Tracking on time delivery compliance
From the warehouse until the delivery point, a transparent and visible transport
Sigve Mikkelsen, Logistics Manager of Rental Technology & Services AS
Introduction
RTS is an international provider of electronic engineering solutions for the subsea industry since 2002. Their office and workshop are located in Åkrehamn on the west coast of Norway, with direct access to the North Sea. They supply their technical solutions to the world’s major offshore companies involved in inspection, seabed mapping, subsea construction projects, fish farming and renewables. Over the past 20 years, RTS has developed and manufactured electronic technology that has become industry leading solution provider recognised as best-in-class by the ROV and subsea survey communities around the world.
Needs
Once RTS receives an order for any of their electronic solutions, they prepare the requested equipment and tools, and then they dispatch it from their workshop. They have customers based internationally. To guarantee everything is delivered in perfect conditions, all the equipment is safely packed in a peli case or appropriate enclosure. The successful delivery rate they offer to their customers is higher than 95%. The RTS team makes sure that the equipment and everything is ready and shipped on time. To guarantee that their customers are served with the best possible quality, RTS looked for a solution to track their shipments. On one side it eases their operations management by knowing always the location of their equipment, the time the equipment is used, and be able to plan accordingly the following deployments. On the other side, tracking of their shipments would enable them to timely release the shipments from occasions when it gets stuck or delayed in transits like in warehouses and customs and a proof of shipment and delivery.
Challenge
Whenever RTS solutions are requested,it is always something the contractor needs for their operations, and hence is a critical component for the completion of their work. On this occasion, the requested equipment was to perform offshore operations. The contractor requested different solutions from different providers. It was a big order that combined equipment for different vendors. All the equipment and tools were to be delivered at the port warehouse, and then transported by sea to the offshore location.
RTS’s equipment was combined with other requested equipment, and from their workshop are in Åkrehamn it was transported first to Aksdal and then to the port. It was a complex complex first mile that picked up different equipment for the offshore project from the different solution providers. In this type of projects, lots of diverse equipment must be listed and registered as delivered on time at the agreed point. After all the equipment had been delivered at the warehouse in the port of Tananger, due to the large quantity of equipment at the site, it was missed that RTS’s shipment had been timely delivered.
Solution
Before shipping the equipment, an eShell had been placed with all the equipments inside the peli case. From the instant the case had been picked up, the RTS team was able to track the location of their assets. As soon as Sigve was requested by phone an update regarding the status of the order, he replied everything had been already shipped. While still on the call, Sige checked his equipment location updates on the Shellock web platform. At the spot in a matter of seconds he was able to update the receiver that everything had been delivered as agreed. The Shellock solution enabled Sigve to have a proof that the shipment had been delivered on time, complying with the terms and conditions for that order.
Conclusion
In other circumstances, when there isn’t a timely updated tracking status of a shipment, it is challenging to understand whether the shipment has been delivered and if it was done on time. Normally. the work team has to rely on the limited available information or call the carrier or the transport driver to obtain a confirmation. This leads to a number of phone calls and email exchanges trying to verify if everything had been done properly. Nonetheless, on this occasion and thanks to the Shellock solution, RTS was enabled to reply to the receiver in the time it takes to do a couple clicks that everything had been delivered at the agreed location and in time. Sigve was able to provide in seconds a proof of delivery,complying with the agreed terms and conditions for the project.
