ICL Awarded Kaizen Award from Toyota Canada for Outbound Vehicle Logistics Budget Automation and Optimization

17.12.2021

Automotive

Logistics

The collaboration on the new reporting system to produce their annual budget automated the production of different budget views for different business needs. This included total inbound and outbound freight cost, freight to dealer costs, and model-level selling expenses. Under the previous manual process, the reports ran once every quarter and could take as long as three weeks to create, resulting in many files to work with. After working with the ICL team on what was needed and understanding the frustrations and what Toyota wanted to achieve, we created an automated workflow that runs in just over 20 seconds.

The result is that all costing data is now fully automated in one file instead of many Excel spreadsheets and data lookups. Toyota estimates that this automated process has saved them up to five days of data collection and the same or more for the other associates doing freight costing reports. Another bonus is that the same file also provides budget data beyond the national level with other report tabs showing each sales region, province, dealer-facing distribution yard, and VIN-level cost by model/series. Using this new reporting tool is not only time-saving, cutting production of the annual budget to one day. It also allows TCI to re-run the budget at various times during the year, meaning they now have more control over budget-led decisions and can analyze the impact distribution network changes can have on their budget, literally at the click of a button.

After the presentation of the award, Frank Agrusa, ICL’s Director of Product Development and Innovation, told us of future projects with Toyota Canada concerning this reporting project:

“We’re currently building a reporting system so that financial so they can compare the report to actuals – we’re currently building a BA report that shows them exactly that, and the numbers behind it also come from the same workflow,”

The Toyota Canada Vehicle Logistics Department also shared their thoughts on the win with the team:

“Toyota Canada is pleased to present to ICL Systems a Kaizen award for automating the data gathering process for annual freight and selling expense budgets.”

About ICL

ICL sets the benchmark in cloud-based product supply chain visibility and invoice auditing solutions. Only ICL’s Vehicle Logistics Management System (VLMS) offers seamless integration with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and their logistics providers for end-to-end visibility, from production to dealer.

Rubicon VLS, ICL’s 3PL/4PL subsidiary, provides experienced logistics professionals and industry connections for full-service FVL network management.

ICL also offers a range of products for haul-away carriers, finished vehicle yard management, freight rail shippers, network optimization, and emissions monitoring, all designed with our core belief in the power of technology to drive efficiency in transportation and supply chain management. Learn more about ICL´s products and services: www.iclsystems.com