Contact: Alliant Systems 909 Lake Carolyn Parkway, Suite 1150 Irving, TX 75039 Phone (972) 331-5060 Fax (972) 331-5061 Contact: Eric Smith esmith@alliantsystems.net
May 2004
Last year, IL profiled two rental laundry companies that use IPC Systems' handheld software: Millers Textile Service, based in Springfield, Ohio, and Bay Towel, Linen, and Uniform Supply, Green Bay, Wis. This year, both reported continuing satisfaction with their use of the units.
Both have migrated from the use of Casio hardware to Dell, however. Millers' Bob Hagar said their Casio units have been sent back for repairs, "and we are taking Dell insurance on the handhelds, which allows us to send them in and get replacements. We feel this is of value."
Bay Towel's Paul Linzmeyer reports that his company now also deals directly with Dell. The Casio units "seemed to have a lot of little nagging screen problems," he says. The Dell handhelds are less expensive and smaller and RSPs like them better.
One challenge for Bay Towel: how to account for damage to the handhelds. "Our original policy was to charge the route men. But as we started reviewing on case-by-case basis, we realized it can't be so black and white."
A lost unit is easy to categorize. But the line between abuse and normal wear and tear is difficult to draw. The company has recorded each date of installation and on which route each handheld has been deployed. Useful life has been set at three years. If a unit is damaged after that time, it's probably very valuable.
Bay Towel has deployed handhelds for almost three years. They were attracted to them because of the potential to streamline information flow, e.g. to save time. But they also saw a benefit in making "customers feel they have a high-tech, accurate, clear transfer of data."
Adjustments to paper invoices are often seen as confusing, particularly when they're illegible. Because of handhelds, "we now have a much better relationship with our customers, especially when it comes to accuracy of information." Whether you're add a new wearer or make some other change, it's a "seamless" transaction, he says.
Accuracy of adjustments is a big plus. When an item is added, for instance, all base and ancillary charges are properly indicated on the invoice. That prevents math errors, he says, and allows RSPs to converse with customers in ways that help them be more productive.
Before adding handhelds, Bay Towel had begun to store digital images of invoices and contracts for a number of years. "We always felt the customer experience would be enhanced if we could answer their questions immediately," Linzmeyer recalls.
Handhelds improved such responsiveness by providing documents that are "accurate and clean. The imaged invoices before the handhelds had scribbling on them. Now, we can fax customers clean adjusted copies."
Garments have been bar-coded for eight years; garments sorted automatically for six (with an upgrade to that system last year). The efficiency and improved reporting capabilities of handhelds "fits into our whole brand of people, technology, and systems," he says.
Linzmeyer figures the company is "about halfway there" in maximizing handhelds' potential. "For settlement sheets and garment transaction items, like adds and increases/decreases, we're pretty well there." Capturing customers' signatures, for example, would help with route engineering. The company is considering use of a computerized mapping system and thus may move forward in this direction.
He wishes more capabilities could be added for linen items, though. The same can be said for mats and other products. It would be great if an RSP could handle all transactions on a handheld, park the unit in a dataport and the end of the day, and not have any paperwork.
Bay Towel is working closely with IPC on such improvements, serving as a test site for various experiments. These include scanning technology trials. "We've attempted this for the last year or so, but it just does not work. You can't always read the bar code; it really needs a clear, crisp bar code."
Also on his Technology Santa list: a way to download onto the handheld from the customer module of the company database, so notes could be available to RSPs on the units when they arrive at their accounts, i.e., like reminders to pick up checks, discuss accounts receivable, offer a sample, or address an alleged garment shortage.
For now, the software is working well, and "you couldn't drag those handhelds away from my route men. We have almost 30 routes on them, and they love them." They also love the fact that their customers know that competitor laundries aren't using these units. That's a huge boost for Bay Towel's RSPs' sense of professionalism.
Millers has been a customer of IPC (based in Irving, Texas) for over 10 years and feels their products are performing very well. They didn't consider going anywhere else for handhelds.
Now they've upgraded to the SQL version of SmartNet, IPC's route accounting program, and this has greatly empowered their handhelds, Hagar says.
The company calls its RSPs "account managers." Handhelds improve their productivity by helping to avoid forgetting to communicate changes to the office staff. "We also feel that our account managers are saving 30 minutes at the end of their day. A final savings is in the route settlement area," he explains.
The company has deployed handhelds for about two and a half years. It's generally taken less than a week to bring account managers up to speed and successfully use the units.
Counting takes place in-plant; bulk goods are provided on a delayed even exchange system. Thus, the primary benefit has been streamlined paperwork (labor saving). Hagar feels account managers had always accurately captured transactions, given proper price quotes, calculated correctly, and assessed appropriate charges.
Customers signing the handhelds, but not for Millers to monitor account manager activity. However, Millers collects on the route, so the signature indicates successful payment. The company doesn't print on the route. Instead, it sends along a preprinted ticket of the invoice on an 8 ½-by-11 sheet. "Our account managers bring no paper back at the end of the day," Hagar says.
At least not any big documents. "Most of our notes are taken on paper," he muses. "Unfortunately, some old habits do die hard."