Vendors milk mobile wizardry

By ADAM GIFFORD

Milk vendors are saving up to 10 hours a week in paperwork by using Palm computers to manage their businesses on the road.

Alan McKenzie, business manager for Mainland Beverages, said the company paid "a few thousand dollars" seed money to Christchurch software developer the Holliday Group to create a mobile version of the Easyvend software that Mainland's 250 franchised milk distributors used to manage their businesses.

"There wasn't the economy of scale to interest a developer to build an application on spec, so we kicked in something to get it started.

"Milk distribution is 55 per cent of the beverage business, which is 35 per cent of our total business, so the overall efficiency of the distribution business is important - when our distributors are doing well, we are doing well," he said.

The MilkVend application is sold as a package with a Palm and a Canon mobile printer for about $2700.

Mr McKenzie said that seemed a lot to many vendors, but early adopters were enthusiastic.

"Milk is a seven-day-a-week business. If you can save 10 hours, that's enormous."

Vendors download standing orders, client account details and special pricing instructions from Easyvend.

During the day they keep track of deliveries on the Palm. If a customer wants a delivery docket, the vendor can issue one using the mobile printer and infrared link.

At day's end the applications are synchronised, saving hours of keying paper forms into the system.

Mr McKenzie said MilkVend might be marketable in Australia, where the Easyvend software was developed.

The MilkVend system is distributed in the North Island by Rocom Wireless, whose director of wireless computing, Luigi Cappel, called it a great example of mobile computing.

Mainland's brands include Tararua and Meadow Fresh.