Cammax won a competitive tender run by Procter & Gamble to develop and implement a multi-lingual goods-in queue flow management system for their busiest 24/7 distribution centre in the South East of the UK. Working closely with our customer on the project, we successfully delivered our Fast Track Check-in System on time and within budget. The new system has significantly improved the efficiency of the gatehouse operations at P&G’s busiest distribution centre and is expected to be implemented in other busy international locations. Project Overview The project remit was to provide an efficient solution that could drastically reduce the queues of HGV’s at their gatehouses and cut down the time it took for UK and Foreign goods vehicles to securely enter into their very busy distribution centre operations and complete their given tasks onsite (unload, load goods etc) The communication challenges between drivers and staff had to be improved via the new system, thereby improving the driver/staff experience, shrinking queues, saving time and money. The solution was to incorporate two weather proof touch screen kiosks per goods-in lane, one for left hand drive and one for right hand drive vehicles. Each kiosk required two screens; one situated at cab level for communicating with gatehouse staff and one for site health and safety information and wayfinding map and directions for the drivers’ destination(s) within the distribution centres. The system had to cater for communicating in seventeen languages and follow P&G’s business processes.
Project Overview
The project remit was to provide an efficient solution that could drastically reduce the queues of HGV’s at their gatehouses and cut down the time it took for UK and Foreign goods vehicles to securely enter into their very busy distribution centre operations and complete their given tasks onsite (unload, load goods etc) The communication challenges between drivers and staff had to be improved via the new system, thereby improving the driver/staff experience, shrinking queues, saving time and money. The solution was to incorporate two weather proof touch screen kiosks per goods-in lane, one for left hand drive and one for right hand drive vehicles. Each kiosk required two screens; one situated at cab level for communicating with gatehouse staff and one for site health and safety information and wayfinding map and directions for the drivers’ destination(s) within the distribution centres. The system had to cater for communicating in seventeen languages and follow P&G’s business processes.
Our Solution
Our response to P&G’s project scope was to design and develop a bespoke hardware and software solution that could be easily tailored to cater for each distribution operation’s unique needs. Incorporating our innovative multi-lingual Queue Flow Management software suite, UK and European drivers can now communicate efficiently with site operators using the kiosks’ intuitive touchscreen system. Although the system operated by P&G is a stand-alone application, it can also integrate with organisation’s existing IT infrastructure with ease if required. Each kiosk has our multi-lingual goods check-in software application, which is both easy to use and significantly speeds up the vehicle’s check-in process.
Benefits include:
How does it work?
Goods vehicle drivers are welcomed by the kiosks and asked to touch the corresponding flag of their country on the main touch-screen, for their preferred language.
Instructions on how to proceed with their consignment are provided to the drivers in the language of choice. The information provided by non-English speaking drivers is translated to English for the operator’s benefit, with the operator’s response in turn being provided in the relevant language for the driver’s benefit.
The secondary screen of the dual-screen kiosk will provides drivers with site health and safety information, yet again in the language of their choice, along with a wayfinding map and directions to their instructed location(s) within the distribution centre site (e.g. drop load at bay 23 in zone C, then report to the droplot office).
The drivers are given their on-site instructions rapidly, ensuring minimum congestion at the gatehouse.
Drivers then simply follow the simple on-screen instructions regarding their load and are speedily directed to their destination within the distribution centre via an on-screen Way-finder map.
Details for every vehicle that checks in to the depot are collected for management reporting purposes (start/end times of each transaction, load details, staff details etc.). This data can also be exported to other programmes, such as MS Excel for further analysis.
Summary
Cammax has developed a multi-lingual goods check-in system for busy distribution centres, which has been successfully implemented in one of the busiest distribution centres in the UK. It is both easy to use for staff and drivers alike and significantly speeds up the vehicle’s check-in process, as well as providing other additional benefits including: minimises queues; improved driver experience; reduces gatehouse/goods-in operating costs; & provides user stats on demand. Our cost effective end-to-end future-proof solution can be tailored to meet each organisation unique needs and can be integrated integrates with existing systems & business processes.
Contact Us
For more information on how Cammax can make a difference to your organisation contact our sales professionals on 01977 669946 or email sales@cammaxlimited.co.uk.