing them with immediate Proof of Delivery that can, in turn, help their own financial position. We can also include scanned copies of other transport documentation that have in the past caused completion delays, such as customs clearances for deliveries outside of the EU, including Norway and Switzerland. Taken together, all of these innovations show our customers that Ryano is a forwarding looking, innovative, agaile company that will be with them as future unfolds. This gives us a distinct advantage in what is one of the most competitive industries in Europe.”
About Ryano logistics
Ryano is one of a kind logistics service provider, specialized in exceptional logistics and transport solutions worldwide for the last 13 years. Ryano is divided in two separeate divisions: Ryano Logistics & Ryano Projects., with each its specific knowledge of Logistics services. Ryano Logistics is focusted on the European market, with their own fleet of trucks and trailers for (exceptional) transports. Ryano Porjects is targeting the Middle East, Latin America and Africa for (project) cargo, by land, sea or air. For a pallet or project cargo, we will provide customized solutions. Our keywords are: Flexibility, Continuity, Reliability.
About Tconsult
Tconsult is the independent specialist in Smart Logistics Solutions. the company Tconsult is specialized in framing, retaining and optimizing logistical processes and administration. Tconsult makes sure that logistical information is more accessible and that the information-flow is simplified as well as faster. To achieve this, Tconsult has developed solutions that deliver direct efficiency in time-management and cost savings. Tconsult is the owner of several applications that make it possible for information to flow faster through the logistics-chain, such as enabling mobile scanning (Scangaroo) and/or printing (Print Panther). Tconsult also has several solutions to better administrate packaging.
About Spigraph
Spigraph is the leading information document capture solutions and services provider in EMEA. in addition to it’s portfolio of document scanners from the world’s leading manufacturers, Spigraph provides its growing customer base with tailored capture solutions to automate document-centric processes such as invoice processing, mailroom automation, mobile and web capture and many more. Spigraph’s services include consulting, implementation, maintenance and support to help organizations to achieve the highest possible level of process automation with a rapid return on investment. Headquartered in St-Quentin-Fallavier, Fance, and with sales and service organizations across 20 countries in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, Spigraph serves more than approximately 6.000 authorized partners and more than 40.000 customers in over 40 countries.
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