What did we do?
Strategy
Architecture
What's been bothering them?
Loading docks often present a considerable bottleneck in logistics for truck drivers. Once they arrive, they need to get out of their vehicle, find the right person who then has to look up the correct terminal location, before the driver gets assigned to the (hopefully) correct gate. Because, on top of all that, there's a significant language barrier to consider as well. This results in unnecessary delays, congestion, unregistered samples, data errors and safety issues.
How did we fix it?
In a nutshell, we built a checkpoint tool for truck drivers. It allows them to announce their presence at a loading dock and request gate access. This can be done in advance through a mobile (web) application, or on the spot by means of self check-in kiosk. The job to be done was to lower the overall throughput time by offering a swift and seamless experience for both drivers and internal staff.
What are the results?
Thanks to our checkpoint application, DSV now saves a bunch of time, and therefore money. Every trucker can now register his vehicle and payload himself, resulting in less administrative work, fewer data errors, and increased safety. By including multi-language support as well, onboarding and usage of the application became a much more pleasant experience for everyone involved, solving a critical bottleneck in the logistic supply chain in the process.
What did the process look like?
Moving fast is our trademark, and what allows us to create better experiences, faster, is our process. We’ve fragmented the entire development cycle into week-long sprints. Short, intense bursts of productivity, with clearly defined challenges at the start, weekly stand-ups, rapid prototyping, and repeated user testing. As a nice added bonus, it also allows for custom tailored roadmaps depending on the project and client.
Collaboration highlight
Improving an experience with various stakeholders requires a good understanding of their needs and the overall ecosystem. Through close collaboration in short intensive periods, we were aligned from the start and were able to quickly validate our assumptions and solutions.
We went on-site to understand the context of the challenge; the warehouses, back offices, and truck drivers themselves. Our multidisciplinary team merged with the experts of DSV to move from challenge to prototype in just a few days. We've repeatedly tested the solution with truck drivers and staff, both before and during the implementation phase.
Safe to say, the checkpoint application has made life easier for both drivers and warehouse personnel. What once was a hassle, has now become a smooth and seamless experience. Drivers are now informed and comply with safety requirements, pretty much by default. Sounds neat, right?
Development highlight
The application runs on a wide variety of devices and screen sizes and changes must instantly affect all platforms. In other words, this is pretty much the ideal use case for a Progressive Web Application. We developed a central backbone that pushes changes immediately to both drivers and warehouses, which saves time and increases safety.
You get what's good about this application; it's quick and easy to use for everyone involved. But there's a more indirect benefit to it as well! DSV now gathers vast amounts of data by using our application. They're now able to make data-driven decisions when expanding into new locations or to map out what kind of docking stations are required at which location.
We've integrated the new platform with DSV’s current software systems and technology to provide a seamless user experience across the board.
Here's what the final product can do!
Let’s wrap up the showcase of this logistics application and recap what it can actually do for DSV.
Streamlined communication between truck drivers, warehouses and back offices.
Our docking logistics application overcomes language barriers by offering a multi-language solution, but also through visual representation and process simplification.
The right information,
at the right time.
Any and all stakeholders know exactly what is expected of them at any time. This new flow of information further enables efficiency and improves the speed of operations.
All interactions collected in a centralized system.
We've implemented various API’s to end up with a truly centralized system. What was once a chaotic and unpredictable process, now flows smoothly thanks to the apps and kiosks, and allows for easy data capturing as well. Hence, DSV can now make data-driven decisions to optimize their logistics even further!
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