Houghtons of London select ‘PODStar’ from Touchstar Technologies to transform their distribution operation

Background

Houghtons of London are a family run national supplier of fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, frozen and dried goods, to over 500 individual clients daily. The company operates from a custom built, fully refrigerated 7,000 square foot distribution centre in located in Croydon. They operate 25 refrigerated delivery vehicles, all of which are ULEZ compliant.

Houghtons have achieved AA BRC creditation for storage and distribution, which insures all of their processes are of the highest order. They currently employ 54 members of staff in a 24-hour day operation.  

The Business Objectives  

The company’s declared mission is "giving more clients better access to the best-quality chilled fruit and vegetables”. This strategic aim means the constant examination of business practices and fine-tuning efficiency throughout the distribution process. Despite the sophistication of the operation, many elements of the distribution process remained paper-based and the company took the decision to invest substantially in upgrading core IT systems.  

As an integral part of this process, Houghtons sought a system that would optimise its delivery operations. After an extensive and thorough examination of available systems the management team selected the ‘PODStar’ Electronic Proof of Delivery system from Manchester-based Touchstar Technologies.  

The Cloud-based PODStar system offers a planning tool that automates existing manual processes. Houghtons will import pre-routed and scheduled  routes and deliveries from their existing ‘VanFilla’ system, which will allow PODStar to make any last minute adjustments and allocate drivers and vehicles. The completed route manifests are then sent out to the drivers, enabling them to provide proof of delivery for every job in real time.  

The delivery drivers are equipped with rugged android devices that are used for digital vehicle checks, navigating to destinations, proof of delivery, signature capture and tracking of the driver location. Back at the Croydon office, management can view real-time updates on a ‘jobs table’ and the driver’s location, as well as additional data on the job status and driver performance.  

The Project Goals  

Lucie Houghton, Sales Director and Financial Controller for Houghtons of London will be working closely with the business development and project management teams from Touchstar.

She anticipates many tangible benefits from the introduction of the system: “The PODStar system will be receiving data from our existing IT system. Touchstar have an impressive integration tool, called EvoLink, which will handle this requirement. Once we go ‘live’ with the new system we believe it will transform our operation in a multitude of ways.

It’s going to be an asset for customers chasing POD’s or wanting ETA’s on their deliveries and for locating the drivers and assets. It was also very important for us to have an irrefutable record and evidence of what has been delivered – to hand within seconds. The proof of delivery system will immediately reduce our paper usage by at least 80 per cent. The PODStar mobile app is very easy to use with very minimal driver training on the handhelds required. I’m anticipating rapid roll out of the system out to all of my drivers with very minimal disruption to our operation.”