The United Dairymen of Arizona manages the transportation of more than 10 million pounds of fresh milk every day from 95 dairies. Ensuring that shipments are accurately tracked and key information is always correctly recorded is essential for every milk hauler, dairy, milk processor, and the UDA cooperative itself.
Software Ops built a complete system to solve this problem: an easy-to-use and accuracy-ensuring iPad app and a rich back-end server system that communicates with the protectively-cased iPad Minis.
Clean design for fast data entry. Utilizing the camera as a super fast way to scan milk sample bar codes.
Milk hauler drivers use the mobile app to track the beginning and end of pickup routes, to record detailed data at each pickup, and to provide key information to the member dairies and milk handlers at final delivery. The app uses geolocation to make it easy for drivers to pick correct default information for each dairy, UPC scanning to quickly enter milk sample vial numbers and tanker seals, and intelligent business rules to ensure that everything is properly recorded.
The server back end allows haulers and UDA's Transportation department to see on a detailed map the precise location of each truck, how full its tanker currently is, what the driver is currently doing, and more. Haulers and UDA can send messages to drivers in-app to inform them of special requests, traffic issues, and anything else that needs communicating.
The system also allows UDA's IT department to manage devices, haulers, handlers, and more. Information fed into the system by the iPad apps is automatically transferred to UDA's legacy accounting system, and accountants at UDA and the hauler's can review additional reports about milk deliveries and can download key information for further processing.
The system has vastly improved daily working processes for everyone involved:
• Haulers know what their drivers are doing and how much milk they're moving
Elegant touch interface to make data entry fast and consistent, including signature signup of a route.
• Drivers have a much easier-to-use and less error-prone way of recording information
• Dairies know exactly what has been picked up and where it's been moved to
• Handlers receive more accurate shipment information
• UDA Transportation can quickly and easily route and reroute drivers
• IT at UDA can remotely manage every device, updating software and restricting how the devices can be used