Papelera Principado is a 100% Mexican company dedicated to supplying stationery, cleaning, and technology products in the B2B market.
With over 25 years of experience, they have established themselves as a leading company in the industry, with a strong presence throughout Mexico and warehouses in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
With the goal of further improving their operations, Papelera Principado decided to implement Drivin TMS, a solution for supply chain planning, tracking, and traceability, which has resulted in roughly a 20% increase in productivity.
Unlike other stationery stores, Principado does not have retail outlets, but focuses exclusively on the B2B market. This way, they became a logistic partner for many companies looking to outsource those services. They have a sales team that provides personalized attention to each account, and if there's a customer in Tijuana or Mérida, Principado takes care of the delivery.
For the metropolitan area of Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, the company guarantees delivery within 24 to 48 hours. Regarding the rest of the country, they visit all points twice a month.
To learn more about Papelera Principado's experience with Drivin, we spoke with Juan Pablo Tena, Director of Operations at the company and leader of the Drivin implementation project.
According to Tena, before implementing Drivin, Principado faced several challenges: lack of control over documentation and order status, lack of follow-up on customer incidents, inefficiency in delivery route control, and routes often being designed by drivers or assistants.
"We strive to be as professional as possible, and in that context, we searched and compared all the major competitors in the route optimization market to meet Principado's needs. We discovered that Drivin was the most robust and versatile tool to satisfy our requirements, and it was within our budget. We didn't hesitate or think twice," Tena explained.
Since implementing Drivin in March 2022, the company has experienced a significant increase in deliveries. Within a year, the On-Time-In-Full (OTIF) rate increased by 17%. The company has used this performance improvement to motivate its operators to increase the number of deliveries, and visibility has played a crucial role in this.
"Now we can see what our drivers are doing in real-time instead of assuming. This is the best way to increase your OTIF. On the other hand, by being more agile, we gain more time, which has helped us efficiently handle multi-day runs," added Juan Pablo.
Tena also mentioned that before implementing Drivin, the loading process took drivers up to an hour and a half in the morning, as they had to create their routes and check their available space. "Now with Drivin, we can do all of this the day before, so when the driver arrives at 7 am, they can start their route right away. Drivin has helped us increase the productivity of our deliveries by 20%."
Another key point was the proof of delivery.
Before Drivin, "the customer had the final say: 'they delivered it, or they didn't deliver it.' The driver, having the physical documentation, would arrive at the distribution center, deliver the load, and only then would we find out if something had happened on the route.
Now, with Drivin and their control tower, we receive real-time updates regarding any eventualities and have a digital record of everything that happened during the delivery," he pointed out.
For Juan Pablo, the results of implementing Drivin at Papelera Principado have been remarkable. By using technology and operating efficiently, Principado has positioned itself as a cutting-edge Mexican company that guarantees high-quality service to its customers.
Furthermore, Tena emphasizes that traceability is crucial for Principado to ensure service quality and customer satisfaction. According to him, traceability has been essential for three reasons:
Streamlining the financial cycle: "Since we started digitizing our invoicing with Drivin, we no longer have to wait for a truck to return. Instead, we can start the necessary procedures at the moment of delivery, in real-time."
Gaining control: "Now we can know the location and status of all orders. Incidents, disappearances, shrinkage, breakages – these situations have been significantly reduced because we now have control over our operations. As a company handling 20,000 to 30,000 monthly orders, we can confidently say where each order is and how it's being handled. In other words, with Drivin, we have incredible traceability and security."
Increased efficiency: "If you want to improve something, you need to be able to measure it. With Drivin, we started to see that certain routes were not as profitable or that some frequencies were not truly necessary. Countless numbers that were previously scattered now come together with just a click. We can determine what is working, from the quantity of orders, volumes, weight, and order numbers. With all this measurable data, we can make improvements."
Tena comments that his experience with Drivin has been highly satisfactory. He emphasizes the excellent attention and quick response from the team in resolving any doubts. "The customer service is impeccable, both in terms of availability and support. We are very happy with the service because there's a good culture and a great working environment, which is the foundation for any professional success," he highlighted.
Regarding the implementation process of Drivin, Juan explains that it was a challenge for the company as they encountered a culture that many of their employees were unfamiliar with. Additionally, there was some resistance to change from the drivers. Most of them had been working in the same way for over 15 years, and now they were being asked to change everything for a mobile application.
"Throughout this challenge, Drivin always lived up to expectations. We would call them, and they would respond immediately. They never crossed the line of 'we'll do it for you,' and I think this is extremely important in any implementation.
It often happens that when you hire a large consultancy or an external team, they execute the implementation, but it ends there, and people don't know how to handle things on a day-to-day basis.
I believe Drivin understood and grasped this, and they scaled the way of implementation. Drivin helps companies learn and work internally to ensure that the tool works effectively," he expressed.
He also added that one of Drivin's strongest differentiators is its flexibility. "They are also more customized as there is no one-size-fits-all approach; they adapt to each company. They understand how each market works and develop new things, always staying at the forefront."
If you also want to be a success story, contact us and discover everything that Drivin can do for your company.
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