A need for short turnaround times
From production to being on the shelves, Harry Brot needs the quickest possible turnaround times to guarantee that their bread and buns are fresh and delicious.
Before using Peripass, the Soltau site was burdened by paperwork and manual work. “Drivers were let in through the barrier and went straight to the office.” There, they queued up to collect a check-in slip, on which they wrote their ID, licence plate number, and mobile number. Then, the shift managers sent them back to their vehicles and said, “We’ll call you to tell you which ramp to go to.” The administrative staff then had to type all the given information into the digital system.
“Driver registration is so much more convenient now.”
The drivers register themselves on one of two kiosks. The shift manager is informed of their arrival and can now dispatch them at any time. With the easy drag-and-drop, trucks are assigned to an open loading dock. The driver then gets an SMS message with all the information to drive to the correct ramp.
Auto-dispatch to reduce queues
Harry Brot Soltau also uses the auto-dispatch feature to optimise their yard. “It helps by ensuring trucks are allocated parking places immediately, whether on time, late or early. The shift manager can see immediately when a truck has arrived.” No one slips through the gaps, and there are no queues in inconvenient locations.
Even though the dispatching team works tirelessly to assign a ramp as soon as possible, usually within 3 minutes, all trucks get a close-by parking spot. “It reduces chaos. Everyone is where they need to be.” In fact, drivers now spend under 30 minutes on the Harry Brot Soltau yard, which is more than half of what it used to be.
Data and visibility for a better flow
“Now we have complete visibility of all processes, including how long it takes to register drivers.”
How do they use these key figures to optimise their processes accordingly? “Every status entered into Peripass is transferred to Transporeon and is visible to everyone, including the carrier. They then know that their vehicle is on the ramp, it’s being loaded, how much longer it will take,… Since we can see all that, we can monitor it and see if certain hauliers are always late, for example.”
It is a continuous process, and even though Harry Brot Soltau has been live with Peripass for over a year, they are still eagerly fine-tuning. “We appreciate how much calmer the atmosphere is on the yard. Especially during peak holiday times, our shift managers need a cool head.”
“Drivers used to crowd in the office, because they needed to be manually registered. For example, our team had to figure out what language the driver was speaking. Peripass has completely solved that. The driver picks their language on the kiosk, and all communication happens smoothly in that chosen language.”
Experiences of employees, drivers and management
As a data-driven company, Harry Brot and the Soltau team are always looking to optimise. “Definitely make sure you evaluate the data after you collect it, because the data quality is very different now. We use that to optimise processes, the throughput times of trucks, and where to put which goods in the warehouse, if in doubt. Which docks are frequently occupied and when? Which aren’t? And so on.”
In other words, all the data they didn’t have before improves their operational processes. Site traffic is significantly better coordinated. Shift managers have more peace and quiet when concentrating on their core tasks; therefore, their work quality is much higher.
“We haven’t saved resources in the sense that we have fewer employees, but our staff have more time for important things, rather than struggling to communicate with drivers.”
