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| Information Resources for Business Integration: EDI, XML, 1SYNC, RFID, Supply Chain Collaboration, Application and Process Integration |
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Customer Profile - C.R. England |
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Where’s my stuff? That’s what everyone wants to know. “Everyone” being the manufacturer or distributor shipping the stuff, the retailer expecting delivery of the stuff, and the trucking company responsible for getting the shipment of the stuff from Point A to Point B.
And who knows best the status of a shipment? Why the truck driver, of course. The challenge is finding a way to get the information from the driver in a timely manner, delivering it real time to the many parties who need to know where the stuff is, and having the data in the form and format required by each. This includes the many individuals (and their systems) at multiple companies and locations, including shipping supervisors, freight managers, buyers, logistics managers, the shipper and the customer. These are challenges for most shipping companies, but not for C.R. England.
Better Communication = Increased Customer Satisfaction
A $600 million privately-held company based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, C. R. England is an industry leader in providing temperature-controlled trucking, brokerage, intermodal and container service. One of the factors contributing to their success is their established system for constant communication between trucks on the road, their corporate shipping department, and customers, shippers and other trading partners. Their ability to provide real-time shipping information to all members of the supply chains in which they participate gives C.R. England a clear competitive advantage over other shipping companies.
Manufacturers and distributors hire C.R. England to deliver their goods to their final destinations, in most cases large retail stores. “Some of our customers are ‘mom and pop’ operations like Christmas tree suppliers from the Pacific Northwest,” explains Dirk Anderson, C.R. England Vice President, Technology. “But most of our customers are large manufacturers with household names such as Nestle, Dole and ConAgra.”
Because of the advanced electronic communication tools now available, today’s supply chain members demand frequent, real-time shipment status reports, in order to optimize their operational efficiency. C.R. England has found a way to meet this demand, even when trucks are enroute. Drivers enter shipment status through a wireless communication system called OmniTRACS. This system automatically integrates information provided by the driver from a terminal in the cab with the EXTOL business integration solution utilized by C.R. England’s shipping department. When shipment status flows from the trucks to the EXTOL system, the EXTOL Integrator distributes the real-time shipping information to various C.R. England applications, which in turn send status reports to all members of the supply chain.
Making Better Use of Staff
C.R. England communicates with its business partners via an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system provided by EXTOL. They selected the EXTOL Integrator not only for its ability to integrate with the OmniTRACS system, but also because of its ability to automate much of the routine, day-to-day functioning of their EDI initiative, which spans all four divisions of the company. “Although we process more than 100,000 EDI transactions per month, EDI now requires less than one full-time-equivalent (FTE) of a limited IT department that supports all EDI activities, including on-boarding new customers, adapting to customers’ individual document and process requirements, and integration with our back-end systems,” states Anderson.
C.R. England formerly had one full-time employee completely dedicated to EDI. Now, because of the automated functionality of the EXTOL Integrator, and the fact that it does not require custom programming, that employee spends only 30% of his time on EDI, and can devote more time to strategic projects.
In addition, operational efficiency has improved in other C.R. England departments. Because the EXTOL solution integrates with the company’s ERP and logistics systems, EDI, order placement and shipping-related transactions and activities have been dramatically reduced in the warehouse, accounting and customer service departments. There are fewer shipping errors to correct, fewer billing discrepancies to handle, and more satisfied customers. Besides reducing errors, EXTOL’s automated processes have minimized manual data entry, freeing up staff time for more productive tasks.
Keeping Up With Sales
The implementation of the EXTOL business integration solution helped C.R. England overcome another large obstacle. With their legacy EDI system, their IT department was unable to keep up with their sales department. “Our IT team could only handle 1-2 new customers per month,” explains Anderson. “Our sales team was selling at a rate of 5-6 new customers per month. We knew we had to make a change to support the company’s growth.”
With their legacy EDI system, on-boarding new trading partners was extremely time consuming. While the IT team worked as efficiently as possible with the software tools they had, the limitations of their system stalled new revenue streams for which the sales department had worked very hard. Now with EXTOL, new trading partners are on-boarded within days, and trade is commenced almost immediately.
“The company was in an enviable position,” says Steve Rosen, EXTOL Vice President, Marketing. “Their business was growing rapidly. And their challenge was how to integrate the new customers into their EDI and back end systems as fast as the sales team could add them. With the EXTOL Integrator, they have not only met their goal of keeping up with the productivity of their sales department, but have also reduced VAN costs, and improved customer satisfaction and enterprise-wide efficiency through integration of customer interactions with their ERP, logistics and wireless communication systems.”
The Right Stuff
C.R. England is using business integration technology to meet large-scale company objectives: customer satisfaction through improved supply chain communication, more efficient use of staff in multiple departments, and sales support through more efficient IT. |
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