American Direct Logistics (ADL) is bolstered with over 65 years of experience in the supply chain management and logistics industry. ADL specializes in white glove delivery and assembly of special equipment, including indoor and outdoor furniture, gaming tables, playground, trampolines, fitness equipment and much more for both residential and commercial properties. ADL, headquartered in Syosset, New York, offers national coverage, serving all major cities across the United States. ADL takes pride that all 450 technicians are highly skilled and trained to handle specific equipment that requires special assembly. ADL endeavors to remain a leading logistics supplier and provide the highest customer service from start to finish.

"MobiWork is a "state of the art" software for optimizing our routing system, including our technicians' schedules, routes, invoicing, etc. Thanks to MobiWork, we have full visibility and monitoring of every piece of equipment, service appointments, and employee statuses in real-time."
- Gavin Pelling, CEO of American Direct Logistics

Key Challenges: Lack of Communication and Visibility

ADL operates with transportation partners out of multiple warehouses across the USA, and handles delivery, assembly, and installation. In the supply chain management and logistics industries, it is difficult keeping track of real-time communication and updates from technicians as there are many stages involved with completing a work order, managing people in the field, and updating customers instantaneously. When there were larger issues in the field, the technicians' managers struggled with exchanging information electronically. Their team was overloaded with busy work, as they had to manually enter information, communicate with customers, and recruit and track information for customers and employees. For almost ten years, their manual processes were cumbersome and antiquated, as it took days, even weeks to manage several programs, collect paper information via email, over the phone, and in person, which then had to be entered.

Customer information was typically sent through email and it was hard keeping track of the electronic document records. Prior to MobiWork, they were entering, tracking, and storing orders and employee information through Excel. Storage space and records had to be regularly backed up on separate external hard drives. "Our workflow was very disjointed and all over the place," says Gavin Pelling.

Their team was in great need for real-time visibility in the field, and a solution that would allow technicians the ability to login and enter data in real-time. In addition, the admin wanted a central location that would store all work order and customer information right in the field. Due to their specificities and industry compliance requirements, the solution would need to be customizable and adaptable to accommodate the multiple stages of completing a work order. They were hopeful to find an inclusive situation of calculating points A-B-C, geocoding, integration with QuickBooks online, online notifications, visibility, and optimizing routes.

Results: Last Mile Addressed and Instant Visibility

MobiWork offers three key advantages that led American Direct Logistics to work with the solution: its advanced routing capabilities, custom development, and technical support. With MobiWork, ADL could achieve the routing puzzle. When Operations Manager, Christine Dennigan, was in the process of selecting from eight different solutions, she recalls that her immediate reaction to MobiWork was, "I want and need this. This was the only solution I fell in love with for the simplicity, clean look, and user-friendly aspects." Pelling remarked, "Our team transitioned in less than a month with minimal issues, a simple process and immediate results." The training has been straightforward, and their new employees take approximately 3-4 days to train or less.

The last mile is often the least efficient link in the supply chain and involves delivering a product from supplier to customer. MobiWork has helped address any last mile terminals and auto populate in the system, calculating mileage within work orders for three points, as well as finding the most qualified techs eligible to complete the job.

In their daily workflow, the technicians open all work orders, receive quotes, and follow-up to schedule appointments with an easy-to-use list of work orders not scheduled. The dispatcher responds to email and quotes, enters new work orders, and can either dispatch a technician immediately or send pricing information to customers. From there, the admin team makes sure technicians enter the paperwork. In the field, technicians can see pricing for each item on the mobile forms and they can submit any issues or photos with the work order. Now that they can track appointments and optimize routing, they can also send requests to a contractor by proximity and can isolate problems with assembly product issues faster. Pelling remarked, "The mobile app frees up time for technicians to focus on issue resolution, so they have more time to handle issues with customers, download documents, have faster access to information, and take pictures on-site, which has all led to instantaneous resolution."

ADL also utilizes MobiWork's "MobiRules" features. ADL notifies customers concerning statuses of work orders and reminders for technicians to schedule or complete a job. From there, the rules enable reminders for technicians to submit paperwork, change jobs to completed status, and change orders to schedule status. ADL loves the customer portal, emails, and scheduling updates. "The alerts and notifications are a tremendous boost to our business process," says Pelling. Since adopting MobiWork, they've seen a major increase of 68% in both productivity and visibility!

ADL is highly enthusiastic and impressed by MobiWork's solutions, and the support they've received. Pelling said, "MobiWork support team has been so warm, detail-oriented, and responsive to customizing our solution. The staff is on point and always has valuable suggestions/ideas in creating our operations. We get a warm feeling that we're more than just a number. We know that we have a personal relationship with the team and they have a real deep understanding of our system and our business needs. MobiWork is the opposite of other companies out there who just want to sell and promise they can develop a solution. When you get down to it, other companies can't offer the customization MobiWork can. MobiWork offers even more than you can imagine."