Our Customers
Keeping abreast of changing transport requirements
eCargo and Provincial Freightlines have a
long association. The flexible logistics tool continues to provide
important benefits within their changing business
environment.
Provincial Freightlines' philosophy and service sets them apart
from others: the company is built on an almost fanatical service
culture, providing customers with the utmost confidence in their
abilities. Operating within key strategic alliances alongside other
transport providers and servicing several major New Zealand
distributors, Provincial sees internal efficiencies as key to their
continued success.
The Challenge
Prior to the original implementation of the eCargo logistics
tool several years ago, dispatching at Provincial was done using a
primarily paper-based system. The next day's freight requirements
were largely unknown until very late the afternoon before, when
major customers would collate and fax through pickup and delivery
instructions. At that time, visibility to enable improved forward
planning and better use of resources was top of Provincial
Freightlines' wishlist. eCargo provided this and helped to increase
overall work volumes from Provincial's key customers.
Some years later Provincial entered into a joint venture with
NZL Group Ltd, called Matrix Logistics, who were appointed lead
service provider for all Carter Holt Harvey New Zealand domestic
freight. A new challenge arose; how to integrate, and which
transport management systems to use, in order to provide an
effective end-to-end process for all parties?
The Solution
The eCargo system offers the advantage of flexibility and
extreme ease of integration. It plays different roles for
Provincial, depending on who they're working with and other systems
required to be in the mix, but remains the principal system for
freight data flow and the main point of interface with all Carter
Holt Harvey and SCA sites.
The end result is that Provincial are able to focus on their
core business, whilst eCargo provides reliability of data and takes
care of integration complexity, seamlessly integrating with their
own Sapphire Transport Management System.
Provincial says it's also important not to overlook some of the
specific functionality eCargo offers. One much loved example cited
is the history function, providing Provincial with a
comprehensive audit trail of all actions performed against
individual consignments.
Benefits and Outcomes
Freight planning has come a long way from the hectic eleventh
hour activity of old. eCargo enables Provinicial to monitor freight
requirements all day, every day, and quickly and efficiently
allocate vehicles.
"Without question, the greatest benefit of eCargo is visibility.
The dispatching process is also a lot better".
Ross McKain
Provinical
Operations Administrator
"Using eCargo, we can now more effectively position trucks at
given points on given days as they are required" says McKain. "The
visibility enables us to view, and to some extent, select the
Matrix Logistics jobs that we want".
Provincial Freightlines' relationship with eCargo goes back many
years now, as are the benefits being enjoyed. Currently managing in
excess of 500 consignments a day, Provincial says there's simply no
way this would have been possible prior to eCargo. "eCargo enabled
Provincial to manage our growth without having to increase our head
count" says Dave McCoid, Transport Manager for Provincial's Bulk
Division.
"eCargo has worked well for us since the very beginning. The
system is based on an excellent underlying business process that is
responsive, flexible and reliable" confirms Provincial's IT
Manager, Antony Gibson. "Enhancements to the system are always
consistent with a good operating model and we've found it adapts
really well to third party systems. We consider eCargo to be the
benchmark for all dispatching products".