Independent Electric Supply Improves Distribution Operations With Descartes' Cloud-Based Route Planning And Mobile Solutions

Descartes Systems Group, the global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that Independent Electric Supply, a leading electrical distributor throughout Arizona and California, is using Descartes’ cloud-based Route Planner On-demand  and Descartes Mobile solutions to improve the efficiency of its distribution operations.

“To support our business growth and better serve customers, starting in the Arizona market, we undertook a major strategic initiative to consolidate distribution operations and automate route management,” said Roy Thornton, Regional Manager - Arizona at Independent Electric Supply. “Since implementing Descartes’ Route Planner On-demand and Mobile as part of our strategy, we’ve been able to double and, in some cases, triple the number of deliveries to customers during our peak early morning hours. The Descartes solution has provided rapid time-to-value and we plan to soon expand the deployment to a new facility underway in Northern California.” 

Descartes’ Route Planner On-demand is an easy-to-use solution for automatically planning drivers’ routes. Planners and dispatchers benefit from better visibility and control over daily routes with a drag-and-drop visual planning user interface to make edits and monitor delivery status throughout the day. The solution offers advanced capabilities at an affordable cost including optimizing static and dynamic routes by taking into account geographic zones, time windows and other physical constraints. The mobile component of the solution provides real-time GPS-based tracking, monitoring of driver performance and can electronically capture proof-of-delivery (POD) information. According to Independent Electric Supply, its dispatcher and drivers were quickly able to become proficient with Descartes’ user-friendly system.

“We're pleased to have helped Independent Electric Supply drive significant productivity gains and higher levels of customer satisfaction, especially during critical peak times,” said Andrew Roszko, Senior Vice President of Sales at Descartes. “Manual routing processes are highly inefficient and cannot support the service standards that customers in many markets expect today. Descartes Route Planner On-demand and Mobile solutions are cost-effective and provide fast time-to-value for rapidly growing companies, like Independent Electric Supply, who need to centralize delivery operations and move away from traditional paper-based practices for route planning and execution.”

About Independent Electric Supply
Founded in 1976, Independent Electric Supply, Inc. originally served electrical contractors in the aerospace industry. Today, with more than 450 people and over 1 million square feet of warehouse space, Independent Electric Supply operates 19 electrical supply branches in the Northern California, the San Francisco Bay area, Central Valley, Central Coast and seven locations in Arizona. Independent Electric Supply focuses on traditional electrical supply with dedicated specialists in lighting, switchgear, wire management, tool and safety, renewable energy and enhanced logistics solutions to meet specific customer needs. The company also operates two specialty divisions: Independent Power Systems in Sacramento, Westminster and San Diego, CA; and Independent Utility Supply in West Sacramento and Tracy, CA. Independent Electric Supply is owned by Sonepar USA, a division of Sonepar Group, the world’s largest privately-held electrical distributor. For more information, visit www.iesupply.com.

About Descartes
Descartes is the global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions focused on improving the productivity, performance and security of logistics-intensive businesses. Customers use our modular, cloud-based solutions to route, schedule, track and measure delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute shipments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file customs and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world's largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community. Our headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and we have offices and partners around the world. For more information, visit www.descartes.com.