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Customer Story:
Leekes
Challenge
Leekes was scheduling over a thousand home deliveries per week, including furniture, large appliances, and complete kitchens, using a predominantly manual, paper-based process.
As the company expanded with new regional operating centres, the planning function couldn't keep pace.
Accurate ETAs were difficult to calculate, and the complexity of two-person LGV deliveries across the UK added further strain.
Approach
Access MaxOptra was integrated with Leekes' existing sales order system via its open API, enabling automatic processing of order locations and generation of optimised routes based on vehicle capacity and customer requirements.
The implementation was completed without external support, using the system's published API documentation.
Results
- Planning time was reduced by up to two hours per day, freeing capacity to schedule additional deliveries without extra resource.
- ETA accuracy improved, enabling shorter delivery windows and better customer communication.
- The system was positioned to scale with Leekes as further regional operating centres came online.
The history of Leekes
The Access MaxOptra team alongside their routing software is helping Leekes to streamline the complex task of scheduling over a thousand deliveries of homewares and home improvement products every week across the UK.
Integrated with the company’s sales order system, Access MaxOptra automatically processes order locations, produces optimised routes based on vehicle capacity and customer requests, and allows for the accurate calculation of ETAs.
Following a free trial of Access MaxOptra, Leekes implemented the hosted solution without the need for external support using the system’s openly published API (Application Programme Interface). Since then Leekes estimate they have saved up to two hours planning time per day which has allowed for additional deliveries to be scheduled and routes planned without extra resource.
Leekes are confident Access MaxOptra will also facilitate improvements in customer service with more accurate ETA notifications, shorter delivery windows and in due course, an online delivery tracking service for customers.
Challenges
“We are proud of our home delivery service and the feedback we receive tells us it is one of the reasons customers come back to us,” commented Simon Perrin, Distribution Manager at Leekes Ltd.
“However managing such a complex operation is time consuming and as the company expands we needed to be able to increase the planning and delivery management function accordingly.”
Leekes currently operate a fleet of two person Class 2 LGV vehicles from five regional operating centres. Delivering furniture, large home appliances and even complete kitchens, up to seven days a week, to customers across the UK, Leekes is in the process of expanding its delivery service with a new regional operating centre coming online soon.
Solution
“Prior to the implementation of Access MaxOptra, the scheduling and route planning task was predominantly manual and overwhelmingly paper based,” continued Perrin.
“Access MaxOptra easily integrated with our sales order system so we can now automatically export addresses and calculate routes in a matter of minutes. The intuitive drag and drop functionality means we can adjust to incorporate local knowledge or changing requirements and the automatic production of delivery manifests, in order, by vehicle is a real eye opener.”
Antonio Delellis, Sales Manager at Access MaxOptra added, “The feedback we have received is that Access MaxOptra was easy to implement, easy to use and, even at this early stage, is delivering tangible results and we are looking forward to working with Leekes to build on these early successes.”
"Prior to the implementation of Access MaxOptra, the scheduling and route planning task was predominantly manual and overwhelmingly paper based. Access MaxOptra easily integrated with our sales order system so we can now automatically export addresses and calculate routes in a matter of minutes. The intuitive drag and drop functionality means we can adjust to incorporate local knowledge or changing requirements and the automatic production of delivery manifests, in order, by vehicle is a real eye opener."
Simon Perrin
Distribution Manager, Leekes
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