Here’s what our building materials customers have to say about us….
“We are already seeing the positive impact of Podfather on the business. Our fleet utilisation is much higher, with less downtime and fewer trips back to depot, and our customer interactions are more informed. We have fewer calls from customers with queries and those we do have can be answered at first point of contact. Ideally, we’d like to get to the point where every call we take is a sales call and complaints are a thing of the past.”
Edward Parlato
Branch Manager at Browns Builders Merchants
Core features
Multi drop route planning
Ensure multi drop route plans are optimised, cost effective, resource efficient and meet customer time window expectations.
Customer ETA notifications
Notify customers when a delivery is booked, on its way, or approaching. Configure notifications your way using our intuitive self-configurable notification editor.
ePOD
With ePOD you and your customers receive real time notification about what has been delivered where without the need for paper tickets. Electronic signatures, photos, and time/date/location stamps come as standard.
“The Podfather team did not disappoint. They have been supporting from initial query through to implementation and roll-out and I know that as we continue to find new ways of working and saving time and resources, they will be with us every step of our journey.”
Nick Trueman
General Manager at Direct Windows Supplies
Our building materials customers include:
Addressing the challenges of running a building materials delivery fleet
Providing delivery reliability for your customers:
With Podfather you can rest assured that your route plans, and delivery drop times, are both efficient and reliable. Hit your time windows on time every time with our advanced, yet easy to use, route optimisation technology.
Handling large order volumes:
During high volume peaks make sure you are making the most of available vehicle capacity with Podfather. As part of your system set up you can specify vehicle capacities, weights and driving times. Produce routes that maximise the use of vehicle capacity, at the same time as making sure vehicle weights and driving times remain legal.
Minimising the use of costly spot hire vehicles:
Ensure you maximise use of your own vehicle fleet before turning to costly spot hire vehicles. However, if you do use third party carriers from time to time the driver only needs to download the Podfather app onto their own smartphone device and away they go. Just because the driver isn’t one of yours is not a problem when you plan with Podfather.
Keep your customers informed:
Provide your customers with accurate ETA information and live delivery tracking links so that they can track delivery progress themselves. Minimise calls to your customer service teams and maximise on customer satisfaction. Watch your customer satisfaction levels soar as Podfather keeps your deliveries on track.
The benefits of using Podfather
Remove paper, cut admin and reduce costs from your operation.
Get full time visibility of what’s going on across your operation.
Watch “where’s my delivery?” calls become a thing of the past.
Deal with delivery discrepancies with ease.
Podfather is now available on the AWS Marketplace
Podfather is now available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Market place, making it easier than ever for customers to access and deploy Podfather solutions directly within their existing AWS environment. Click on the button below to find out more.
Building Materials Customer Success Stories
Electrical wholesaler 3Line Electrical is rolling out logistics planning, route optimisation and electronic proof of delivery software from Podfather to boost customer service and improve management reporting. With automated ETA notifications, electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD) documents and real-time tracking of drivers, Podfather is already improving customer communications and reducing queries. The software is also shining a spotlight on 3Line’s delivery operation, giving management analytics and insight which will be used to inform fleet management decisions and company expansion plans.
Browns Builders Merchants is implementing logistics planning, route optimisation and electronic proof of delivery software from Podfather. With end-to-end automation of its delivery operation, Browns expects increases in efficiency and improved communication, building on its longstanding commitment to customer service. The Podfather software is already helping the company make better-informed decisions based on the real-time information captured by the system.
Carvers Building Supplies, the wholesale building materials supplier, has selected Podfather’s route planning and electronic proof of delivery solution to help streamline processes across its distribution operation. With a fleet of over 30 delivery vehicles distributing a wide range of products to customers around Wolverhampton and the surrounding areas, the Carvers Building Supplies team were looking for a solution to help improve efficiency and remove paper from the planning process. The introduction of the Podfather solution is part of Carver Builders Supplies company-wide push to update internal systems and improve efficiency across its business.
Direct Window Supplies Ltd. (DWS), manufacturers and suppliers of windows and doors, is using Podfather logistics software to streamline and automate its delivery service. Serving trade installers across the south-west of Britain, DWS makes around 700 deliveries of plastic and aluminium products a month. Using Podfather’s planning, route optimisation and ePOD solution, DWS is saving hundreds of man hours a year, working towards paper free deliveries and reducing its mileage by between 8 and 10 percent. In addition, Podfather’s automated ETA notifications and real-time tracking is boosting DWS’s customer service.
IG Doors, a supplier to the new build and social housing sector, is rolling out Podfather logistics software across its delivery operation. Working with well-known brands such as Taylor Wimpey, Barratt, Persimmon, Redrow and various Social Housing partners, IG Doors has already eliminated paper from the process and has boosted customer service and reporting. IG Doors uses Podfather to plan and route the delivery of thousands of doors a week, capture digital proof of delivery evidence and complete mandatory vehicle checks for fleets.
Rexel, a leading distributor of electrical products and solutions in the UK, is celebrating the roll out of Podfather’s route planning and electronic proof of delivery solution across its UK operation. With over 400 vehicles and a network of 200+ hubs and branches, Rexel was looking for a solution that could streamline operations, improve customer service, and increase fleet efficiency.
Stormking, the leading supplier of Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) components to the UK house building and construction industry is clearly seeing the benefit having introduced Podfather to its distribution operation. With a fleet of 23 HGVs making multi-drop deliveries to locations across the UK, Stormking realised the need to introduce an electronic solution to replace its previous paper process. Order discrepancies and disputed damage claims are now easily dealt with using Podfather’s electronic proof of delivery with customer ETAs and driver tracking links resulting in a huge drop in incoming customer calls. Add in a 10% improvement in vehicle utilisation and Stormking is delighted with how the Podfather project has helped improve business processes.
Take a look at our whole solution; delivering many features and lots of benefits to the building materials sector:
Related functionality
We hope you like what you see. If you are interested in our planning and optimisation functionality you might also be interested to find out more about the following.
Our route optimisation functionality allows you to plan routes that are cost-effective, resource efficient and meet promised customer time windows.
Optimise routes, manage pre-allocated jobs, review fixed routes and regions.
Podswap, our Haulier Management System, enables you to manage the work allocated to your own fleet, and the jobs you want to share with your third party hauliers.
One seamless, paper-free system, whoever is completing the job.
Make sure all necessary vehicle checks have been completed and logged before vehicles leave the depot.
Maintain compliance with real-time visibility and full-time accountability online. Empower your drivers with vehicle check confirmation at their fingertips when out on the road.
Monitor progress against the plan in real time using our Android or iOS app.
Automatically send customer notifications and live tracking links, via email, text, or our online portal; keeping customers informed in real-time.
Streamline your proof of delivery process. Log and share job completions, scan barcodes, and capture signatures and photographs in real-time.
Get real-time notification of item adjustments, job cancellations and make delivery discrepancies a thing of the past.
Ready to start your journey?
We’d love to show you how we could help your business through improved logistics planning. Get in touch today and let’s talk about what challenges you are currently facing in your business and how we could help you to overcome them.