Jan/san distributors were tested in 2008 like they’ve never been tested before. Whether it was being backed up against the wall with the highest price per gallon of gasoline in the history of the United States, or a stumbling economy that battered their profit margins, distributors who were able to ride out the storm in good standing order were the ones who had their technology tools in place.

Economists predict an ominous forecast for distributors in 2009. With that in mind, distributors may be wary to indulge in spending money on new technology. However, distributors say driving down operational costs and keeping their operations running in 2009 may come a little easier with three technology must-haves: Global Positioning System (GPS) routing software, document management systems and robust Web sites.

GPS Routing Software

The high price of gasoline put a dent in many jan/san distributors’ pocketbooks in 2008. As prices hovered around $4 and $5 a gallon for a large portion of the year, distributors across the country were left scrambling for ways to keep delivery expenses at a comfortable operating level. Most distributors were able to offset a significant portion of their delivery prices by tacking fuel surcharges on to customer delivery tickets. Some distributors also found some much-needed relief via GPS technology. Distributors that implemented GPS technology prior to the gas price hike were able to plan more efficient routes and reduce miles driven, which equaled lower gasoline costs.

Chris Householder, executive vice president of distribution services for JanPak, a Davidson, N.C.-based jan/san distributor with 12 locations in the United States, says his company was able to offset a significant portion of its delivery expenses after implementing GPS routing software.

All of JanPak’s delivery drivers are equipped with GPS-enabled smartphones that interface with the routing software. The drivers are then routed in a time-effective and fuel-efficient method by the routing software.

“The route is downloaded to their phone, it gives them turn by turn directions and then we have the ability with the GPS to track the timeliness of the delivery — whether they’re going to be on-time or be late,” says Householder.

Plus, JanPak’s dispatcher is able to pull up the Web-based interface on a computer screen and see where all the company’s trucks are at any given time. That is a plus on the customer service side of the operations, says Mike Janis, senior director of operations for JanPak’s Davidson, N.C., location.

“We’ll get calls from customers asking, ‘when are your drivers going to arrive,’” says Janis. “And we’re able to pull it up and do a search, find out where the driver is at and give the customer an estimated time. It’s really become a great customer service tool. We don’t have to call the drivers, we’re able to key them up and see all the trucks on a map and be able to tell the customer the driver is going to be there at a certain time based on where he is at.”

Besides the price of gasoline, distributors also have to manage their fleet of vehicles and drivers. But distributors can’t always stay as up-to-date as they like on road closures and traffic conditions. GPS routing software, however takes that guesswork out of the equation.

Distributors who have implemented the software say they have experienced a reduction in miles driven, a reduction in the number of vehicles in their fleet, as well as an improvement on the customer service side of their operations.

“To really get that benefit you have to have a GPS tracking device that interfaces with a routing device,” says Householder. “If you have traditional routing software with no GPS, you’re assuming the computer’s right and there’s no real world verification of that. Integrating the two, you have the GPS with the route management software so that at the end of every day, the route management software is updated with real world information that the GPS brings back and can learn from.”

Although fuel prices have dipped by more than 50 percent in the final months of 2008, distributors say investing in GPS routing software is a cost-saving investment worth looking into before prices eventually go back up.

Paperless Office

A distributor’s headquarters gets inundated with a paper trail of faxes and documents each working day. In fact, a few years ago, Kelsan Inc., a Knoxville, Tenn.-based jan/san distributor, who processes anywhere from 300 to 500 delivery tickets daily, got overwhelmed with the process of filing printed invoices in filing cabinets, says Matt Johnston, the company’s director of technology.

Like many businesses, the company used to store printed invoices in filing cabinets and send them off to a storage facility when they ran out of space in the office. By law, Johnston says they were required to keep the invoices on hand for six years. Multiply six years of paper work by 300 to 500 delivery tickets a day and Kelsan had a warehouse filled with boxes of invoices stacked to the ceiling.

That forced the company to make one of its biggest investments — a document management system that runs on their computer network, to cut back on paper usage as well as storage fees,says Johnston.

“We are now completely paperless as far as forms are concerned,” he says. “We scan all of our delivery tickets when they come in-house, so we don’t have to store those any longer.”

Not only is the document management system allowing freed up space and revenue devoted to storage, Kelsan has also noticed significant savings on printing, mailing and paper usage. And because employees can access electronic documents more quickly than on paper, they can almost instantly respond to customer requests, making them more productive during the workday.

“All of our invoices are stored electronically, so if a customer calls in, we don’t have to print it off and fax it,” says Johnston. “We can send it electronically right then via e-mail or fax it from our desktop.”

Ed Hildreth, co-owner of Sound Janitorial Supply in Tumwater, Wash., also implemented a document management system in its office and has found several advantages to the system.

“First of all it cuts down on file space as all of our files are now stored on the computer and backed up off site,” he says.

By having files stored on the computer network, Hildreth says it allows his staff to respond to a customer’s request about a delivery much quicker than having to search through a file cabinet filled with paper.

“If a customer has a question if a delivery was made, we can go to their file find the packing slip and fax it to them without touching a hard copy,” Hildreth says. “Retrieval is much faster. In fact, we can find the packing slip and fax it to them when they are on phone because anyone in the office has access to the files from their computer.”

Kelsan has made it a goal to send as many invoices as possible directly from its accounts receivable computer to its customers, as it reduces all of the costs of mailing a hard copy to the customer. In fact, 45 percent of the company’s customers prefer to receive their invoices delivered electronically.

Distributors who have implemented a document management system say a conservative estimate is that they can save at least 50 percent on their postage if not more. That reason alone should give distributors a reason to make the switch, says Hildreth.

“Other companies should look at a paperless office because it decreases response time to the customer, cuts file space and allows everyone in the office to exchange information within the computer system,” he says.

Going paperless also shows a distributor’s customers that they are on board green processes, which in today’s jan/san industry is at a fever pitch.

Web Sites

Over the last decade, jan/san distributors’ Web sites have been plagued by relatively static content. Distributors nowadays, however, are starting to realize that the traditional cookie-cutter Web site is no longer acceptable. That’s because today’s consumers are hip to the online culture and are operating in an “e” state of mind. Thus, distributors are going to have to explore new and much more bolder measures to appease their clients.

“Too many people in the industry have just been using their Web site like a brochure,” says Jean Hanson, co-founder of The Janitorial Store, a Web site created by Brainerd Lakes Cleaning & Supply in Brainerd, Minn., tailored specifically for the company’s customers. “It’s like customers go to the Web site, check it out and then they never come back because they say, ‘OK, I learned what I needed to learn.’”

Hanson says distributors need to start making their sites more interactive and more personal in order to keep customers coming back more frequently.

“I see distributors not even putting photos or names on their sites,” she says. “You go to their About Us page and its got ‘we do this and we do that,’ but they never say who ‘we’ are. It needs to be more personal.”

One unique way distributors can make their Web sites more personal and appease customers is by hosting videos on their company sites. Distributors say videos have become very beneficial in the training process as it helps free up a sales staff’s time. Hanson says she expects more manufacturers to release more videos that distributors can use for product training and host on their sites.

“I know there is some of that already, but I can just see that expanding some more,” says Hanson. “For distributors, it’s hard to maintain all these salespeople. They need to let the videos do some of the selling for them as well. I don’t see video going away. I see it getting stronger and everyone getting on board with it.”

Sometime in 2009, Hanson says her company is going to start hosting social networking on their customer Web site. As social networking such as Facebook and LinkedIn has taken off in many industries, Hanson believes it’s going to help her company gain more exposure. It’s also a tool that will be quite beneficial for customers as well.

“Our customers are going to be able to connect with each other and they’ll have their own page. That’s going to be exciting because social networking is all over right now.”

Whether it’s drawing in customers via a more interactive Web site, implementing a GPS routing software program or going paperless via a document management system, distributors have many different avenues to go venture down in 2009. These, distributors say are the current hot technologies that can be most beneficial to a distributor’s operation.




POSTED ON: 12/1/2008