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Customer Story:
Arthur David
Challenge
As Arthur David's delivery operation grew to a fleet of around 100 vehicles, managing complex multi-stop routes across the South West became increasingly difficult.
Fixed route allocations didn't account for vehicle utilisation or running costs, and when delays occurred, the business was receiving hundreds of customer calls in a matter of hours, each requiring manual follow-up with drivers.
Approach
Access MaxOptra was integrated with TomTom in-cab telematics to give Arthur David dynamic, real-time route planning and live vehicle tracking. This replaced the fixed-route model with an optimised, responsive system, enabling the team to proactively manage delays and communicate accurate ETAs to customers without manual intervention.
Results
- Customer query volumes dropped dramatically as proactive ETA notifications replaced reactive call-handling.
- Route efficiency improved, reducing operational costs.
- Arthur David was able to uphold its 'leave it with us' service promise at scale, correcting issues on the same day, regardless of fault, across a six-day-a-week, next-day delivery operation.
The history
Operating a fleet of around 100 vehicles, Arthur David offers a six days a week, next day service covering the whole of the South-West and the major urban conurbations of Bristol, Reading, Cardiff, and Birmingham.
One of Arthur David’s unique selling points is its speed of response – a speed which is not only applied to deliveries, with orders placed up to 23h00 usually delivered by 08h00 the next day, but also to customer service. Mistakes are corrected on the same day, regardless of fault and with no questions asked, and there is a company-wide ‘leave it with us’ ethos.
Challenges
As the business has grown, so too has the scale and complexity of the delivery operation. Access MaxOptra was originally introduced to take control of distribution costs through improved operational efficiencies.
Prior to the implementation of Access MaxOptra, each customer was allocated to a fixed route with a sequence number, but this did not take into account running costs or other factors, such as efficient vehicle utilisation, vehicle capacity, and driving hours.
Solution
Since implementing Access MaxOptra, integrated with in-cab telematics from TomTom, Arthur David has seen a dramatic reduction in the time and resources taken to deal with customer queries.
Before Access MaxOptra, and in the case of a vehicle leaving late or falling behind schedule, the company could receive hundreds of calls in a matter of hours. Each customer call required interaction with the transport team, potentially a call to the driver, often resulting in multiple calls per query.
Access MaxOptra is also helping Arthur David enforce its ‘leave it with us’ motto, whereby the company will move heaven and earth to ensure the customers get their goods, that day, regardless of fault.
Missed items or forgotten orders can result in deliveries anywhere from London to Swansea and Birmingham to Southampton, and Arthur David is now using Access MaxOptra to plan the daily second wave of deliveries.
Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.
Results
After implementing Access MaxOptra, Arthur David introduced a ‘one-call’ customer care policy. Giving frontline staff direct access to real time delivery information, accessed in the cloud, they can advise and inform customers at first contact.
The use of Access MaxOptra has allowed Arthur David to complete the second round of deliveries with fewer miles and has resulted in parity between drivers’ hours, which in turn has boosted morale and reduced staff turnover.
"While the improvements for our drivers, transport planners and customer care staff have had a massive impact on our business, the best results have been evidenced by our customers."
Daren Hill
Operations Manager, Arthur David
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