Field Reports
Snyder’s-Lance tackles route engineering challenges
New transportation management software offers the snack manufacturer flexibility and user-friendly tools to build better route
An operator reviews route information in the Appian FinalMile software from TMW Systems. Snyder’s-Lance uses the software to engineer and manage routes for almost 3,000 independent route owners.
Photo courtesy of Snyder’s-Lance
Snyder’s-Lance, Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, NC, manufactures and sells snack foods throughout the United States and internationally.
The company, which markets nearly 20 leading snack food brands, including Snyder’s of Hanover, Lance, KETTLE Chips, Tom’s and Archway, builds and maintains routes for nearly 3,000 independent owners of equity territories across the US.
Snyder’s-Lance was looking for a better solution to engineer routes and plan territories. To solve that challenge, the company has implemented the Appian FinalMile routing and scheduling solution from TMW Systems to dramatically enhance its route engineering and territory planning capabilities.
The TMW Appian FinalMile solution helps companies reduce transportation costs, control field operations and improve customer service and satisfaction through more efficient route planning and management. The solution provides a seamless workflow that saves time and enables users to optimize daily execution while offering access to real-time reporting and analytics.
“Our previous software required far too many steps and just wasn’t user-friendly at all,” says Steve Maloney, director, business process engineering, Snyder’s-Lance. “There was no easy transition from ‘what-if’ situations, so when we were trying to work with our field sales team in engineering a route, we had to save each session, exit and then go to another one.”
A key advantage of the TMW Appian solution, according to Maloney, is its seamless integration of ALK PC*Miler maps. Because each of the company’s equity territories is a legal entity, each route must accurately reflect precise business boundaries — boundaries that can change as independent business owners buy or sell portions of territories. The company’s previous solution forced Maloney and his team to export routing data into a third-party mapping solution.
“We knew there had to be software out there that would help us engineer our (routing) solutions more effectively while also meeting our mapping requirements,” he says. “Appian gives us the flexibility and user-friendly tools to build better routes and saves us from having to build maps in free-hand using off-the-shelf software.”
Above all, however, Maloney expects TMW Appian to help his team provide a significantly higher level of support to Snyder’s-Lance representatives in each of the company’s 44 zones and 350 districts.
“As one example, we had a route that was built with our previous solution that I wasn’t totally satisfied with. Because of the lack of flexibility in the software, we had to send somebody back out to the zone team again,” he explains. “With Appian, our team can challenge themselves to build the best solution for our business every time.”
For more information, visit https://www.tmwsystems.com
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