A self-proclaimed one-stop-shop, Cartwright Brothers almost quite literally do it all. The BRC-accredited hauliers move various goods from food, to stationary up to explosives. Cartwright Brothers are also a member of Pallex, Fortec and Palletways. This family-run transport company is quite figuratively a Jack-of-all-trades in the haulage industry. They were established in Lincolnshire in 1944 and now their fleet of 60 trucks operates nationwide, 24/7. The well-renowned firm also has extensive warehousing facilities which support their customer base. Cartwright Brothers have been using a Transport & Warehouse Management System to support the business for the past decade. In this interview, we sit with the company’s Business Development Manager, Mark Naeve to discuss his work and how technology has been crucial to the firm’s success.
HaulTech: Can you talk to us about your time at Cartwright Brothers?
Mark: I’ve been with the company for 20 years. I started off as a Transport Manager for 16 years before becoming the company’s Business Development Manager. My role involves liaising with and supporting our customers and making sure that we deliver the best possible experience for them. Being Business Manager also includes making sure we are being as lean as possible with our processes because the leaner we are, the smoother the company drives forward. It’s actually one of the main reasons we have transport and warehouse software from HaulTech to ensure we are being as efficient as possible.
HaulTech: Cartwright Brothers actually began to use Transport and Warehouse software 10 years ago, almost 7 decades after its inception. It must’ve been a huge change, can you talk to us about why you moved to a technology solution rather than continuing with the existing processes the company had?
Mark: Obviously all that time ago, there wasn’t any technology like there is today. We worked in paper and when that’s the only way you think there is to work, you don’t see how much it holds your company back from reaching its full potential. I think a system had come recommend to us and we decided to take a look into it. After trial and error with a few software providers, we found HaulTech and realised that it’s exactly what we need to take the company from good to great. Our business would not be as successful as it is today if it wasn’t for HaulTech’s software.
HaulTech: How do you think the software has helped the company to become more successful?
Mark: It’s made the business so much more fluent because of all the integrations. The Transport Software and Warehouse Software talk to each other so if we need to get something out of the warehouse onto a truck, we don’t have to duplicate work, the system automatically makes the changes. Then the system allows us to integrate with Pallex, Fortec and Palletways, all of those Pallet Networks have their own systems, but you can access them all through HaulTech’s software. Similar to how we describe our haulage services, HaulTech’s software is a one-stop shop for us. Without the integrations, we’d be working with numerous systems, having to figure out and manually plan everything ourselves and the time that would take to do so would be impossible. It now just takes us seconds. Before the system, we used to move 20 pallets a day, now with the system we move over 600 pallets a day and it’s simpler to plan.
HaulTech: Have you noticed any other improvements across the business?
Mark: We’re also using the driver app, so we create jobs on the system and they get sent to the drivers so they know their work for the day or the next day. Then when they complete their work, they take a picture and it gets sent back straight to the system, so when before we were waiting a week for a ticket that we’d have to scan in, now it’s just instantly and automatically sent to the system. It’s helped us to reduce our paperwork dramatically because everything is done digitally, it makes the office a tidier workspace and it’s easy for us to search and find something on the system instead of taking days searching through draws full of paper tickets.
HaulTech: How do your drivers find using the app?
Mark: A few of our drivers are older guys who are not tech-savvy, they don’t even like texting but after a few days of using the app, they got used to it and find it user-friendly. The drivers actually now prefer to use the app because it is easier for them than having to hold on to paper tickets. With a click of a button, their job is done for them, and they’re happy with that. Who wouldn’t be?
HaulTech: Do you believe there has been an impact on your customers by moving to software solutions?
Mark: Huge impact. Majorly positive. Our pallet network customers use the online booking portal where they self-input jobs which is a huge saving on time for them and cuts down on staff requirements in the office for us. Also with the online portal being live, it reduces inbound phone calls into the office because our customers can view EPOD details and Proof of deliveries immediately after the delivery process is completed.
HaulTech: Would you recommend HaulTech to other companies?
Mark: Yes. It’s the best thing that happened to our company. The constant development and support from the team is second to none.
Interested in learning more about Transport and Warehouse management software? Then contact us today by clicking here, calling 01782 662244 or saying hello@haultech.co.uk.
