At 51T our goal is to increase our customers’ services through optimising their employees ease and comfort when using handheld devices. Our client, TNT is a European market leader in global express, logistics and international mail services. They approached us with a small problem that had large ramifications in terms of cost of fixing, loss of data and operational compliance and traceability of vehicles. We pride ourselves on providing full solutions to small but complex problems at competitive rates and in record time.
The Problem
TNT had identified that, nationally, they were experiencing as much as 10% unavailability across their scanning devices in use in the field due to dead devices (poor battery charge) - we knew we could step in with confidence.
Poor battery charge, in this case, was due to two main factors: the incorrect placement of the device in the cradle in vehicles, and in-depot units failing due to broken pins in devices that in turn shuts down an entire charging unit.
TNT spent its £4m investment to identify a suitable replacement for device supplier and commissioned 51T to ensure reduction of costs around issues that come with unnecessary device replacement and charging fails.
The Solution
Our design teams first goal was to create a robust cradle: Aside from making the cradle inexpensively repairable, we devised a snug insertion and extraction capability to eradicate the problem of incorrect insertion leading to damage. The cradle is also interchangeable for in-cab and in-depot charging stations.
The new MC67 cradle for TNT was taken from design stage to full working units and national delivery across TNT in just 6 weeks and comes with highly competitive warranty and repair service offers.
To ensure maximum ease of use for drivers the MC67 comes with a choice of in-cab installation methods for the cradle by way of a suction mount or non-damage vent-mount installation and power supply for the cradle is via discreet hard-wired or cig-plug adapter options.
In terms of in-depot charging we break away from the standard with uses 4-bay units located on desks or shelving within an office. If one of the 4 cradle bays breaks
charging capability is reduced and, over time, the loss of charging capability becomes an operational constraint. Our 4-bay units have the benefit of a swap-out capability for each cradle meaning each bay on the unit can maintain maximum charging capability.
TNT now has over 100 cabinets to provide each depot with a single charging point for up to 72 cradles at any one time – each cradle being independently powered and easily swapped if broken.
Success? Absolutely
The project with TNT was completed in 6 weeks which means it was completely finished in half the time. Importantly this came with no compromise on quality. Cradle device installations improved from the almost 10% to 0.074% in year 1.
Rhys Roberts, General Manager at TNT Express UK said, “The responsive nature in which 51T provided a full solution, to a project lead-time that was halved from 12 weeks to 6, is outstanding… we have seen a tangible reduction in damage to chargers.”
Getting handheld device use optimised is so often overlooked until the costly ramifications take hold and, as in the case with TNT, they can be significant. Let us help you get ahead.
