May/June 2004

In a bid to keep on top of a growing home delivery operation, leading UK-based nursery equipment specialist Mamas & Papas has introduced a vehicle tracking and mobile data solution.

The company sells its range from catalogues and through its own growing network of retail outlets (now 20-strong), as well as through national retail chains and specialist baby shops. It has expanded steadily from pushchairs into other nursery products.

The mobile solution it has adopted is from Masternaut, and includes both vehicle tracking and delivery management.

At the heart of the in-vehicle equipment is a PDA, which is linked to an on-board GPS satellite and mobile communications unit, and runs Masternaut's M-Schedule software.

 

This gives the driver delivery instructions, as well as displaying on-screen mapping and voice-aided navigation to guide the driver to each customer location. The PDA is also used for electronic signature capture.

Back at base, the company can see a record of journeys and on-site times, which helps to make scheduling as accurate as possible. The system will also issue an alert if a vehicle has not reached a given location in time, so that service staff call customers and give an accurate delivery time.

There is even a digital camera facility in the PDA, which allows control room staff to send live pictures to installation teams if they need help when at site or on route.