Podfather Closes Customer Experience Gap for O&S Doors
Overview
Headquartered in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, O&S Doors is a leading manufacturer of kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom (KBB) doors and components. Operating from a 410,000 square foot state-of-the-art production facility, the company produces more than 70,000 individual cabinet frontals and door components every week. They supply businesses of all sizes, from independent tradesmen to large-scale distributors such as B&Q and Wickes.
The company services the whole of the UK and Ireland using a combination of its own fleet, third-party haulage partners, and parcel delivery companies. In addition to its manufacturing operations, O&S Doors also runs trade counters and showrooms located in Dublin and Manchester.
4,000
paper sheets saved per day
50 %
reduction in credit notes issued
50 %
reduction in replacement orders
Challenge
Before integrating Podfather, O&S Doors faced limitations with its existing transport management system, which created inefficiencies in handling the complexities of modern logistics and fluctuating business demands.
- The previous logistics system was highly regimented and inflexible, making it difficult to react to changing circumstances or sudden delivery peaks.
- Software licences were tied directly to specific physical devices in individual vehicles, requiring excessive, costly licensing to ensure full fleet coverage across varied situations.
- The customer service team was frequently inundated with calls regarding missing or undelivered orders due to a lack of immediate, shareable delivery data.
Solution
To solve these challenges, O&S Doors adopted Podfather's comprehensive delivery management software. The platform, which features logistics planning, route optimisation, and electronic proof of delivery (ePOD), was integrated directly into the company's existing ERP system using the Podfather API. This integration ensures that customer orders are automatically allocated to the most appropriate vehicle and driver.
Drivers use the Podfather mobile app to access their daily schedules, last-mile routing, and navigation without needing to visit the office. At the drop-off point, the app captures real-time proof of delivery evidence, including date, time, and location-stamped signatures and photographs. O&S Doors also deployed Podfather's ePOD workflows to its 4 trade counters; each counter acts as a 'truck' in the system, allocating daily orders and capturing collection evidence digitally via the app.
Results
The implementation of Podfather has had a highly positive impact on O&S Doors' entire operation. Because digital delivery notifications and evidence are shared instantly with both the back office and the customer, the company has seen a dramatic reduction in inbound customer service calls. Customers can self-serve their delivery information, and any remaining queries are easily resolved at the first point of contact using the cloud-stored digital documents.
The improved real-time visibility and accurate delivery data have also significantly reduced financial discrepancies, dropping the number of credit notes and replacement orders issued by an estimated 50 percent. Furthermore, the digital shift has supported the company's environmental goals, saving roughly 4,000 sheets of paper per day, amounting to over 3 million sheets saved, or nearly 400 trees, since they began their journey with Podfather.
We did have a logistics system in place prior to Podfather but it was very regimented and didn't allow us to react to changing circumstances or business fluctuations. Each device, i.e. phone, was fixed to a specific vehicle so in order to cover every eventuality we would have needed many licences. Podfather is different. It allows us to use our resources intelligently and respond to delivery peaks quickly and without disruption to the high-quality service our customers expect.
Gareth McMurray
IT Manager, O&S Doors
