Igloo started its chilly journey almost twenty years ago when the fledgling company received huge media attention following a successful appearance on the BBC programme Dragon’s Den and two decades on is still thriving. Igloo currently operates from regional centres in Leeds and Taunton and has just celebrated its second anniversary at its custom designed, 28,000 sqft depot and headquarters in Luton.
With a staff of over 200, a mixed fleet of 120 plus vehicles, ranging from Sprinter vans to artic lorries with double-decker trailers, Igloo offers a multi-temperature refrigerated delivery service with national coverage. Igloo has seen its business double in the last 5 years and, with support from technology such as Podfather, expects this trajectory to continue.
“At Igloo we embrace technology and the opportunities it gives us as business to grow whilst minimising our environmental impact and continuously improving the service we provide,” commented Leigh Ogley, Operations Director at Igloo Thermo-Logistics. “With real-time visibility across the operation as well as the ability capture and share accurate, detailed and timely delivery information, Podfather supports our commitment to our core values – Service Excellence Teamwork.”
Once Igloo receives an order and the booking is confirmed an email containing consignment labels and tracking link is sent to the customer. Using Podfather, delivery schedules are planned and loads intelligently allocated taking into account time windows, customer constraints and vehicle capacities and, once a run is underway, the customer is kept informed with regularly updated ETAs and through the live tracking app.
Drivers accessing the Podfather App using mobile phones ensure the delivery workforce and back office are always connected and allows for the capture of real-time delivery information including date and time stamped photographs and signatures. This automated Proof of Delivery (POD) process means there are no paper tickets involved and ePODs can be shared in real-time with customers and suppliers or accessed via a secure client login. It also reduces delivery to invoicing time and provides early notification of issues for intervention.
Podfather also gives Igloo a suite of performance dashboards and standard and bespoke reports which give the management team the data and tools needed to analyse performance and report on results. This information means Igloo can record and report on KPIs and use actual data, such as mileage, costs, margins etc to support business planning.
“Podfather not only allows us to operate more intelligently it records and captures the intelligence we need to support sustainable growth across the business,” Ogley concluded. “Using Podfather we have total visibility of the delivery operation and we can make informed decisions based on real-time information.”
