Forest Produce has partnered with software provider Podfather for its logistics planning, route optimisation and electronic proof of delivery software.
The west country-based food wholesaler claims this has led to significant improvements in customer service including newly introduced dispatch notes and ePODs, contributing to faster and more accurate invoicing and a significant reduction in credit notes. It also said that since implementing the system, it has seen a 75% reduction in the time taken to train new delivery drivers.
Forest Produce’s founder and managing director, Tony Quick said: “I started looking for a system to help reduce the time it took to train new drivers as before they were partnered with an existing driver for 3 or 4 days in order to learn the ropes. While this worked, it wasn’t efficient and it also meant that potentially bad habits were simply being propagated.”
Read more: United Wholesale Grocers working in partnership with Podfather
“However, from my first conversation with Podfather I was astonished; not only did they have a solution for my original requirement they immediately started offering resolutions for problems I thought were unsolvable. The hospitality sector is facing unprecedented skills shortages and, as we are constantly expanding, we are constantly trying to recruit. Using Podfather we are able to be more efficient with the resource we have which allows us to respond to this challenge,” he addd.
Forest Produce was established 2003 and employs 45 members of staff and operates 16 delivery vehicles making an average of 2,000 weekly deliveries.
