Pall-Ex posts 500 PoD sets
Is customers’ desire for real time proof of delivery real or just a marketing mirage? Either way, it’s the future. Depot communication also to be improved.
Rivalry among pallet networks is set to focus sharply on IT, with news that Pall-Ex is sending out 500 tracking and electronic proof-of-delivery sets to drivers this week. Pall-Ex owner Hilary Devey says that the network will give customers nationwide coverage by the end of November at the latest, with all collection and delivery vehicles using the devices. This will give Pall-Ex a lead in the market – but Devey expects rivals to respond before long with their own variations on the theme. It will allow the hub to monitor network companies more closely, which is important as the company strives for even more quality. It will help win customers, especially food retailers who have higher IT expectations than most shippers and have “just woken up” to pallet networks, and companies that currently use parcels for sensitive, high-value consignments. Devey predicts a significant migration of customers from parcels carriers. Pall-Ex member companies have given the initiative a strongly positive response at regional meetings. “I’m really pleased and surprised at how the membership has embraced it,” Devey told Motor Transport on Tuesday. Many will be able to apply their experience with Pall-Ex to other parts of their businesses. In a second stage of the development, Pall-IT will be improved in conjunction with the Roadrunner system from Road Tech Computer Systems – which many network members already use – so that member companies will be able to see freight that they will have to deliver as soon as it is keyed into the system by the inputting company. In some cases, this will be immediate, in others there may be a delay as the network member takes the order and then enters the system. Pall-Ex has a contractual partnership with Road Tech, which provides similar software to Jigsaw Solutions and Linq Alliance. The partnership between Pall-Ex and Road Tech also covers further software developments including the adoption of RFID, on which the only remaining obstacle is cost, Devey says.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Reed Business Information Ltd.
