Early last summer, Jay McDowell at Bozzuto's Inc., Cheshire, CT, knew his routes were not as "crisp" and his trucks were not as fully cubed as they could be. And he knew he needed help. After reviewing several routing software packages, contacting and visiting several users within the Wholesale and Retail Grocery Industry, Jay turned to industry leader UPS Logistics Technologies and licensed Roadnet. There was only one problem: implementing this technology was a huge undertaking and there was major hesitation from management. This would not be the first time Bozzuto's had attempted to implement a routing solution.

Jay, the VP of Distribution Services, persevered and remained committed to improving the routes at Bozzuto's. And with the help of Roadnet, the results were outstanding:

• Cube per load is up 14.2%
• Drivers' total hours went down 8.4%
• Mileage decreased by 2.2%
• Volume was up by 6.7%

But there is so much more. When you talk foodservice and grocery delivery, you talk time windows. Lots of time windows. More than you want to deal with time windows. But because Roadnet handles time windows according to the specifics of Bozzuto's operation, and routes according to time window preference, they were able to make significant changes in the way they handled time windows.

With the help of Roadnet, Bozzuto's worked with their customers to develop time windows that met the needs of their customers while allowing operational efficiencies. Bozzuto's took the top 75 high volume accounts and developed a mutually acceptable 2-3 hour time window. Next, secondary customers worked with their Sales Counselors to develop primary and secondary time windows. Casual customers were assigned a 6 hour a.m./p.m. delivery. In addition, with Roadnet reporting, Bozzuto's now tracks time window performance.

Bozzuto's also implemented "minimum order quantities", by class of product. Many customers went from six deliveries per week to five; and many from five deliveries to four, causing the pick density and order delivery size per customer to increase substantially.

One might think that all of these changes required more, not less time routing. Not with Roadnet. Before Roadnet, three people routed the more than 100 routes per day from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. After Roadnet, one person routes from 5:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. And each and every route is tracked daily and reviewed weekly by Bozzuto's Transportation staff.

But a commitment to improved transportation operations does not stop by typing in some numbers on a computer. That's why Jay sent Router Paula Hardenburg and Transportation Operations Manager Jerry Nappi back to school. To Roadnet University that is. They attended an intense weeklong class on using Roadnet to its full capabilities. Paula and Jerry gave Roadnet University the highest grade possible and plan on enrolling in the advanced workshops.

As Bozzuto's business continues to grow, they will continually depend on products and innovations from UPS Logistics Technologies to help them improve efficiencies, gain accountability, reduce costs and achieve their goals. And UPS Logistics Technologies will be happy to help.