Hot shot deliveries: smart locks can smooth rapid fulfillment

Supply chain disruptions from COVID-19 have hit every sector of the economy and exposed the importance of working with suppliers who can respond quickly to your changing business needs.

During the past year, retailers and suppliers in the B2B sector have been looking for ways to improve their operating efficiencies and build customer service advantages by offering more flexible solutions for same-day order fulfillment.

Companies that sell and distribute automotive parts, for example, have many customers who expect same-day order fulfillment and often need “hot shot” deliveries to keep their businesses moving without disruption.

Additionally, parts distributors have customers that need orders to be delivered after hours inside a store or service center to ensure all inventory they need for the next-day’s schedule of work is on hand when their doors open in the morning.

To manage unattended and after-hour deliveries, B2B suppliers and distributors need to give company and contractor drivers an efficient way to access secure areas at their customers’ facilities to drop off orders. The customer does not want to give random drivers access to retail stores, for instance, or have to bother with managing physical keys or pin codes.

Combining security and flexibility

Recent developments have made it possible for B2B distributors and their customers to quickly implement a highly secure and automated process to manage unattended deliveries, and the ability to make real-time key changes.

Leading distributors in the automotive sector are using BoxLock technology to provide their customers with a higher level of service, security and scheduling flexibility for same-day and overnight deliveries.

BoxLock’s smart padlock devices can be deployed anywhere to secure and gain visibility of unattended pickups and deliveries at designated areas inside or outside of buildings. 

The rugged, connected smart padlocks have an integrated barcode scanning and capture engine from Zebra Technologies for unmatched performance. They have a real-time connection to a cloud-based BoxLock Control platform and its robust suite of access control, audit logs and inventory management tools.

By using the cloud-based platform, a distributor is able to set up and create new unique barcode ID’s for each driver, as needed. The IDs can be sent to drivers’ mobile devices to scan with a smart padlock as soon as they arrive at a distribution center to access items staged for pickups, and when they arrive at customer delivery locations to drop off items.

Additionally, the secure APIs from the BoxLock Control platform can be used to integrate the data captured from barcode scanning to a distributor’s IT systems to facilitate real-time inventory tracking, date and time stamping, audit logs and chain of custody to solve specific information needs for themselves and their customers.

For more information about how BoxLock’s smart padlock devices and cloud-based platform can be adapted to solve unique challenges in distribution and other B2B sectors, visit https://www.getboxlock.com