“We can now focus on delivering exceptional service to our clients.”
Sometimes a company must make significant changes to its operations not because of internal pressures – but to meet its customers’ needs and expectations. This is a situation familiar to Manchester-based Tyldesley Distribution Services Transport (TDS), a family-owned company established in the 1980s. It has 100 trucks and 140 trailers, and offers a specialist service in empty pallet pooling and paper manufacturer work.
However, despite its longstanding, hard-won success, TDS was experiencing a growing problem – more and more of its customers were utilising the Transporeon transport management platform.
Key Challenges
Integration issues
The haulier’s existing TMS system struggled to integrate with Transporeon, leaving TDS exposed to a range of significant inefficiencies. Planning Manager Andrew Hammond explains: “Our setup forced us to manually import job information, which was time-consuming and prone to errors. Often, the information provided through Transporeon was incomplete, requiring us to further investigate each job to extract the necessary details.”
Compromised communications
The lack of integration between TDS’s TMS and Transporeon also caused communication breakdowns. For instance, jobs were sometimes sent via email or Transporeon independently, leading to missed jobs, wasted trips and confusion. The lack of reliability and potential for errors highlighted the need for a more streamlined and integrated solution.
Increased demand
The integration issue was compounded further when one of TDS’s major customers began utilising Transporeon more, which triggered a search for a suitable replacement TMS. Initial online research conducted by Luke Evans, TDS Transport Manager in the Midlands, saw Qargo’s name appear time and again in results.
However, the process wasn’t quite that simple: “I had the joy of trying to go through everybody in the company to work out which TMS was best,” recalls Luke. “What do we want? How do we want it? What’s going to work? What’s not going to work?”. After much debate, they decided integration with Transporeon remained TDS’s a key priority.
The Solution
This decision tipped the scales in favour of Qargo as, by using the Transporeon Integrated App Program (TIAP), the platform promised to effortlessly integrate TDS’s processes with Transporeon. “It would eliminate the need for manual data entry and streamline the transfer of information,” explains Andrew.
“We would recommend Transporeon’s solutions … the seamless integration with Qargo has proven invaluable in streamlining our operations.”
Collaborative onboarding
Qargo was soon onboarding TDS onto its platform, an overall experience that Andrew describes as, “very positive with the system working better than we anticipated in many ways (see below) … the integration team was excellent and were always responsive and quick to address any issues that arose.”
Onboarding also required development work to integrate with Transporeon. To ensure a successful outcome, TDS collaborated with the Transporeon team, which TDS credits with providing good support and guidance throughout the process.
The Results
Automation introduced
Once the implementation phase was complete, the benefits to TDS’s operations were almost immediate. First, there was no longer a need for manual inputting. Orders are now sent via Transporeon and appear seamlessly within Qargo’s planner. This automated process reduces the risk of dispatching errors as well as leading to better planning and, crucially, freeing up planners to spend more time optimising routes and schedules.
“Without our new solution, it would have been a full time job for someone just to input the jobs.”
Expectations met
The new system has enabled TDS to meet client expectations with, “customers now seeing a better service from us because we aren’t missing jobs or turning up for stuff that isn’t ours,” explains Luke. Utilising Transporeon and Qargo together means TDS can provide a more reliable service and strengthen customer relationships.
Room to scale
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, TDS is now able to grow alongside its clients. The new integration allows the haulier to handle increased volumes from customers, demonstrating that it can meet their growing demands and in turn, helps solidify vital partnerships for the future.
The Future
TDS aims to deepen its integration with Transporeon even further. “Specifically, we’ve discussed the possibility of integrating time window bookings for deliveries with clients that use Transporeon,” says Andrew “This will eliminate the need to access a client’s system separately to check availability and book time slots. We understand that this is a complex integration – but it will significantly streamline our operations.”
Because of the close partnership TDS now has with Qargo and Transpreon, the haulier has high hopes for the future, believing it will only grow stronger through further integration and collaboration. “Thanks to Qargo and Transporeon, we have been able to elevate our supply chain operations to the next level,” says Luke.
“By significantly reducing manual work and optimising our resources, we can now deliver exceptional service to our customers, all while enhancing transparency across the supply chain.”
“We’re excited to continue working towards a more efficient and connected logistics ecosystem.”
