FIRST TRANSPORT

IT solution yielded significant profits – both financially and mentally

Allan Bengtson, owner of warehouse and transportation company ‘First Transport’ went from manual goods registration to electronic – a relatively simple IT solution was integrated to keep track of the 1600 m2 warehouse. The result was surprising, a huge financial return, freeing up working hours, mental energy and freedom to develop the business.

In the spring of 2016, the warehouse logistics were becoming too much for Allan and he knew that he needed to get a tighter grip on inventory management to continue to attract new customers and grow the business. Goods registration had always been done manually from the start of the company, but as time went on and the positive customer development, it required a greater and greater overview – and Allan was losing that.
One of the processes that was clearly challenged was the service and flexibility that is the focal point of the entire business. The warehouse acts as a remote warehouse for the vast majority of customers and they come and pick at all hours of the day – which makes manual registration difficult and for Allan a lack of overview.

Allan contacted Nicolai Hillstrøm, from Endsearch ApS, who specializes in just such solutions. Allan and Nicolai knew each other from before and had worked together on several projects. With a relatively general requirements specification from Allan, Nicolai got to work.

– The flexibility and service I live on was threatened because I had difficulty documenting the actual inventory and invoicing the exact amount, which I often suspected to be too small in relation to the actual service. With a desire for tighter inventory management, more documented details in the inventory register and easier and more accurate invoicing, I confidently put Nicolai Hillstrøm from Endsearch on the case,” says Allan.

Standard solution with customization options
Nicolai Hillstrøm was already familiar with ‘Delfi Icons’ from Delfi Technologieswhich is an intuitive software solution for handheld terminals that gives you full control over your product flow. Delfi Icons is purchased in modules, e.g. status, pick goods, receive goods, move goods, create order, consumption and much more. I samråd med Allan konfigurerede Nicolai modulerne ’Varepluk’ og ’Varemodtagelse’. Delfi Icons was subsequently linked to Dynamics C5, First Transport’s financial system.

– The integration between Delfi Icons and Dynamics C5 is relatively simple, as most of it is implicit in the solution from Delfi Technologies. The module is structured so that you select the various functions on and off. For example, you can select employee ID, reference number, etc. in the application. What really took time was the customization of the Dynamics solution and the simplification of the work processes. To ensure that we were moving in the right direction, we chose a model with continuous development (Rapid Development), where Allan and I met once a week, where we worked our way forward through dialog and tested the system, says Nicolai, who sees great potential in Delfi Icons, especially for similar companies.

The process progressed according to plan and over the summer, the solution seemed to fulfill Allan’s wishes and needs. All goods have a label pasted on them, and a unique barcode (Serial/Batch No.) is printed on it. The barcode is scanned via a handheld terminal when goods are delivered and picked up. The terminal communicates wirelessly with Dynamics C5. The exact time of receipt and delivery of the goods is therefore known, which forms the basis for the goods’ storage time and thus the basis for invoicing and product tracking.
The wireless communication via the terminal gives great freedom to the individual warehouse employee and data is immediately synchronized to Dynamics C5 as soon as the employee presses a single button on the terminal. Each item number has also been enriched with additional data such as employee ID (who handled picking and delivery), reference, case and pallet number, etc.