In 2014, Diesel Equipment Limited (DEL) was faced with the prospect of purchasing six testing devices costing $180,000+ to measure the response times and effectiveness of air brake systems. With Discovernet as their Managed IT Providers and Technology partner, DEL saved $160,000 in capital expenditure with our team’s ingenuity and commitment.
About Diesel Equipment Limited
Founded in 1945, Diesel Equipment Limited (DEL) quickly moved into the manufacturing of truck bodies. By 1970s it became one of the largest manufacturers of steel dump bodies and expanded across Canada.
Today DEL is a leader in the Canadian truck body up fitting industry by manufacturing standard and custom-made DEL products. It is nationally distributing a variety of truck bodies and truck-mounted equipment from world-class brands such as Unicell van bodies, Effer knuckle boom cranes, SwapLoader hook-lift hoists and Swenson spreaders.
DEL has seven locations nation-wide, with each branch fully equipped for manufacturing and installation projects.
Complications Faced by DEL
In 2014, Diesel Equipment Limited (DEL) realized that they would need six testing devices to measure the response times and effectiveness of air brake systems on heavy trucks being retrofitted with a lift axle – deploying an additional set of wheels to further spread out the weight of the vehicle’s load. The estimated cost was $30,000+ for each device.
Apart DEL was finding troubles with:
• Regulatory Compliance: As a truck body upfitter, the law requires DEL to ensure their retrofits and custom modifications meet the stringent safety requirements laid out by Transport Canada.
• Trouble with Inventory Management: DEL was using ACCPAC for GL and Excel spreadsheets for inventory. Inventory was never live, and as a result, parts counter was troubled by convoluted spreadsheets and employees had to physically search the warehouse for most items.
• Inadequate Reporting: The business was compliant to internal stakeholders However, there was not much consideration to compliance reporting, quality management and audit preparation.
• Technical Struggles: DEL desperately required usability and connectivity of vital systems and was continually paying higher costs to improve supply chain visibility.
• The Onset: DEL stationed a new tech-savvy GM for Toronto branch who assessed the state of things and reached Discovernet in 2007.
How We Worked Out DEL’s Key Challenges
As Discovernet learned about the impending purchase of air-brake systems, it researched the ready-made product and proposed an alternative. We offered to build a functionally identical device in-house at a much lower cost, acquired the necessary components and employed our application development know-how to produce all 6 devices for a total cost of $20,000, saving our client over $160,000 in capital expenditure.
Moreover:
- Taking Care of Compliance: We make sure that retrofits and custom modifications meet the stringent safety requirements of Transport Canada.
- Technical Upgradation: We implemented an ERP solution in 1 branch within 6 months and this model followed up with other 6 branches nationwide.
- Live Integrated Inventory: Integrated inventory was made live. Even other branches could easily find monitor and manage the inventory with other branches.
- Better Reporting tools:We provided internal and external reports above and beyond the system such as a margin calculator for measuring labour and material and analysed tasks that required more time and inefficient employees.
Success & Still Making Progresses
• DEL now has ERP across all 7 branches, Cloud solutions for email, Citrix Environment, SharePoint, ERP across all 7 branches, Managed Integrated print with Fixed Rate Fee.
• Integrated Inventory saved a lot of time and money by using up material silos. It led to more accurate inventory scheduling and promoted ease of working.
• Reporting accuracy backed operational efficiency, making it easier to track forgotten stuff, and management of inventory.
• Better internal compliance, improved relationship with stakeholders as well as customers.
