Customer	NYK Logistics & Megacarriers
Industry	Logistics   Country: United Kingdom
Challenge	To speed up the process of getting their data into their back-end systems and improve reliability.
Solution	magicomm’s innovative implementation utilising digital pen and paper technology enables the client to retrieve and process accurate data.
Benefit	Real time information in a matter of seconds rather than days. This greatly improves cashflow and leads to significant cost savings.

The Digital Pen was an instant success with our drivers and has been embraced more warmly than any alternate technology that we have tried to date such as PDAs…

Mark Tredgold, Head of IT NYK Logistics (UK) Consumer & Retail

Customer

NYK Logistics is a part of NYK Group, which was founded in 1885. Since its founding, NYK has grown to become one of the world’s leading shipping companies. The NYK group has more than 30,000 employees around the world and offers various transportation services: Container Transport, RORO, Bulk and Energy resource transport, Terminal, and Cruises. When NYK started logistics solution business such as warehousing & distribution in the 1980’s, revenues from this new business field for NYK were only US$ 80 million. Today, as part of the US$10 billion NYK group, NYK Logistics’ revenues have grown to more than US$3.3 billion including the contribution of our sister company Yusen Air & Sea Service.

Challenge

The company had an issue with their proof of delivery systems and wanted to speed up the process of getting their data into their back-end systems and improve the reliability.

When a driver delivered a consignment, he would get a proof of delivery (P.O.D.) form signed by the customer. This was done for each delivery that the driver completed each day. The driver then returned the P.O.D’s to Head Office which were then scanned in using in house scanning software occupying eight staff full time. The data was then extracted and posted to the company’s delivery systems.

The issues that were causing concern with this method were:-

• Delay in data being retrieved. If a driver was delivering hundreds of miles away it was sometimes several days before the information was received at head office. This caused inaccurate and out of date information.
• Inaccurate data being entered on the forms.
• Loss and/or damage to delivery forms, due to the potentially long delays before the P.O.D was returned.
• Costs incurred by data delays, data capture/input methods and maintenance of the existing systems.

The client had looked into using various other methods to solve these problems such as using ruggedised PDA’s but they were found to be too unreliable and expensive.

Solution

magicomm gained a thorough understanding of the existing P.O.D. documentation process. The solution and associated benefits were conveyed to the client and a ‘pilot’ was commissioned.

The steps taken to achieve this were as follows:-

• The existing P.O.D. form was re-designed by magicomm’s in house design team and was approved by the client.
• ‘Intelligence’ was put into the paper to provide safeguards against user error.
• Slightly modified form layout was agreed with the client and subsequently “digitised” by magicomm.
• magicomm then developed an Application Service Handler to process the data when received from the drivers, exactly to agreed specification.

Benefits

magicomm’s innovative implementation utilising digital pen and paper technology enables the client to retrieve and process accurate, real time information in a matter of seconds rather than days and saves the customer significant costs. This has vastly improved their reliability and accountability to their own clients.

magicomm’s innovative implementation of digital pen & paper technology continues to generate positive feedback and a number of referrals. The system has now proceeded to full roll out the details of which can be viewed by following the press release link at the top of this page.

For further information contact us.

Tel: +44 (0) 330 088 2540
Email: info@magicomm.co.uk