When Steve Ruch heard that senior management had approved his request for implementation of MobileCast and Roadnet Info Center, he couldn’t have been happier. “I’d been lobbying for them for years!” he laughs.

Ruch was no stranger to UPS Logistics Technologies’ solutions. As Director of Operations for General Wine & Liquor Company, his company had been actively using Roadnet since 1996 to optimize daily delivery operations, improve customer service, and reduce costs. As Michigan's largest wholesale distributor of wine and spirits, General Wine has built its reputation on such high standards. In fact, its General Liquor Division has been named National Broker of the Year five times, due to its contributions to the spirits industry.

It’s a reputation the company puts to the test every day. From its headquarters and main distribution center in Highland Park, Michigan, General Wine serves 15,000 clients across the state along 80 daily routes. In 2006 alone, the company picked 3.8 million cases of wine and spirits for delivery. Given the volume and scope of its distribution, General Wine has established a statewide network of smaller cross-docks (local offices and truck facilities) in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Bay City and Escanaba, which are in turn served by the central hub distribution center in Highland Park, where all inventory is pre-picked.  “We load up our semis with pre-picked orders, drive them to cross-dock locations where they are transferred to smaller route trucks, and off they go,” says Ruch.

Ruch says that to keep such a network running smoothly, Roadnet’s automated routing is a must. “Rather than having the dispatchers play ‘shuffle the cards’ and pour them out by zone, and then have a driver reorganize them, we now can ensure consistency and accuracy in our routing every time, as well as consistent loads with Roadnet,” he says.

Still, Ruch strongly believed that a gap in service remained—namely, the lack of real-time communications with General Wine’s drivers in the field. “Our customers would call, asking where one of our drivers was,” Ruch says. “But our all-state drivers didn’t have cell phones, so we had no idea of where they were.”

Fortunately, MobileCast and Roadnet Info Center were able to give General Wine the real-time visibility they needed to improve customer service and verify that Roadnet’s routes were being followed to plan. As Ruch enthusiastically points out, “Picking up MobileCast has helped us complete the loop on the customer service side of our business. We can now pinpoint the real-time locations of all of our drivers in terms of projecting delivery times accurately, as well as up-to-the-minute delivery confirmations.”  In addition, the company’s Customer Service representatives actively use Roadnet Info Center to provide customers with the instant, real-time routing and delivery information they request.

If a stop is refused, says Ruch, MobileCast can send a text message to the company’s sales department, so that the issue can get resolved while the load is still in the vicinity of the customer, instead of having to bring the product back. “That’s where I think we’re really going to see some savings,” says Ruch. 

While he’s still in the process of measuring initial results from the implementation of MobileCast and Roadnet Info Center, Ruch knows that his ROI is not far off. “Will these solutions pay for themselves? Absolutely, and in a number of different ways,” he states, “especially when you consider the dollar value of our most important asset—customer service.”