Fleets Online: DIY TMS

Company: Urban Electric Co., North Charleston, SC

Operation: Three Sprinter full-size vans, located in New York City, Los Angeles, and Charleston

Problem:

Since its founding in 2003, Urban Electric Co. (UEC) has become a leading manufacturer of “customized” lighting fixtures—from simple wall lamps to a variety of intricate chandelier designs. No two lamps are the same, which means UEC relies on a specialized inventory management and tracking system to keep tabs on customer orders.

That became even more complicated when the company added a final- mile delivery service to its customized lighting business two years ago.

Heidi Bass, who serves as fleet supervisor for UEC in addition to other duties, says the focus of the new final- mile service is simple. The company trained three of its craftsmen in every aspect of its lighting manufacturing process, provided them with a Sprinter customized as a mobile workshop, then located them in key locales for the bulk of UEC’s business.

“These vans are capable of doing about 70% of what we can do in the factory,” notes Tony Prete, the craftsman in charge of the Charleston van. “We can rewire electrical connections, repair metalwork, replace glass, and change light bulbs.”

And the customer service experience provided by a UEC craftsman showing up in a sleek mobile workshop is priceless, added Bass. But the question remained: how to manage it all through one system.

Solution:

Bass settled on a project management software package from Citrix named  Podio to function as its transportation management system (TMS). While Podio is specifically designed to handle deliveries or manage fleet operations, it incorporates all the facets UEC needs to manage and track its customized inventory.

“We can’t just track [our products] via a SKU number,” Bass says. Almost everything UEC builds is unique, so it requires a system capable of dealing with such uniqueness.

Kasper Hulthin, Citrix Podio’s co-founder and product & marketing lead, notes that Podio users have created more than 1 million apps to help manage more than 100 million projects, sales leads, marketing campaigns, and other programs.

Although Podio is not a traditional TMS program by any means, Bass is making it fit into that role quite nicely to help UEC get a leg up in the customized lighting market via its small fleet.

“It not only impresses our clientele when our trucks show up—and this is a complimentary service right now, too—it also helps us gather ‘field intelligence’ so we can make fast improvements to quality based on the feedback our mobile craftsmen get.”