Cases / Wilson
Canadian logistics company Wilson’s Truck Line and Datainfo develop low-code solutions to optimize operations.
Scenario
Datainfo, a technology company specializing in digital transformation, helped Wilson’s Truck Lines (a Canadian company specializing in Logistics and Transport) in the development of low-code software software to automate, accelerate and digitize Yard Check operations and significantly reduce the time to capture, validate and share field information..
Project
The joint project involved Datainfo's outsourcing team and Wilson's IT team. With the alliance, already in the week after the implementation of the system, Wilson's operations team and its customers began to receive information in real time helping in decision making, mitigating possible errors and optimizing the workflow inside the yard (yard). The improvements resulted in an increase in customer satisfaction and profitability in the service provided.
One of its main customers is a chain in the retail segment and it has to deal uninterruptedly, 24/7, with the delivery of various products, including food – including perishables that need greater care with packaging, temperature, shelf life delivery and time on the road. An error, in fact, would represent a great loss of time and money, affecting the business.
The team led by Giovani Cani, Vice President of IT Delivery at Wilson, needed a solution to speed up yard checks and the dispatch of drivers who maneuvered trailers for loading and unloading (shunt drivers). Datainfo was asked to develop software together with Wilson for this purpose. In addition to being Brazilian, Cani had already worked with Marcelo Ferrari, vice-president and co-founder of Datainfo, in Santa Catarina and was aware of the company's expertise in technology outsourcing.
Result
The arrival of the pandemic in early 2020 accelerated the need for results. As a basis, the low-code Oracle APEX platform was established and Oracle Autonomous DB as the database that enabled the project, “these solutions help the developer to deliver a lot by writing, on average, one hundred times less code when compared to conventional technologies”, Cani explained. The combination of these solutions was ideal to deliver robust and fast results to the business team. In a few days, the Wilson/Datainfo team made the first prototype available to users, which was very well accepted. After a successful Prova de Conceito (PoC) Proof of Concept (PoC), they set out to build the complete solution.
Real-time truck- yard check
Wilson's business challenge, at the time, was to facilitate yard verification, which is a check shift to count the trucks/trailers, their cargo, which door they were in and prepare for loading/unloading. This procedure took 6 to 8 hours a day, done by an operator who walked around the yard writing everything down on a paper spreadsheet, which was scanned when he returned to the office. Only on the return of this professional to the office, around 30% of the information had practically already changed, since turnover in logistics is high and many trucks had already left or changed their status.
With the system jointly developed by Wilson and Datainfo, the operator walks around the yard with a device, scans a bar code on the trailer, selects the trailer's content from options on the touchscreen and sends the information to the system, which, via geolocation , you can control which DC the load is on, the specification of the trailer or if the vehicle has a breakdown/needs preventive maintenance. This allows for real-time monitoring, with all field collection data accounted for.
Em números, o tempo de captura e validação foi reduzido pela metade: enquanto na checagem analógica o operador levava 3 a 5 minutos por trailer para anotar todas as informações no papel, que ainda seria digitalizado horas depois, com o sistema desenvolvido basta apenas 30 segundos por trailer, com informações disponíveis no sistema de controle no mesmo instante.
“Users loved the new system. It's especially important for streamlining reporting, because the solution brought us grouping, sorting, charting, and email integration. The result that the team delivered was a modern, agile, safe and responsive product, that is, compatible with different types of screens and devices available on the market. This was a great advance for us, given the dynamics of the business, and all this without having to write a single line of code”, evaluated Giovani Cani.
Differencials
Electronic dispatch of drivers
Given the particularities of the business and the large number of variables involved, Wilson decided to launch and test the new system module by module, so the total delivery of the tool took two months. At every step or question, Datainfo DevOps , the Canadian IT team and the drivers' representative were on the same line of contact, for a practical view of the service.
With gains considered, in Cani's words, "stratospherics", and delivery of improvements every two weeks without downtime for users, another module of the system was also highlighted for the economy and efficiency of the service, the Shunt Management System (SMS), or managing the drivers who maneuver the trailers in the yard.
Before, the communication of taking a certain trailer to a gate was done by radio system, which generated errors in understanding instructions and there was no record or control of instructions. With the new SMS module, the operator informs the trailer's specifications in the system (axles, size, opening type) and the port of destination. This arrives on the driver's device, which sees the information and delivers it correctly. In addition to offering a record of activities and important KPIs for the business, it is possible to see in the system whether the trailer intended to meet the demand has a breakdown or needs to undergo preventive maintenance - before, this was only noticed when the trailer arrived, doing all wasting time in a business where time is more than money is a crucial item.
In Cani's opinion, Datainfo helped by providing technically capable professionals to develop a solution in collaboration with the Canadian team, including the drivers. Results-oriented, flexible and available professionals who really facilitated project delivery and after-sales support. “Logistics is like that, 24 hours a day. All requested alterations were met and carried out within hours, for two reasons: the technology allowed this possibility and there weren't many people between the ends, facilitating communication and decision-making”, says Cani.
“Being able to help Wilson’s Truck Lines in its challenges was very rewarding for us”, says Marcelo Ferrari, vice president and co-founder of Datainfo. “Low-code is a powerful tool for digital transformation, as it automates several time-consuming steps in the programming process. The project was made possible by the use of technology and the close collaboration between the teams of the two companies, which enabled our developers to a high level of refinement to automate the operations of Wilson’s Truck Lines”.
About Wilson
Wilson’s Truck Line is part of the Wilson Logistics Group and operates since 1937 in the provinces of Ontario and Québec, Canada. The company manages a fleet of more than 600 trailers and 4 distribution centers (DC) with a total of 500 loading/unloading ports.