Nearly all distribution companies focus on reducing transportation costs. But for Associated Food Stores, whose trucks travel nearly 8 million miles per year, transportation efficiency is mission critical.

Associated Food Stores is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and delivers groceries to 600 stores throughout the Midwest. Although they are primarily a co-op owned by their retailers, they also own 30 of the stores they deliver to. With their transportation expenses rising, they needed to plan better and analyze how routes would impact drivers.

Associated Food Stores was no stranger to routing software they had already purchased an application which required knowledge of a complex operating system (Unix) before licensing UPS Logistics Technologies’ Roadnet Transportation Suite. “The Roadnet applications were significantly easier to use, had only one maintenance module and allowed us to route faster,” stated Glen Keysaw, Routing Supervisor for Associated Food Stores.

“We knew that it was a very powerful system and were pleased that we realized a return on investment sooner than expected.”

According to Keysaw, the results are impressive. “Shortly after implementation, our distribution center was moved 50 miles north. Roadnet and Territory Planner helped us plan routes and communicate the delivery changes to our customers. During the process we also reduced our fleet size by 38% and converted to fully integrated routes.”

Additional results include:

• Annual mileage reduction of over 400,000 miles.
• Increased cube per route by 50%.
• Eliminated 2-3 routes daily.
• Improved on-time performance to 96%.

By becoming a more efficient organization and reducing transportation expenses, Associated Food Stores has been able to pass some of their savings back to their customers. “Roadnet has made us more efficient, and now we can keep our prices competitive and our customers appreciate the savings,” Keysaw said.

The Roadnet Transportation Suite has provided more than just routing efficiency. “When we closed our facility in Boise, we used Territory Planner to re-route all the customers on existing routes, which saved a lot of money, since we didn’t add any vehicles,” Keysaw remarked.

Associated Food Stores also uses UPS Logistics Technologies’ MobileCast, in conjunction with their on-board computers. MobileCast provides route visibility and establishes driver performance standards that Associated Food Stores can use to improve customer service. MobileCast also allows Associated Foods Stores to analyze historical information which improves the accuracy of their route plans.

“We had a customer who constantly called about later deliveries. After MobileCast was installed, the customer called again to complain. I pulled up the time frame for their last delivery and showed them that we were on time...that customer hasn’t called again,” stated Keysaw.

“The Roadnet Transportation Suite has allowed us to keep finding new efficiencies and continue to improve our operations,” Keysaw remarked. “This transportation management solution can truly improve your bottom line.”