H.Z. Logistics transports large quantities throughout Europe on a daily basis and specializes in temperature-controlled transport of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and plants. With a wide range of logistics services such as international and intermodal groupage transport, distribution, ship supply, and storage, the logistics service provider handles all logistical matters. In addition to the headquarters in De Lier, H.Z. Logistics operates three foreign branches in the United Kingdom, Poland, and Romania.

A more efficient order entry process

Customers submit their orders in various formats, including PDFs, Word documents and images. For further processing, this information must be transferred to a TMS. Using EDI connections, the logistics service provider has already automated 80% of all incoming orders. The bar is set high at H.Z. Logistics: the aim is to process and read in virtually all orders automatically. Via a fellow colleague, who uses the same TMS system, they came across the Automatic Order Entry. This party was enthusiastic about the fast implementation of the solution. H.Z. Logistics then contacted our partner in the Netherlands.

Too much manual work

Audrey Zuiderwijk owns H.Z. Logistics together with her brother. Logistics. Together they run the day-to-day operations of the company. Audrey talks about the desire to automate the last 20% of incoming orders: “The order entry team was still doing too much manual work. Some customers did not want an EDI link. Given the huge number of orders that come in every day, we were looking for a proven solution. At first, we looked at other solutions, but they didn’t work. After talking to Simply Deliver, I was immediately convinced about the Automatic Order Entry module. Especially since you can set up this module without any help from customers. Besides, if it works for our industry peers, it will work for us.”

Achieving the goal through standardisation

We are familiar with many TMS systems and has linked with Transpas many times via a standard API. This time, too, the implementation went smoothly, with the first orders running through the system quickly. Initially, H.Z. Logistics initially started by setting up the system for customers who send in large quantities of orders every day. After that, the complex orders were tackled and, with a few clever tricks, these could also be processed. Many shippers in the fruit and vegetable sector use the same system. The big advantage of this is that templates can be shared and that meters can be made quickly. With such a template you can directly convert orders that come in by e-mail and read them into your system.

Cross-border solution

“Despite the different languages in Romania and Poland, the Automatic Order Entry module works like a charm there too. Poland was involved in the implementation process from the beginning and Romania joined in not long after. This logistics software solution really changes the way you work. The people in the order entry department are given a monitoring task. Especially with customers who have many changes, it is nice that our colleagues can keep an eye on things. So far, the system is working perfectly and we are successively automating the last 20% of the system.”, says Audrey enthusiastically.

Less stress and no more backlog

Audrey wanted to reduce the peak times in the order entry department: “In our industry, there are real peaks. Then the orders really fly around your ears. That, of course, brings with it the necessary tensions. We really wanted to get rid of that backlog, which is disastrous for optimal planning. Moreover, the many changes within customer orders also involve a lot of work. Now that more orders run automatically, the work pressure on the department has decreased enormously. This will bring a lot of peace, especially in times of vacation or absence of certain people. I am convinced that Simply Deliver’s Automatic Order Entry module will take us a long way towards 100% automated order entry. The great thing is that we are not dependent on customers for this, but simply have a solution that seamlessly connects with the way they place orders. Now that’s flexibility.”