Case Studies

Euro-Sprinters Improves Efficiency and Traceability Using Intermec Handheld Computers

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Euro-Sprinters, a subsidiary company of Belgische Post, is an express delivery company with offices in Antwerp, Belgium and at Brussels Airport. The Euro-Sprinters service can be compared with a taxi service: pickups are made within an hour with packages sent to every conceivable domestic or international location.

OverviewEuro-Sprinters, a subsidiary company of Belgische Post, is an express delivery company with offices in Antwerp, Belgium and at Brussels Airport. The Euro-Sprinters service can be compared with a taxi service: pickups are made within an hour with packages sent to every conceivable domestic or international location.

150 drivers, from more than 30 different points of departure across Belgium and The Netherlands, are on the road every day to execute transport orders by using an advanced system, which informs planners of the driver’s exact arrival time at the customer. The Intermec CN3 handheld computer is at the centre of this system and guarantees that the whole process is virtually flawless. “Not one waybill slips through this system,” says Patrick Proesmans, ICT-Manager atEuro-Sprinters and responsible for the automation of the company.

The Challenge

Because Euro-Sprinters guarantees that every order is picked up at the customer within an hour, they were forced to use complex automation techniques to organise planning and document processing. Before the new system was operational, Euro-Sprinters had to deal with a lot of phone calls concerning shipment status or price calculations. Besides that, there was a lot of demand for proof of delivery slips. “That cost us too much time,” says Proesmans. “If you add this to the time it takes to adjust a delivery address when this is not passed on correctly by phone, it was obvious that we could significantly improve on this process.” The system that was used beforehand, which was solely based on GPRS, did not work properly. “We wanted to automate the whole process from intake to delivery and with that reduce the margin of error to an absolute minimum, as well as increasing efficiency.” For a truly mobile solution, Euro-Sprinters started searching for a handheld computer that featured GPRS as well as GPS. “We want to be able to keep track of a driver’s position, but more importantly, we want to know where he will be within the next one or two hours.”

The Solution

In co-operation with several partners Euro-Sprinters developed a system through which orders can be processed online as well as tracked in real-time, with information available just minutes after the goods were picked up. “Everything we do is managed by Navision”, says Proesmans. “The data available has to be processed in a quick and reliable manner to produce orders, waybills, navigationco-ordinates and invoices. After all, the transport vehicle has to arrive at the customer within one hour while the invoice is processed and sent on the same day around 5 p.m. complete with digital signatures. The whole record is remotely and continuously updated so that it can be completed after delivery.”

Based on the ERP-software Navitrans, orders are being processed automatically after the assignment is filled in online. The project AOL (always online) had led to a process of constant communication between the customer, the office and the driver. “The sat-nav software sends the driver to the correct address using GPS tracking and via the ‘Estimated Time of Arrival’ (ETA) we also know where he will be later that day. New orders are sent by GPRS, generated by Navision and converted to XML resulting in a simple data package via GPRS to provide the courier with the shipment order.”

After the order has been received, the planner can choose between ten ‘best placed drivers’, based on a Geo-coding calculation. The ETA is calculated via Geo-coding and the driver that is closest to the customer at the right moment is offered the shipment order via the Intermec CN3. On arrival, the driver lets the customer sign for pickup on the CN3 touch screen, fills in the time of the pickup and the GPS-system calculates the estimated time of arrival. Just a few minutes later, this information is accessible by the customer, via the online tracking system. When the shipment is delivered, the driver again collects a signature and both signatures are attached to the invoice that is generated later that day. The customer can track his shipment at all times via Internet, in a secure password protected environment.”

Intermec CN3 Mobile Computer

Since January 2008 all 150 drivers have been equipped with the Intermec CN3 mobile computer. The Intermec CN3 allows Euro-Sprinters to process orders that have been registered via the Internet or call centre, convert them to a digital waybill and to set out a route from any given remote point that leads directly to the exact location of the customer. The CN3 devices send out GPS location updates via GPRS, enabling Euro-Sprinters control room to keep track of the vehicle’s location at all times providing an accurate estimated time of arrival at the current customer and at subsequent ones. “We know where the whole fleet will be an hour from now,” says Proesmans.

“The Intermec CN3 is the handheld computer that answered our needs,”Proesmans explains. “We wanted integrated GPRS and GPS as well as the option to scan signatures and use an imager for recording barcodes and pictures. The Intermec CN3 provides all these features.”

Proesmans: “Since the deployment of the new system, orders with incorrect addresses are a thing of the past. Via GPRS, faster and better communication is possible; transports are being planned in better combinations with regard to routing and the customer locations, and the navigation software determines the quickest route. By calculating the ETA, the customer can be supplied with proper delivery status updates and the planner not only knows the driver’s current location, he also knows where the driver will be and when he will be there. Last but not least, the paperwork has decreased dramatically; waybill and transport information is processed automatically and offered digitally. “We can tackle more work with fewer drivers and the drivers themselves love the new system!” commented Patrick Proesmans.