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As the largest brewer in the country, Labatt
Breweries of Canada has built its reputation
both on the quality of its beer and service to
its customers. In Quebec, more than 18,000
of those customers have benefited from the
company’s use of mobile technology on the
more than 300 trucks that deliver Labatt’s
beer throughout the province. The company
recently upgraded its mobile printing solution
with new, rugged 4-inch thermal printers that
have increased driver efficiency, improved
customer service, and helped Labatt better
manage its accounts.
System upgrade calls for new printers
Labatt initially deployed a mobile route
accounting solution in 2002 that integrated
mobile computers, mobile printers,
and CIS-Omniciel Route Management
software. While the existing system worked
well, it had issues. “For instance, each
distribution center (DC) had its own filing
system,” says Nicolas Gogotsis, business
relationship manager for Labatt in Quebec.
“Some DCs had nowhere to store the
invoices.” A bigger problem was that
customers would occasionally forget to sign
the invoices, which made it difficult for
Labatt to manage its billing when customer
disputes arose.
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Labatt decided to upgrade its delivery
system to automatically capture and
archive customer signatures electronically;
it also needed to upgrade its printers
to reduce costs and improve delivery
operations. The new version of CIS-
Omniciel Route Manager and Route
Partner software, in conjunctionwith Intermec CN3 mobile
computers, provided the
electronic signature
capture capabilities
Labatt was looking for.
Labatt then selected
Datamax-O’Neil’s
just-released 4-inch
PrintPAD CN3 printers
designed specifically
for the Intermec CN3
computers—a perfect fit.
However, Labatt needed
the printers in a matter of
weeks, and the new models were
not yet available in production quantities.
Datamax-O’Neil delivered the 300 printers
by working out a segmented delivery
schedule with Labatt.
The entire project cost less than $1.5
million (Canadian), and Gogotsis says the
return on investment was quickly realized
through savings in materials, added
productivity, and the implementation of
new business rules that helped improve
the billing process. “It has improved our
customer service by allowing us to serve
more customer service by allowing us to serve
more customers with the time we save using
the new devices,” he adds.
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