For most independent foodservice distribution companies, providing good customer service is their number one goal. J. Kings is different. With a focus on providing quality products at a fair price and in a timely manner, they pride themselves on offering outstanding customer service. That's why they looked to UPS Logistics Technologies to automate their routing and also why they recently came back for the latest technology.

J. Kings, a family owned and operated foodservice distributor located in Holtsville, New York, has over 1700 active customers in the New York metropolitan area. They have 40-45 daily routes and deliver 6 days a week to meet the needs of their valued customers. Until 1996, performing manual routing for their trucks was very time intensive. When they switched from manual routing to Roadnet, they immediately saw results. They had reduced their daily routing time by 8 hours. This time reduction allowed their sales people to receive orders until a much later point in the day. Additionally, they attribute their rapid business growth to their ability to better route and manage customer deliveries.

Last spring, J. Kings began looking at ways to further increase customer service, as well as measure driver accountability. So they turned to UPS Logistics Technologies for the MobileCast solution. "We were looking for better information on driver performance and needed to track vehicle locations so that we could provide better answers to customer inquiries," stated Kevin Peterson, assistant vice president, J. Kings. "I also wanted a solution that would put us a step ahead of our competition."

MobileCast utilizes internet ready phones, along with the MobileCast enterprise server application for real-time route execution. With MobileCast, the dispatcher is aware of vehicle position and delivery status. "It's a very valuable tool for improving customer service. We use MobileCast as a way to show or prospective customers our commitment to customer service and on-time deliveries. Our customers know that we can provide them more information than our competitors can" Peterson remarked.

J. Kings also utilizes the Roadnet Info Center, a web-based reporting tool that exposes the route plan and execution to others in the organization. "We have had significant improvement in the way that we respond to customers calls about their order. A customer service representative doesn't need to call the dispatcher, who then tries to locate the driver. They simply pull up the drivers' route path in the Roadnet Info Center and can give the customer an updated delivery time."

With MobileCast and Roadnet Info Center, J. Kings has seen improved customer service and significant time savings:

• 90% reduction in response time to customers inquires
• 80% fewer calls fielded by dispatcher/router

J. Kings understands the value of excellent customer service. And they will continue to turn to UPS Logistics Technologies for future customer service enhancements.