A leading builders’ merchant is set to see major benefits including cost savings and improvements in customer service as a result of deploying a new transport planning platform.
Selco Builders Warehouse provides a trade-only retail-style experience through its 68 UK branches, supported by the 2019 introduction of its first distribution hub for ‘heavy side’ builders’ products in North London.
To further improve and streamline this hub operation, Selco has deployed the My Transport Planner pay-as-you-go, web-based platform – designed to optimise routes and delivery schedules – and says it’s already seen key improvements.
Richard Evans, head of transport operations at Selco, explained: “This product is a gamechanger for us. It’s allowing us to embrace efficiencies even with abnormal loads, which other products simply couldn’t give us.
“We had looked for a long time for a system which could optimise what we term ‘complex and dirty loads’ where the consignment doesn’t fit into standard pallet sizes,” he added. “With My Transport Planner we can put all orders on the system and then optimise them by vehicle. This will improve our customer experience, which was our first objective, although it will undoubtedly bring cost benefits as well.”
Selco is currently upgrading to My Transport Planner Pro, which includes additional features including fully automated optimisation and mobile apps. This will include automatically sending each driver their optimised schedule; electronic proof of delivery; messaging by voice or email; and managing daily vehicle checks in with the company’s vehicle pre-use check policy.
“We anticipate huge gains in productivity and utilisation across the network with My Transport Planner Pro, achieving our aim of making our customer experience the best in the industry,” said Evans. “However, we will also see substantial cost improvements in vehicle usage.”
My Transport Planner is currently offering a free 30-day trial to help companies adjusting to operating during a pandemic. To register for the free trial, visit www.mytransportplanner.com.
