Natures Menu, Europe’s largest raw pet food manufacturer, has chosen Maxoptra - a real-time dynamic routing and scheduling solution - from Magenta Technology, to ensure high customer service levels are maintained as the business grows.  

Natures Menu has grown substantially over recent years, but with such rapid growth also comes challenges.

The existing electronic order management system in place at Natures Menu could no longer cope with the increasing number and complexity of the orders they were receiving. 

As such, the company needed a system that was able to quickly and easily schedule delivery jobs, so that they could plan vehicle capacities, routes and expected delivery times to enable them to immediately respond to customer queries. 

After a tough selection process Natures Menu chose Maxoptra recommended by Independent Tracking as part of a total solution which included fitting TomTom telematics to all of their delivery vehicles.  

The team at Magenta impressed Natures Menu with their depth of understanding of the logistics business. 

Craig Taylor, managing director of Natures Menu, said:  “Magenta played a key role in the total end-to-end processes and IT transformation that Natures Menu undertook in 2013, providing the foundation to scale the business, build on the high levels of customer service enjoyed by our customers while at the same time reducing mileage and fuel consumption for the business.”

Maxoptra provided the company with a highly sophisticated real time dynamic scheduling and routing system.

Track and trace functionality enables customer service personnel to immediately see any issues with deliveries and be proactive in contacting the customer. 

Since implementation, Natures Menu has seen a number of benefits from using the system. 

The scheduling functionality has considerably reduced mileage and fuel consumption. The data that has been received back from the driver’s TomTom devices and collated into intelligent reports in Maxoptra, provides valuable management information and insight that has led to improved driver performance and discipline.

Significantly improved business efficiencies have also enhanced customer service, says the company.

The customer service team are now able to track orders and see real-time delivery times, reducing by up to three hours per person per day the amount of time spent on contacting drivers or customers, and  on overall administration. 

In addition, customer satisfaction rates have improved which have proven very important to a company that is proud of the high quality service levels it provides.

“This proves that Maxoptra can provide a valuable cloud-based scheduling and routing solution to smaller organisations,” said Stuart Brunger, head of business development at Magenta.

“We are making available a real-time dynamic offering that can make a significant impact on their profit margins and customer service levels.”

More articles on: