Warburtons’ retail customers are benefiting from enhanced delivery schedules since the company chose to integrate real-time Navman Wireless GPS vehicle tracking with its Paragon transport routing and scheduling system. Paragon’s Route Execution solution links the Navman Wireless tracking system to its route planning software, which provides live and accurate data for monitoring performance and optimising routes. Using this advanced system, Warburtons delivers 2.2 million loaves of bread a day to 20,000 retail outlets across the UK.
“The high quality of our products together with consistently high levels of customer service is very important to Warburtons, and the joint Paragon and Navman Wireless solution plays a critical part in what we do. We use Paragon routing and scheduling software for planning daily deliveries from our 25 sites and this involves managing a fleet of over 800 vehicles. When we ran Paragon’s software together with the Navman Wireless system, the process was simple and fully integrated. Whilst our customer service is already at a high level, we wanted to improve this further, which this technology is helping us to do,” says Jim Norton, Distribution Planning Manager.
Warburtons has worked with Paragon for over 10 years, developing the way it uses the system to meet changing business requirements. Now, by adding Route Execution, linked to Navman Wireless M-Nav 760 two-way messaging, job dispatch and navigation terminals, the company has been able to revolutionise its distribution processes. The enhancement to the system also provides visibility of driver activity and accurate data to show on-time delivery performance together with any deviations from the plan.
“With Paragon Route Execution providing live vehicle and driver activity from the tracking system we are able to use a fact-based approach to planning deliveries. One of the reasons Warburtons chose the Navman Wireless system was its ability to fully integrate with Paragon’s Route Execution software package. The link between the systems is seamless and it gives us full visibility of what is actually happening on the road. We can see when a vehicle arrives at a delivery, how long the call took and when it left. We now have visibility of our customer service performance immediately whereas previously, we had a 12-hour delay in getting feedback from the drivers when we used manual reporting. This also helps us to proactively manage the fleet, and the drivers have widely accepted the system,” says Jim Norton.
Tony Neill, Vice President of Navman Wireless said: “With a high profile brand such as Warburtons it is vital that their distribution systems operate optimally. Thanks to the routing and scheduling software from Paragon and our vehicle tracking technology, Warburtons has developed processes within distribution that help to provide high levels of customer service.”
The Paragon software is installed at Warburtons’ head office in Bolton and the company has around 100 users accessing the server-based Multi Depot system over its network. Orders are uploaded automatically into the Paragon routing and scheduling software from Warburtons’ SAP enterprise software each night to generate the routes and schedules. The routes are sent directly to the in-vehicle terminals so that the drivers have all their deliveries available in sequential order on their terminals when they arrive at work.
