Reliable Mobile Printing Solutions For Route Accounting

Challenges in Route Accounting

Relationships between food, beverage, snack and dairy distributors and the retail customers they serve are often fragile and extremely time sensitive. To improve accuracy, deliver goods faster on-time every time, reduce shrinkage, manage inventory, serve more customers in a day, reduce handwritten errors and improve cash flow, most distributors have switched from the old standby of pen and paper to highly automated systems that include handhelds with application software and mobile printers.

This has transformed the two distinct activity sets in Direct Store Delivery (DSD) operations: pre-sales operations for DSD, which involve live visits to customers to set new orders; and full service operations for DSD, which is the physical movement of ordered product from a central distribution point to the shelves of the customer, as well as the pickup of goods to be returned by that customer to the distribution center for credit.

In DSD, drivers receive orders and routes for each day at a distribution center, load and check the orders on their truck or van, deliver the order to the customer and pick up any returns, and provide delivery confirmations and invoices before moving on to their next stop. Most of these activities are communicated from and to the driver’s distribution center via handheld computers carried by drivers, and printed materials are generated from these handhelds typically through 4" and 8" mobile printers with the 4" printers most often clipped on a driver’s belt and 8" printers mounted in the truck.

Download this solutions brief below to learn more.