Mobile Solution Upgrade Improves Customer Service

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

Fast delivery of fresh product is key to success in the bakery industry. Puritan Bakery in Carson, CA, has improved its delivery process and customer service by upgrading its mobile computing solution. Armed with real-time, wireless data, Puritan has increased delivery driver and accounting efficiency, and gained valuable insight into customer sales.

The family-owned company has been delivering fresh hamburger buns and breads to restaurants and food stands since 1938, and now serves more than 1,800 customers. Because bread has such a short shelf life, Puritan makes daily deliveries to its customers. The company used mobile computers to track sales and deliveries for several years, but these devices were not directly integrated with Puritan's back-office systems and relied on batch data synchronization; changes made in the field were not uploaded to the order management system until drivers returned at the end of each shift or until they phoned in any adds or cuts. The mobile and back-office systems were never fully synchronized, and the accounting department could not reconcile orders until drivers returned with their reports of what had been loaded and delivered.