Our weeks are filled with conversations and visits to bulk hauliers where our team help these transport operators to identify alternative (and often) better ways to work. What’s evident is these bulk hauliers spend their weeks shifting muck, aggregates, animal feed, powders, liquids and even road salt (although at this time of year that area of work is fortunately replaced with something a little more seasonal) – however it has to be said that shifting paper comes a close 2nd! There’s one commonality across the industry that jumps out – the work involved in administering a bulk transport and/or haulage operation is disproportional to the number of jobs done each day – in essence these hauliers are drowning in paperwork.
Our team recently visited a company who did between 100-125 jobs per day – they had a 25-step administration process! 25 different stages from a job being received through to the invoice being raised. Paper was organised (but everywhere you looked) and job instructions were being repeated multiple times as each work order transitioned from one stage to the next stage. And as the duplication and repetition occurred unfortunately sometimes it meant that errors/omissions occurred meaning work was occasionally missed, leaving their customer unhappy.
The company’s admin process began at the point that they’d initially write down work instructions onto a job notepad, before then transferring the same information onto their transport/traffic diary ready for planning and allocating to their driver/vehicle/trailer. The same information was then hand-written onto delivery notes for their drivers – creating even more repetition – and once the work was completed the same information was then re-typed into their accounting software. Invoices were raised and then, dependent on their customer’s requirement, the invoices were printed and posted, scanned (sometimes with PODs attached) and emailed to their customer. The process was exhausting! Granted, this particular company’s administration process was an extreme one (we usually see between 8-15 stages vs. this company’s 25), however it worked for them – as it has for the last 20 years – it just put their transport and finance teams under pressure, leaving them stressed, over-worked and unable to find time to look for new ways to protect, strengthen and grow the business.
Does that sound like your bulk company transport process? Are you repeatedly writing the same information on your transport diary, delivery notes, collection notes and waste transfer notes? Is paper and administration controlling your time, your team’s time and your business?
H D Ricketts are one of the largest haulier and supplier of sand and gravel in the West Midlands., supplying some of the biggest names in the building industry and taking part in some of the country’s biggest construction projects such as the M6 Toll Road. The company operates a strong fleet of 33 tippers providing some of the United Kingdom’s biggest builders merchants along the way. Accompanying the tippers is a fully robotic and automated bagging plant in Rugeley and the most recent addition, a 300-acre quarry, which is situated in Weeford, Sutton Coldfield.
However, after recently celebrating 50 years of business, H D Ricketts Ltd still remains a small family run business and a very close-knit company.
This family ran organisation has over 17 years of experience as a bulk haulier. They specialise in supplying the agricultural sector meeting the needs of farmers across the country, distributing loads of cattle bedding sand to agricultural dust and base stone. Bateman’s also focus on supplying materials to building merchants and contractors, ranging from building sands to decorative gravels.
As a result of continued growth, their legacy paper-based processes were at capacity which in turn was putting excess pressure and strain onto their team and business. They needed to find a solution that would help Bateman to improve their productivity, reduce the amount of data duplication/repetition as a job transitions from receipt through to completion, maximise efficiency and effectiveness and create time to grow the business. HaulTech’s multi-award winning Transport Software did just that.
Operations started from humble beginnings in 1992, before rapid expansion saw Border Aggregates move to their 6 acre site in North Lancashire in 1996 allowing them to service the North of England. A second depot opened in Stevenson, Scotland in 1999 allowing Border to effectively provide products for their Scottish customer base.
With over 150 miles between depots and 30 vehicles to manage, the need for an effective Transport Management System was essential. Like many organisations, once the business began to grow, paper-based processes became inefficient and a drain on employee productivity. HaulTech presented Border Aggregates with a solution that allowed them to replace paper with technology. This change has improved admin processes, by as much as 80%, whilst allowing the company to continue to grow. By offering a better connected service for Border’s customers, the system has proved how it works technically, operationally and financially for all stakeholders of the business.
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HaulTech’s cost effective range of bulk haulage software solutions reduce duplication and admin errors, speeds up processes and increases control of time and money.
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