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Guest Column: A case study on intelligent automation in logistics

Global manufacturer and distributor of fuel dispenser equipment reduced average install time from multiple months to under a week, writes Hardik Gandhi.

Guest Column: A case study on intelligent automation in logistics

Zvolv, a no-code intelligent process automation platform, was leveraged by a global manufacturer of fuel dispensers and pumps to track deliveries, installations and claims, leading to a significant reduction in the time to go live with new installs, and reduction in down-time due to faster resolution of critical technical issues.

Prior to the introduction of Zvolv based solutions, this manufacturer of high value equipment was losing significant time on tracking cross continent deliveries, installations, issues and warrant claims, leading to challenges in manufacturing and financial planning and lost capital and resource efficiency.

Challenges: Forward and reverse logistics challenges abound when manufactured goods leave the OEM factory/warehouse and into a complex supply chain of contractors, distributors and resellers. This is especially a major concern for high value goods that require complex technical support for installation issues, and have a rigorous timebound warranty process.

Real-time supply-chain visibility often ends when goods leave the OEM control. A major challenge for this OEM was traceability of the equipment (has it been delivered to the intended customer and installed and in use without issues), timely reporting of any issues (long turn-around time for technical support due to multiple layers of communications), and a complicated warranty claim process.

Key insights were missing due to the lack of real-time visibility into this last leg of the supply chain. There was an overall difficulty in terms of tracking the value of units dispatched based on the installation status and any required part replacements and returns; tracking warranty status of the installed base of units due to delayed or non-updated installations; tracking TAT for issues due to delayed communication channels and tracking inventory of replacement parts and returns managed by distributors and contractors.

Solution: Three interlinked applications were created on the Zvolv intelligent process automation platform, that focused on tracking the delivery of fuel dispensers across four continents, tracking successful installations and any issues encountered, technical support ticketing for any part or software failures encountered and managing warranty claims.

A no-code platform-based development approach enabled these applications to be made in less than three weeks from concept to launch. The applications are being used by hundreds of distributors and end customers across the globe, back office technical support, quality heads, logistics managers, field personnel and end customers for self-help. Drill-down analytics and reporting via web dashboards for back-office operations and task tracking system for quality heads and technical support personnel were created.

A self-help mobile application for Dealers/Distributors and end customers allows for a real time and unified communication channel. The app helps report equipment installation with QR scanning to identify specific units, and geotagging to identify installation location, with auto-exceptions raised for deviations. Users can report issues and request technical support with identification of category and part numbers, and auto-routing of requests to appropriate teams based on regional roles. It tracks warranty status and enables making warranty claims with supporting data as required.

A contextual dashboard solution for regional leaders and head-office users offers a real-time view into the status of different categories of units, with drill down by country/region/distributor etc. It helps monitor efficiency of technical support teams, and quality parameters based on issues reported and resolutions Identifying bottlenecks in supply chains – reasons for delayed deliveries, delayed installations, warranty claims for damages, etc.

A web-portal for back-office and field technical teams for tracking tasks and communications enables time-bound acknowledgment and responses to technical issues reported. It also enables technician dispatching, repair/replacement approvals and returns workflow. Efficiency tracking at individual, team and product-line levels is integrated.

Impact: Average time for reporting successful installs reduced to under a week, compared to multiple months earlier with manual processes. This significantly improved supply chain visibility. Accurate QR scan and geo-tagging-based installations helped identify deviations in supply chain in a timely manner. Over 50% reduction in TAT for critical technical issue resolution. The solution enabled real-time visibility into product-line and region wise parts and unit inventory, improving forecasting and production planning.

Conclusion: The manufacturer of fuel dispensers could launch this solution in under 2 weeks, which was significantly faster than what was anticipated with traditional development methodologies. The solutions were fine-tuned with several iterations based on regional trials and pilots, and Zvolv’s rapid turn-around ensured the client was able to keep up the momentum of deployment. The ease-of-use of the customer app, and the comprehensive data analytics provided by the management dashboards allowed the client to use this solution extensively for all of its product lines. User adoption had been great, scaling up the anticipated value from this solution.

Hardik Gandhi is the Founder-CEO, Zvolv.