Gradual digitisation with Go4TMS
Anaco is a family business that has been active in inland shipping for generations. The tremendous growth of the company demanded a different way of working. Anaco put every effort in the digitisation and automation of its administrative processes. Go4Logistics has been the ideal partner for Anaco in this respect for several years.
Anaco handles the carriage of liquids over the inland waterways. They mediate between the client and the inland navigator. The clients are often large and powerful customers and the market is very sensitive. Mistakes can have serious consequences. Digitisation allows for the optimisation of the operational processes. Obviously, this could not happen at once.
A STANDARD PACKAGE SUPPLEMENTED BY CUSTOMISATION
The first step in the digitisation process was the order management. The entire order process was done in Excel, and data often had to be entered several times. Thanks to Go4TMS, everything only needs to be entered into the system once, and so there is much less chance of errors. The automation also means that the necessary information is sent to the right people immediately. Moreover, double bookings are history. After the order management, the planning, invoicing and accounts were transferred to Go4TMS.
In various implementations of the standard solutions of Go4Logistics, Anaco has regularly commissioned customisation.
“The good thing about Go4TMS is that on the one hand, it provides a solid foundation, and on the other hand we have the freedom to adjust or further develop things. This makes the package ideally suited to our needs”, says Manuela Straatman, CEO of Anaco.
Covid accelerates digitisation
Thanks to digitisation, Anaco could quickly switch to telecommuting during the first coronavirus lockdown. After all, everyone had access to all the necessary documents. They only needed to go to the office for the invoices. So the request to automate this also gained momentum. With the Document Capture module, incoming invoices are automatically scanned and processed without you having to intervene manually. The electronic processing not only saves the accounting department a great deal of time, Anaco now has access to all invoices anywhere, an advantage that they made good use of during the second lockdown.
Planning software tailored to inland navigation
Since barges take several days to do a transport, Anaco also had specific requirements for a planning tool. Anaco needs to be able to consult the planning for a whole week or even longer. With the customised weekly schedule in the Go4Planning tool, Anaco can now see the status of all ships at a glance. The planners can now clearly see when, for example, a particular ship becomes available again. Moreover, the planning board contains a vast amount of additional information, such as the cargo details and the necessary documents. Everything very organised in one place.
Future developments
Every day, 25 ships sail under the flag of Anaco and meanwhile they also own two vessels. Go4Logistics supports them with every new step, by offering or developing the best solutions for their specific needs each time. The enormous time pressure under which Anaco has to work is still quite a challenge. After sending the price proposal and receiving the final agreement, the necessary information must be sent rapidly to all parties involved. That’s why Anaco wishes to further invest in the Go4Logistics quote module and they are considering the development of their own portal for communicating with the captains of the ships.
Manuela Straatman is very enthusiastic:
“A good system pays for itself. Without Go4TMS, I would have had to recruit two extra people. Right now we even have room to grow with the current staff!”
