10 February, 2020

FMCG: Unlock additional speed in your supply chain

It cannot be argued that the dynamic Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry relies on speed, meticulous organisation and efficiency in its supply chain. After all, it’s in the name. 

The emphasis on the ‘fast moving’ element of the FMCG industry is as important as the production of the goods themselves. What is the use of putting a huge amount of money and effort behind a production line if the products do not reach the consumer in time for consumption? 

When it comes to the delivery aspect of the supply chain, companies are constantly looking for the extra slice of time that could be saved when getting the product from the warehouse to its destination. 

Thanks to advancements in location intelligence technology, it is now possible for FMCG businesses to receive more information from their delivery routes and optimise travel paths to ensure that with each turn, they are saving time and money.

We have recently come across Dista, a new location intelligence product which is new to the APAC region and brings additional value to the FMCG industry in particular. Here are some examples of how it works: 

Plan deliveries more efficiently 


You know how many trucks you have and you also know their capacity. By using a location intelligence product, like Dista, you can pre-load your vehicle inventory and capacity levels into your systems. 

What this means is that if you have produced 585 crates of milk that need to be delivered in a three-hour time frame, you can enter this amount into the Dista platform and it will tell you in a single click exactly how many refrigerated trucks are required in the depot for delivery - rather than relying on manual systems to do the calculations.

Dista will then leverage Google live traffic data to send the drivers on the most optimal route, showing them their drop off points on the way and ensuring that the goods are delivered within the allocated time frame. 

The value of delivery visualisation shouldn’t be discounted - by using a map, businesses can see the exact route their drivers are taking and also track them along the way. 

Combat traffic and other road disruptions


One of the most common delay-causing issues for delivery drivers is meeting unexpected traffic or road disruptions along their route. By far the most reliable data source for FMCG businesses to rely on to deliver accurate traffic information is Google Maps Platform live traffic data. 

By leveraging this information, your drivers can be rerouted during the delivery time frame on roads that are least congested, minimising impact time for delivery. 

Dista is built on Google Maps Platform for this reason. By offering Google live traffic data updates, drivers are automatically updated on route changes and organisations have full visibility of the impact of the disruptions. 

Insights and analytics - location intelligence to constantly improve operations.


The delivery journey doesn’t simply end when the goods have been delivered to their destination. The information gleaned from each driver's individual journey can be leveraged to educate and improve business operations for future deliveries. 

For example: 
  • Observe routes that may have repeated delays when it comes to delivery. Revise routes and make plans to reach retailers another way. 
  • Report back to business stakeholders about the reduction of driver kilometres on deliveries, demonstrating company dollars saved by improving route efficiency. 
  • Evaluate which retailers are doing better than others by reporting on time between deliveries. I.e. You visit a retailer in North Sydney every single day, but you notice 3-4 retailers that only require deliveries every three days. You can use this location intelligence as a basis to incentivise the retailers that are underperforming in a bid to see their sales and your sales increase. 

These insights are possible with Dista, which is built on highly-scalable Google Cloud Platform. Google Cloud Platform uses products like BigQuery behind the scenes to crunch the numbers and deliver reports, fast. 

See how it works!


Book in a free demo

Liveli is a Dista, Google Maps and Google Cloud partner. Get in touch with our team to book in a free Dista demo for the FMCG industry. 

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