Transport and logistics company, Designer Transport has reported operational efficiencies of up to 30 percent from a cloud-based warehouse management system used to oversee distribution centre activities.
The company handles third-party logistics (3PL), including last-mile delivery, for retailers like Temple & Webster, Castlery, Life Interiors and Zanui.
Managing director of Designer Transport and third-party logistics provider, D3 Logistics Moe Zayden told Digital Nation the system let the companies scale up to handle higher volumes of shipments, without a linear increase in staffing and other costs.
“That’s the key aspect to this: being able to perform the same functions and same output, volume output with less people and less requirements to do so,” Zayden said.
“That’s our clients’ feedback to us [as well].”
Zayden said the company selected the Info cloud-based warehouse management system roughly two years ago.
The solution updated Designer Transport’s warehouse operations through improved inventory and labour management, third-party billing and invoicing, 3D visualisation and embedded analytics.
Zayden said being cloud-based helped the company stay nimble and supported “clients and their growth [needs].”
The Infor platform integrates with clients’ ERP systems, “ensuring that all the information that flows through is accurate and consistent, is crucial to our clients focusing on what they do best, which is selling.”
Zayden added his employees find the technology easy to navigate.
“That’s another aspect of cloud software. It’s a lot easier to use, and you can use it remotely as well.
“We’ve got team members that have come across from previous roles where they’ve used on-prem [systems], which are very rigid and cumbersome.
Zayden explained work was undertaken within a relatively short timeframe, launching within six weeks. ““By week seven, we were ramping up to business as usual for our clients,” he said.
Keeping implementation disruption low for clients was a key factor in the deployment process.
The company is now looking to AI and other emerging technologies to continue building out efficiencies.
“Technology wise, in light of the current economic situation, it’s pretty much looking internally and seeing how we can become more efficient by doing more with less and how we use technology to achieve that, including AI technology and where that’s relevant within the business,” Zayden said.
“But as well, one of the key drivers for us is speed to market and how we can increase speed.
“Sometimes efficiency and speed go hand-in-hand. We’re constantly looking at ways and strategies to be able to increase our speed to market and increase our efficiency and give back to our clients.”
Zayden said AI will be used where most appropriate for its business use case.
“It’s important to use AI in the correct manner and where it’s relevant. We don’t want to use it for the sake of AI, but I think there are applications across the business and area that’ll definitely add some value.”