PDI Inforamtion Technology

Our Information Technology mission is to ensure that our company is operating in the most efficient manner possible with the technology that is available on the market today and innovate further to maintain our position as industry leaders...

The key component to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of our customers’ supply chains is the timely availability of accurate information. PDI has invested heavily over the years to ensure that our systems are state-of-the-art. We pride ourselves in being industry leaders from an IT perspective.

Our Core System:

PDI utilizes a fully automated order entry, dispatch, and invoicing system, which provides direct inventory management, and reconciles all inventories in our facilities daily. Railcar balances are available in report form or can be pulled up on a per car basis anytime. This system produces reports, which indicate percentage of on time deliveries, incident tracking and actions taken as well as several in house productivity reports, which monitor a multitude of operational efficiencies.

PDI Web-site

PDI offers our customers online order entry which can be used to place orders through PDI’s web-site. The benefits of the system are as follows:

• Elimination of administrative time and the chance for errors due to repetitive data input.
• Automated load confirmations via e-mail.
• Load tracking.
• Order tracking.
• Automated reporting.

Many reports are available through PDI's web-site including PDI’s on time service level, volume by product, origin, destination, and time period of choice. Customers can see usage in this manner quickly and easily for chosen period i.e. week, month, year. Reports can be set up to be automatically sent to customers at prescribed intervals i.e. daily, weekly, monthly. Our customers use this site from their salesforce down to logistics personnel. The site is versatile and convenient and all customers save time by having information at their fingertips through PDI’s web-site. Currently customers are able to place an order, track the order, then pull the paperwork after the fact. Soon customers will have the ability to check inventories before placing their order.

Document Management

Accurate document management is paramount within the logistics industry. PDI has an automated workflow for all documentation used in our day to day business. Our document management system produces barcodes on all paperwork related to any order (including customer supplied paperwork). The documentation is then scanned into our system from any PDI terminal at which point paperwork is triggered to go through customized workflows i.e. e-mail scale ticket to shipper. This technology ensures our customers receive their paperwork on-time every time. In most cases the paperwork is received before the truck arrives to the customer unload site. The system eliminates human error by automatically reading the barcode and sending the documents which are specified by the customer to the appropriate workflow. The system furthermore automatically e-mails the appropriate PDI personnel if there are documents missing from the delivery packet i.e. bill of lading, wash ticket, C of A. Our staff can be proactive to source the documents and file electronically as necessary.

Invoicing to customers is accomplished by an automatic e-mail with the bill of lading and the invoice; all documents relating to each invoice are avaialable through PDI's web-site. This provides all our customers with significant time savings as all paperwork relating to any order is simply a mouse click away.

A recent statistical analysis was completed showing that on average out of 100 key strokes there are 2-3 human errors made. PDI is currently investing in technology to counter double handling of information. The system is much like our online order entry system; however it taps into any customers system to grab orders once they are entered. This includes JD Edwards, SAP, flat files, customer web-site orders, e-mailed orders including MS Excel, and MS Word. The system also supports EDI transactions.

Mobile Communications

PDI operates a specialized mobile communications system (GPS) in all PDI trucks company wide. This system provides the following benefits to PDI and our customers:

• GPS tracking of all trucks (15 min intervals).
• Automated arrival and departure times at customer locations - all pick up and drop off points (can be viewed through PDI’s web-site).
• Automated messaging to and from all trucks from operations / PDI personnel.
• Automated driver payroll.
• Automated hours of service for all drivers ensuring compliance.
• Increased fuel economy by obtaining real time idle reports and RPM shift levels.
• Increased safety due to reporting of safety parameters i.e. hard braking, speeding (auto e-mails to safety manager).
• Increased safety due to auto population of engine fault codes to maintenance system.

Maintenance System

PDI operates an automated maintenance system company wide which notifies appropriate personnel (primarily dispatchers and shop managers) of scheduled maintenance and annual safeties. The system tracks the fleet by a percentage of on time maintenance for all equipment including tankers, tractors, pneumatic transfer units, farm tractors, all accessorial blowers, etc. The system is tied to our mobile communications system in our trucks. The trucks automatically update the maintenance system with fault codes from the engine to ensure our staff are pro-active with repairs upon the next inspection.

Inventory Management

PDI operates a custom built Railcar Management System (RMS) which tracks all customers railcar inventories real time. Some of the features and benefits of the system are as follows:

• Real time updates to railcar information. All terminals are reconciled at a minimum daily.
• Automatic e-mails to customers for railcar arrivals, releases.
• Automatic variance of customer railcar balances with flags for variance discrepancies > 0.07%.
• A wide array of reports.

PDI operates a fully automated warehousing system which utilizes RF technology to track inventory by barcodes. Scanners and tablet PC’s are located on fork trucks and throughout our warehouse for location identification. Shipments are processed by scanning pallets pertaining to each order. The system does not allow the wrong material to be picked. This system provides full-computerized tracking and invoicing of customer warehoused product.

The key component to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of our customers’ supply chains is the timely availability of accurate information. PDI has invested heavily over the years to ensure that our systems are state-of-the-art. We pride ourselves in being industry leaders from an IT perspective.

To obtain further details on how PDI’s commitment to Information Technology can save you time and money while simultaneously providing you with peace of mind around your supply chain contact us.