Acworth, GA - Chief Displays & Packaging is a full-service corrugated box company in Acworth, GA, founded in 1994 by Lamar Guthrie. Chief provides custom, turnkey services for a full range of display, logistics, print, and design needs. As an award-winning print and display company, Chief is highly regarded by customers and industry peers for its high standards and commitment to quality, conservation, and ethics.

CHALLENGE

Chief faced numerous challenges related to fulfilling orders for their clients. One of the primary issues was the outdated process of requiring truck drivers to manually scan documents at the end of each day, which was both time-consuming and prone to errors. This occasionally caused delays in invoicing due to lost or misplaced paperwork. The lack of a streamlined system for managing documents also posed a challenge when needing to retrieve them later, hindering customer service and potentially delaying problem resolution.

“We had drivers scanning documents every day, and the more deliveries they have the more scanning they need to do,” explains Tony Stewart, VP of Operations at Chief. “And if an issue comes up later — usually the customer calling in, asking for documentation — if everything wasn’t scanned correctly, we can’t provide timely service to our customer.” 

Chief needed a solution to modernize and digitize their process, reduce the likelihood of errors, and expedite their response to customer service requests.

SOLUTION

Chief has been an Amtech customer since 2016 and has a history of proactively integrating new technologies to remain competitive. “We love to be on the forefront of what’s coming down the pike,” says Pete Langelotti, Chief’s Head of Information Technology. "So we were glad to be asked to be the beta site for Sign & Drive."

Sign & Drive is a powerful, web-based extension to Amtech's EnCore ERP that eliminates paper proof-of-delivery, gives your customers real-time visibility
into their deliveries, and eases the burden on drivers by capturing signatures and transmitting documents electronically, including NCR/RGA records. That, in turn, alerts your customer service team so you can take immediate action to resolve the
customer’s issue.

RESULTS

Sign & Drive made a positive first impression on Chief and their customers almost from the moment it was deployed. "My initial impression was that it was very simple to implement," says Langoletti. "Amtech did a great job of putting it in place, walking us through the setup, and putting together instructions to help the drivers get in and use it."

"Change doesn't always go over very well," added Stewart, "but this went over very well with the drivers. The training took about 30 minutes and from there we had situations where the drivers were teaching other drivers how to use it!"

One surprising development in the early days of the test was when the drivers asked to give back the tablets Chief had purchased specifically for this program. "We initially purchased a bunch of iPads for the drivers to use," said Langoletti, "but they didn't actually want to do that. They felt it was easier to use their own mobile phones."

Customer response was equally favorable. "We picked a couple of customers that we deliver to every day, sometimes a couple of times a day, to get started," explains Stewart. "Once they saw it, they loved it. Then we thought 'Oh shoot, now we have to buy it,'" he jokes.

The real payoff for Chief, though, has been the resolution of those three key challenges. 

1. Electronic signature capture and digital document transmission removed the burden of scanning piles of paperwork from the drivers at the end of their day.
2. It also eliminated the problems of lost or misfiled paperwork, ensuring that invoicing happened in a timely manner.
3. The electronic documents are automatically attached to customer records, making it far easier for CSRs to retrieve them on demand.

For Chief's customers, the wins are having real-time visibility into their deliveries — they can see when the truck leaves the dock and what's on it, being able to report exceptions immediately so they know they'll get a speedy resolution, and being able to access documents online, without having to contact a CSR or sales rep.

Langoletti sums up their overall experience with Sign & Drive this way:

I would definitely recommend Sign & Drive, 100%. It gives our customers real-time insights while saving us substantial time internally; and everything being integrated into EnCore is huge for us.”