Why your company should use e-waybills
Delivery documents are needed for moving almost all types of goods. Even though the world has been moving towards digitalizing everything for years, most cargo such as crops, fertilizers, milk, and construction aggregates still require physical waybills printed on paper. These are expected in three copies. One for the shipper, one for the carrier, and one for the final receiver of the cargo. We at Waybiller have made it our mission to replace old-fashioned paper waybills with electronic equivalents (e-waybills). In fact, we have already started implementing this solution with Estonian industry leaders such as Nordecon and Kevili. However, we have often encountered questions about why e-waybills are superior to old-fashioned paper waybills. In this article we will cover three simple aspects that we view as the most important.
More efficient movement of information.
If the delivery is done using paper waybills, then as described above, three copies are made and given to each of the participants in the process. The shipper, carrier and final receiver of the goods only get the physical waybills when the truck has passed through them. Moreover, the waybill also has to be retrieved from the driver in the end. There is a very large probability in this chain that some of these papers are lost in the process. Once the companies start to crunch their numbers, there might be inconsistencies and disagreements. These usually create disputes, headaches and a completely avoidable waste of time. To top it off, most companies also manually enter the data from waybills into their own systems (such as Excel or which ever accounting software they are using). Today, this job has to be done three times. Manually.
These issues do not exist with e-waybills. An electronic waybill can be viewed in real time, on demand, by the shipper, carrier and receiver. This means that the receiving company, whether it would be a construction site or warehouse, can see ahead of time that a carriage is heading towards them and an estimate of when it is going to arrive. In cases where the receiver can not accept the load for whatever reason, they can let the carrier know ahead of time and this means time and money is saved for both parties. No one in this chain has to enter the data manually. All of it is available in real time, on demand, and digitally. If there is a necessity to compare the figures between companies, all of the parties have access to the same information with simply one press of a button. This data can also be made into an Excel report in accordance to any parameters the companies desire, such as starting points, destinations, carriers, etc. If necessary, these e-waybills can also be forwarded to accountants to save time spent on accounting.
Better overview of drivers.
The valuable data that is made accessible by using e-waybills also makes management easier. Managers of courier companies have to spend valuable time counting the hours worked by their drivers, kilometres driven and total amounts carried. All of these tasks that are important for managing drivers can be done more easily using a standardized system that collects such data. Waybiller has the functionality to collect kilometres driven and provide easier access to information about hours worked. This means that comparing performance indicators such as fuel consumption and working hours can be automated. Moreover, these are things that the drivers depend on for their salaries, so a transparent system is of the upmost importance for them. By introducing e-waybills, this data can be seen in real time, on demand, and digitally - making it more efficient.
Saving paper and transporting more.
Using electronic waybills removes the necessity for spending unreasonable amounts of resources on paper. If we only take into account forestry, gravel, and sand transport, then according to the Estonian Forest and Wood Industries Association and data gathered by Waybiller, there are over 600,000 of such transports on Estonian roads only. If the transportation is organized using paper, then as mentioned before, three pieces of paper are needed for all the parties involved. This means that using electronic waybills could save over 1.8 million pieces of paper per year. Taking into account all the other types of transport, this number is significantly larger. Saving paper does not only mean saving the environment, but also saving resources. Printing one waybill with three copy-sheets costs around 0.3 euros today. Hence, accounting for only the three types of transport mentioned above, companies could save over 180,000 euros by cutting spending on waybills. Moreover, if we add the actual labor time saved and increased efficiency, the figure gets exponentially larger. To add to this, the Estonian government has allowed transporters who use e-waybills to apply for a special license, which allows the use of a 52 ton total mass vehicle on Estonian roads. This could be implemented in other countries as well, leading to a smaller number of total transports required for companies and less expenses.
If you would like your company to become a pioneer and implement an electronic waybill solution, contact the Waybiller team at ivar@thorgate.eu or call us at +37258081132.
