CHEP Australia has launched a trial of mobile technology that will enable its customers to transfer equipment accountability at the same time as merchandise passes through their receipt and dispatch docks.
The trial is running through to the end of November, with manufacturers and retailers testing the new mobile equipment transfer technology with a view to boosting efficiency as they enter the Christmas peak season.
The mobile service aims to help its customers save both time and labour when completing equipment hire transactions.
CHEP, which provides managed, returnable and reusable packaging solutions to companies across the globe, says the technology is designed to be used anywhere, anytime and on any device.
Rather than filling out manual dockets and entering them into a computer back at the office, its customers will instead be able to complete transfers live on CHEP’s customer portal from an Android, Windows or Apple mobile device.
“It saves time – there’s no more double-handling with manual dockets – and saves potential data entry errors,” CHEP Australia’s manager of sales and customer data tools, Aaron Minton, says. “Hopefully this will make life easier for our customers.”
Minton says this is the first CHEP process to go mobile, but the company does have further enhancements to its existing functionality in the pipeline and is looking to be guided by customers on what will provide the most value to them.
“This introduction of mobile technology is bringing equipment control into the 21st century,” Minton says. “As we lessen reliance on the traditional methods of data entry, we believe we will see a shift, not only in the processes of equipment control, but also the adherence to industry best practice.”
The announcement follows the opening of CHEP Logistics’ new control centre at its Erskine Park facility in western Sydney.
