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Wednesday, 01. December 2021

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OTTO DÖRNER Gravel and Sand Introduces Electronic Delivery Note Using OPHEO

Leading the way in digitizing bulk transport and disposal services – Accelerated billing – Greater transparency – Annual savings of 100,000 printed delivery notes

By introducing electronic delivery notes for its short-term supply and disposal business, OTTO DÖRNER Kies und Deponien GmbH has reached another milestone in its digitization strategy. Together with Opheo Solutions GmbH and the transport management and scheduling software OPHEO, the owner-managed company replaced conventional paper delivery notes as early as spring 2021. This benefits roughly 98,000 construction site tours per year in terms of gravel and sand supplies as well as the disposal of a wide range of materials. Digitizing the process means that delivery receipts are available to all parties involved without any delay, which makes billing faster and increases customer satisfaction. In addition, this new solution reduces the number of printed delivery notes by around 100,000 per year and saves a considerable number of expensive printer cartridges.

With its transport control center OPHEO and the telematics solution OPHEO MOBILE, Opheo Solutions GmbH has already been among OTTO DÖRNER’s IT partners since 2015. Upon the start of the cooperation, OTTO DÖRNER’s 140 own and third-party vehicles in the field of gravel, sand and disposal services were equipped with Samsung tablets featuring the OPHEO MOBILE telematics app. The app also plays a key role in electronic delivery notes and weighing cards, guiding drivers step by step through the delivery and pickup processes.

“Previously, we did not have electronic delivery notes for bulk materials transports and disposal services, because of the large number of influencing factors, special cases and intermediate steps to be taken into account,” as Project Manager Steffi Weber explains, who is responsible for trading at OTTO DÖRNER Kies und Deponien GmbH. Therefore, Opheo Solutions developed the digital delivery and disposal processes in close consultation with managers, drivers and dispatchers. “Our collaboration with Opheo Solutions’ hands-on team of developers really worked out great,” Weber emphasizes.

Drivers are “very well supported by the app, ensuring that no information is forgotten when documenting orders and that errors can almost be completely ruled out.” The authorized officer points to the entry of waiting times or the documentation of unsuccessful journeys as examples.

When delivering gravel or sand to a construction site, the driver carries a weighing card and an electronic delivery note which is signed on his tablet upon reception. The weighing card is scanned using the OPHEO MOBILE app and the tablet’s integrated camera and converted to a PDF document. This file is then automatically added to the related order and is immediately available for billing, digital document sharing and archiving. In addition, the data and documents are automatically sent to customers via e-mail.

Upon material pickup or from or disposal of materials from a construction site, OPHEO generates a “raw version” of an electronic delivery note. At this point, neither the loading weight nor the concrete procurement of the materials is known. The customer confirms the preliminary delivery note with a projected quantity on the driver’s tablet, while the actual weight and material type information is determined and transferred to OPHEO only at the landfill site.

The weighing notes created here are currently still created analogously and scanned with the OPHEO MOBILE app, especially since the unloading sites are not always locations of the OTTO DÖRNER Group. The complete digitization of these documents will follow in a later project. “Digitizing the delivery and weighing notes in a single step would have been too extensive,” Weber reports, who had planned the switchover process for the delivery notes very carefully.

This also included informing the approximately 3,000 active customer about the upcoming changes as early as possible. “This switchover affected our customers’ workflow ranging from small landscapers to large construction groups,” the project manager stated. With this in mind, OTTO DÖRNER had several thousand information flyers printed and distributed to customers by its drivers in the run-up to the transition on 1 February, 2021. The flyers explained that customers would receive digital receipts in the future instead of the paper carbon copies they had been used to. Although a few questions arose in the first few weeks after the go-live, customers are now convinced of the benefits of electronic delivery notes.

Verdict: OTTO DÖRNER’s expectations of the electronic delivery note have been fulfilled. In light of this, the associated company OTTO DÖRNER Kies und Umwelt GmbH is currently also in the process of switching to digital shipping documents.