With its network of well-known sales brands, Stark Germany offers a wide range of building materials and services for various construction trades. As part of the international Stark Group, the German business unit operates around 260 locations in Germany and has over 600 truck drivers on the roads. Every day, the drivers transport building materials from the locations to the respective construction sites or branches, load and unload pallets and document their collection and delivery activities. Knowing when products have reached their destination and where they have been unloaded is important for the sales and scheduling departments. Especially in the event that the customer is not at the construction site. The need to complete all these steps efficiently and without delays prompted Stark Germany to digitize its goods delivery. Especially in urban centers with several branches, where trucks often do not return to their starting locations, the tried-and-tested pen-and-paper recording system caused delays in internal processing and occasionally resulted in transmission errors or even delivery bills that were lost, whereas today the data can be transferred to SAP without errors and in real time for further processing.

Increased transparency with good usability

Delays in processing are a thing of the past thanks to digital goods delivery. Truck drivers now use a mobile device to document all the necessary information, such as the signature of the consignee on delivery, the storage location using photos of the delivered goods or the time of delivery, in the FIS/LastMile goods delivery app. Additional information, such as the condition of the goods on delivery, can also be added to the app. As this is connected to Stark Germany's own SAP system via an interface, all recorded documents are automatically transferred to the system as an attachment to the delivery via online communication and are immediately available. This makes it possible to see which goods have already been delivered and which are still being delivered. Follow-up tours can be planned, accounting tasks processed or, for example, invoices created and sent directly. "For us, for example, the digital delivery note returns in the form of a proof of delivery including photo function and GPS data were the greatest benefit. But the so-called collective signature developed for Stark Germany for the delivery bill and tour mode is also extremely practical. Now, each delivery bill no longer has to be signed individually by the recipient; instead, one signature is sufficient for several deliveries if the same goods recipient is involved," says Christian Haas, SAP application consultant at Stark Deutschland, describing the improvements.

The usability of the FIS/LastMile mobile app also scored points with the project managers of the building materials retailer: "Simply logging in with an account, scanning the delivery bill or entering the tour number and then directly downloading all deliveries for further processing is very convenient for our truck drivers," explains Mathias Giesers, IT Project Manager Digitalization at Stark Deutschland. It was precisely this ease of use that made it possible to explain both how the app works and how to use it to the first truck drivers during the pilot phase at the Muffenrohr Tiefbau and Melle Gallhöfer sales brands within a very short space of time.

FIS/LastMile was customized and further developed for Stark Germany because an additional function was required for the further processing of the digital documents: a verification of the data by the sales department, which makes it possible to check and possibly correct data. In order to develop this control function, the project team worked hand in hand with its long-standing IT service provider FIS Informationssysteme und Consulting on a customized solution: while the sales teams from Raab Karcher, Muffenrohr and Melle Gallhöfer defined the challenges and tasks as part of the pilot project, the colleagues from FIS worked on the technical development and implementation, resulting in the release monitor. Using a status traffic light system, each employee can immediately see how far the processing has progressed, can react accordingly and adjust values directly in the release monitor. This means that all proofs of delivery automatically stored in the asset list can now be processed quickly and efficiently and released to the office staff without delay.

Pilot phase paves the way for roll-out

After a year of testing at the pilot companies, during which other branches and their drivers were successively integrated into the new system, those responsible are certain: "The FIS/LastMile app saves us a lot of time. We work much faster and more efficiently than before the changeover. The paperless documentation of our goods delivery eliminates work such as the subsequent recording and scanning of documents. It is so easy to use that our truck drivers appreciate its convenience," explains Mathias Giesers. "We also have drivers from many different countries working for us. The application from our partner FIS can also overcome this multilingual challenge. The app is now tailor-made and ready for the next step - the roll-out to the entire company."