Stormking sees clear delivery improvements 

with Podfather and Dynamics 365 Business Central

The Back Story 

Stormking, the leading supplier of Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) components to the UK house building and construction industry is clearly seeing the benefit having introduced Podfather to its distribution operation. With a fleet of 23 HGVs making multi-drop deliveries to locations across the UK, Stormking realised the need to introduce an electronic solution to replace its previous paper process. Order discrepancies and disputed damage claims are now easily dealt with using Podfather’s electronic proof of delivery with customer ETAs and driver tracking links resulting in a huge drop in incoming customer calls. Add in a 10% improvement in vehicle utilisation and Stormking is delighted with how the Podfather project has helped improve business processes.

Stormking, part of the wider Epwin Group PLC, manufactures over 3,500 GRP items each week at its Tamworth site. From GRP dormers and Smart Stack chimneys to door canopies and bay window roofs, the Stormking fleet of HGVs is making 400+ deliveries a week to over 250+ housebuilders located around the UK.

Podfather was introduced to Stormking by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation partner Tecman. The Podfather solution, which integrates with Business Central via an open API, is used to plan delivery routes, capture electronic vehicle checks, track driver movements, issue customer ETA notifications and collect electronic proof of delivery via a cloud-based back-office system and easy-to-use driver app. The team has full visibility of what is being delivered where and gets immediate notification if there is a delay or delivery-related issue.

Originally we were looking for just an electronic proof of delivery solution for our business but having introduced Podfather we are seeing the benefit of having both ePOD and route planning. Paper tickets are a thing of the past, as is the admin associated with tracking and monitoring what was being delivered where. We are running a much more efficient distribution operation with Podfather in place.

Jake Dowson, IT Development Manager

The benefits of having Podfather integrated to Dynamics 365 Business Central are far-reaching – from our internal teams for whom processes are so much faster, to our customers who are really liking the ETA notifications that we now provide. Add in the efficiency savings we are making as a result and it’s easy to see that this really has been a great investment for our business.

Jake Dowson - IT Development Manager

When you are delivering items to busy locations, such as we see here for Stormking, having visibility of what has been delivered where, and when, is of real importance,” adds Colin McCreadie, Podfather’s Managing Director. “The cost of dealing with disputed claims, customer POD discrepancies, and delivery issues are minimized when you have a robust solution that can take away the paper from your distribution process. That’s what we pride ourselves in doing here at PodFather, working alongside our partners like Tecman.

Jake Dowson, IT Development Manager

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