Background
The Lionel Samson Sadleirs Group (LSSG) continues strong to be the second oldest family-owned business in Australia. Established in 1829, it currently comprises Lionel Samson & Son, Sadleirs and Plantagenet Wines.
Sadleirs established its reputation in Australia and New Zealand as a trusted freight and delivery, packaging, and warehousing provider. Its dedication to providing ‘The Perfect Journey’ has won it several accolades over the years, including The 2018 Project Cargo Network Award most recently.
Over the past few years, it has embraced automation to bolster its bottom line and meet customer expectations. By 2018, it was recognized as a digital game changer by becoming the first Australian company to implement a fully integrated end-to-end cloud solution.
The Problem
As a dynamic business, Sadleirs believes in the importance of real-time data for meaningful, operational information. With added transparency, the company intends to meet customers’ needs and grow more flexible and nimble than it currently is.
One aspect where real-time data was needed was non-conformance reporting. The company had survived on a paper-based process for so long thanks to its dedicated workforce. However, Sadleirs believed the process’ efficiency was diminishing as the company grew. Collecting and analyzing data from paper forms was also a challenge as the logistics and packaging provider planned on utilizing business intelligence tools.
Sadleirs digital transformation team noted, “Manual processing of paper forms is both inefficient and time consuming. Sadleirs aspires to gather and collect information in a more efficient manner, specifically with the use of mobile forms.”
The Solution
Makken Technologies created a mobile forms app which included the first of several mobile forms to follow: The Non-Conformance Report (NCR) mobile form. The form enables faster and more accurate data collection through makeen transform controls such as Image Capture and Date and Time controls.
The NCR form also validates the names of users such as Account Managers by comparing them against records in the company’s Active Directory account. In addition to ensuring the correct employee name is added, this feature retrieves and adds their email addresses to the form.
The mobile forms app also features email and push notification alerts. Through these notifications, the Account Manager as well as Origin and Destination State managers are informed of a new NCR. Our team configured two sets of notifications: Individual Alerts and Summary Alerts. Individual Alerts immediately notified the following personnel if any changes were made to the form:
The creator of the form.
The last person to modify it
The Account Manager
The Origin State Manager; or
The Destination State Manager.
Summary Alerts provided designated employees with a summary of all changes to a group of forms since they were last submitted. These alerts were to be sent once a week on a day and time of a person’s choosing.
However, the major deliverable provided was the Sub Form feature. This feature facilitated the linking of multiple ‘defect forms’ to an individual ‘pre-start form’ in a single submission. This was one of the main requirements for Sadleirs, one which no other vendor was able to provide. To ensure the team got the most from the Sub Form feature and their app, the Support Team provided extensive training and assistance.
The Result
Sadleirs reports achieving significant productivity and efficiencies with the forms built to date. Converting their paper forms has translated into significant monthly (transaction) cost savings. From the end of 2016 till mid 2019, the company’s 2,534 form submissions allowed it to save around $50,680.
From timing of information flow to decision making, the NCR form reportedly supports the company’s commitment to customers. Their satisfaction levels have improved. More specifically, the time previously taken in processing and rectifying non-conformances has drastically improved. Moreover, the accuracy in data captured on digital forms has made a huge impact, especially to the Safety function.
