Improved Route Accounting Through BarcodesInc Solutions

Freeman Brothers Ensures Accurate and Efficient Product Delivery with Motorola MC75 Scanners, Zebra QL420 Printers, and Customized Mobile Route Accounting Software.

Executive Summary

Freeman Brothers was looking for a way to effectively track the distribution of their products at local retailers across their region. Their pen and paper process required them to take note of what was taken from the truck, maintain accountability if it was moved to a shelf, and provide a handwritten invoice to each store owner as a billing confirmation. Freeman Brothers wanted to move away from an antiquated system to something more in line with their competitors.

The Business Challenge

In today’s market, handing over sloppily handwritten invoices was becoming time consuming and left a lot of room for manual error. Freeman Brothers wanted to stand out to their customers with a more sleek and established Solution that would provide a positive return on investment. With only a handful of drivers doing the stocking in the field there wasn’t a need for a larger networked Solution but rather something that could work independently and be updated at the office after the completion of a shift.

Freeman Brothers wanted to give their customers the option of providing electronic invoices, as well as emailing bills to save on paper costs while also collecting valuable customer information. This would also eliminate the time that was spent printing and shipping bills from the office.

The most critical piece of the Solution was still the ability to track items from the delivery truck to the store shelf. It was a challenge having to supply over 20 different locations, each with different discount levels and products.

Solution

Barcodes Inc developed a customized route accounting software that was capable of tracking pricing, stock levels, and customer information. Additionally, Barcodes Inc developed specific features for Freeman Brothers that allowed them to have pricing tiers for different customer levels, which ultimately allowed them to provide deeper discounts to customers based on the amount of product that was ordered over time.

This customized Solution also made the process easier for Freeman Brothers’s customers by allowing them to receive an electronic copy of their invoice and an email of their receipt upon purchase. The Zebra QL420 still afforded the customer the option of receiving a printed receipt at the point of purchase, while the Motorola MC75 mobile computer provided signature capture and asset tracking capability.

Benefits

Being faster and more accurate are both showing immediate returns for Freeman Brothers who have already seen their profit margins increase with an increase in the number of stops a driver can make during a route. Additionally, they now have the critical data at a single touch of a button in the palm of their hand, thus saving them valuable time to allow them to get to the next customer in a much more efficient manner.

The company itself isn’t the only one reaping the benefits. Freeman Brothers is also seeing a benefit to their end users who are now seeing an increase in fresh product being delivered and more accurate and easy-to-read invoices being produced. With this Solution both sides are seeing the benefits immediately.

The Future

While the short term benefits are already showing potential, the long term benefits are limitless. As the company grows, their tracking system can handle the load now whereas in the past they were buried beneath messy paperwork and hard-to-read inventory checks. Now they will be able to add customers, products, and revenue to their already booming business without too much additional effort. This Solution should take care of their needs for years to come and Barcodes Inc will be there with them as their needs grow by providing them with the right products as they go forward.