The changing transportation dynamic in the supply chain and how mobile tech can help

The changing transportation dynamic in the supply chain and how mobile tech can help

Jim Dempsey

The increase in consumer online purchasing is only one of the factors pushing logistics organizations or companies to improve their performance while maintaining profitability. Based on a recent survey performed by a transportation and logistics software provider, operators are facing challenges on several fronts.

Moving goods through the supply chain has become a centerpiece of commerce because manufacturers and retailers maintain low inventories and rely on transportation providers to deliver orders on schedule. At the same time, the costs of maintaining and modernizing truck fleets, drivers, and the technology infrastructure that coordinates the processes puts pressure on profitability to the point that 74 percent of the survey's respondents identified 'reduce overall transportation costs' as their top priority for 2017.

The lack of drivers is also getting in the way of transportation providers achieving their overall goals, partly because as drivers retire, younger drivers are harder to find due to their different expectations of their employers, the job and the equipment they use.

Young drivers are accustomed to using mobile technology in their personal lives and assume the same for their work day, expecting to use modern mobile applications and tools to communicate, navigate, plan, and perform their jobs. They are also comfortable with adoption of enterprise-wide fleet and workforce tracking and management systems that are accessed and utilized via wireless tablet computers in place of manual paper-based work orders, logs, record keeping and reporting.

Seemingly, transport companies understand the benefits of moving to advanced mobile enterprise transportation management systems as part of their overall drive to reduce costs and bring new drivers onto the road. More than one-third of the survey respondents pointed to improved route planning accuracy as a goal for 2017 and 22 percent said improved management information and reporting was their next target.

Road-ready and tested for the long haul

Achieving the priorities identified requires integration with an enterprise, purpose-built mobile computing solution. Trucks and transportation work environments are noted for the rough conditions and the unfavorable cellular connectivity settings they encounter every day. The laptop and tablet computers they rely on need to be able to perform under long haul conditions and deliver the state of the art technology both the applications and new, younger workers require.

Here's a list of mobile tablet or laptop features recommended for transportation and trucking fleets to help ensure the devices survive the open road test and support their business priorities:

  1. Daylight viewable screens that can be seen comfortably even in bright sunlight
  2. Touchscreen recognition that works smoothly through gloves or in the rain
  3. Battery life that averages 9 -10 hours or longer and hot-swappable batteries for zero downtime if needed
  4. Ability to hold up and keep operating in extreme hot or cold temperatures
  5. Barcode reader for inventory, proof of delivery and other applications
  6. Vehicle mountable devices for quick and secure integration in trucks or forklifts
  7. Fully tested to withstand knocks, vibrations, drops, spills of grease, coffee, soda.

In addition to ensuring new mobile device technology can survive the demands "over the long haul" organizations should consider taking advantage of services to help ensure a smooth deployment and efficient ramp up to avoid costly delays or reductions in customer deliveries and productivity. Transportation providers are more likely to achieve their priorities by selecting a mobile technology partner that has consulting engineers and offers services to provide pre-planning consulting through training and vehicle mounting installation support. This will speed up deployment, get the technology into workers' hands sooner, and perhaps most importantly free up internal IT resources to stay focused on even more strategic work such as legacy infrastructure upgrades.

For more information, go to Panasonic Transportation & Logistics Solutions.

How a McDonald’s franchisee turns big data into big productivity gains

FSTECmcDs

How a McDonald’s franchisee turns big data into big productivity gains

4 minutes

In the food, beverage and restaurant business, recipes are some of most jealously guarded trade secrets. McDonald’s franchise owner/operator Bill Chao has a secret sauce developed after several years of experience running a number of restaurants, thorough research, and making adjustments to achieve success. And he’s sharing it.  

Mr. Chao’s secret sauce involves a software solution that allows him to analyze the data for all of his four restaurants across Canada from one location. Since implementing Panasonic’s Clearview software solution, he has seen an annual cumulative average of a 2% reduction in operating costs per restaurant and a reduction in the time it takes owners to analyze business information. Meanwhile, he said his restaurants are seeing a revenue growth of about 7-8% per year. 

From individual binders to a dashboard

It hasn’t always been that way. Mr. Chao remembers a time when he would have to travel to each restaurant individually and pilfer through binders of printed Excel sheets if he wanted to examine the back-office records of his locations. At that point, the operations at Mr. Chao’s restaurants relied on old software and that made management of multiple restaurants tricky. The backbone was a DOS-based software that held data on individual restaurants on independent systems, which could not be accessed without traveling to each location.

Meanwhile McDonald’s Canada was encouraging its successful owner/owner operators to expand their franchise business by opening even more locations. Mr. Chao was almost ready, but there was one thing he knew he would need to make this next step in his business a reality—a back office software solution that would allow him to analyze the data his restaurants from one location. 

He investigated the best options and not long after implemented Clearview’s Human Resource Information System under a corporate initiative, which allowed restaurants to move from reporting their labor statistics on paper to the computer. This enabled them to digitally manage employee’s timecards and hours and integrate the payroll system—and make better decisions by analyzing the collective data. Mr. Chao saw two quick benefits: Labor control improvements and the ability to more accurately manage employee information. That meant cost savings and other benefits such as employee satisfaction growth. 

Similar to our recent success story with a Dairy Queen franchisee, Mr. Chao found success in analyzing the data collected with the solution. Danny Shulman, who now serves as Manager of Application Development at McDonald’s in Canada, would go on to other franchisees like Mr. Chao as they modernized back office operations. Working with owner/operators as they implemented Clearview for their own restaurants helped Mr. Shulman develop a model for McDonald’s Canada corporate locations to implement Clearview at their own restaurants. “With those types of activities, having a back office application that provides data from anywhere at any time is obviously useful,” Mr. Shulman said.

To learn more how McDonald’s Canada took Bill Chao’s success and implemented Clearview, read our case study.

Nowadays there are also sorts of applications delivering data—from point of sales systems to online platforms to self-service kiosks. Like Mr. Chao, savvy managers and franchisees in the restaurant industry are using this insight, culled from hundreds if not thousands of sources, to make smart decisions. They’re turning to end-to-end connected restaurant solutions to move people through lines faster (or eliminate lines altogether), get the right menu items and messages in front of customers at the right time, automate kitchen processes to better use staff, and improve operations in countless ways—in large part thanks to rich data. 

Much like Mr. Chao, technology leaders in food service, hospitality & retail increasingly rely on disruptive technologies to accelerate their businesses. They’re investing to improve things like personalization and communication, and see a time when artificial intelligence will play a critical role in their business. These industries and others are adopting 10 leading disruptive technologies expected to generate trillions in economic value in the decade ahead. Panasonic is deeply engaged in these technologies. We believe that connecting them into integrated solutions is essential to creating entirely new experiences. To understand the role they play in other organizations, Panasonic Corporation of North America commissioned a new research series, Moving Forward, on how disruptive technologies are impacting businesses, government agencies and entire industries.

Food service, hospitality & retail firms are especially bullish on artificial intelligence (AI), which can help them better understand the needs and behavior of their customers. Learn more about how tech leaders see disruptive technologies impacting restaurants and other businesses in Moving Forward. 
 

Authors
Che Baird - National Business Development Manager - QSR/Retail Solutions at Panasonic Canada

Kiosks are king for Dairy Queen franchisee

FSTEC 2018 NEW

Kiosks are king for Dairy Queen franchisee

5 minutes

When Michael Clarke jumped to the forefront of Dairy Queen franchises that had introduced Panasonic’s self-service kiosks in his location, he took the opportunity to analyze the ensuing data. The results of this connected restaurant solution, he said, speak for themselves. One of the most positive distinctions of the kiosk program is the increase of the average check size per order, he said. Across the two of his eight locations that piloted the kiosks, the average check is 35 to 40 percent higher on the kiosks in comparison to counter and drive-thru orders.

“That’s one of the most common Key Performance Indicators that the QSR industry looks at: What is the average check and how can we lift that,” Mr. Clarke said. “So, when you find something that works like the kiosks, it’s just a truth whether you compare it to the same store’s drive-thru or counter – before or after implementation – it’s consistently higher every time.”

Location, Location, Location

But, not only did the data indicate the pilot was a success—it also highlighted areas for improvement. This meant reassessing where the kiosks were placed in the store in order to best drive customer traffic to them and maximize the amount of visitors that would utilize this technology. During the first phase of the kiosk pilot program, Clarke didn’t deploy free-standing kiosks because he wanted to defer the expense and disruption until he had the data to warrant the investment and minimal re-model. As a soft launch, Panasonic installed self-service tablets on the countertop. When Clarke’s company, Lickety Split Food Services, launch the kiosk technology across all its restaurants in Q4 2018, it is opting for the free-standing kiosks.

The plan is to place the kiosks in the lobby of the restaurant so that customers approach the kiosk prior to the front counter. Clarke does not plan to reduce the number of service staff, rather his team will be trained to assist guests in how to use the kiosk and spend more time interacting (and less time transacting) with guests. Explains Clarke, “The kiosks have proven that they will drive a significantly higher check and that those guests using them have an overall satisfaction similar to or greater than those placing their orders directly with staff.”

Similar to Mr. Clarke, technology leaders in food service, hospitality & retail increasingly rely on disruptive technologies to accelerate their businesses. They’re investing to improve things like personalization and communication, and see a time when artificial intelligence will play a critical role in their business. These industries and others are adopting 10 leading disruptive technologies expected to generate trillions in economic value in the decade ahead. 

Panasonic is deeply engaged in these technologies. We believe that connecting them into integrated solutions is essential to creating entirely new experiences. To understand the role they play in other organizations, Panasonic Corporation of North America commissioned a new research series, Moving Forward, on how disruptive technologies are impacting businesses, government agencies and entire industries.

Food service, hospitality & retail firms are especially bullish on artificial intelligence (AI), which can help them better understand the needs and behavior of their customers. Learn more about how tech leaders see disruptive technologies impacting restaurants and other businesses in Moving Forward. 

And for more information on how Michael Clarke improved outcomes for his Dairy Queen locations, read our case study.

Authors
Faisal Pandit - Senior Vice President & Chief Digital Officer of Panasonic System Solutions Company of North America