Adopted by the group Adeo in 2003 (an alliance of the Leroy Merlin, Brico Center, Bricoman, Weldom, Aki and DomPro brands), the international transportation and sales software package DDS Shipper, developed by DDS Logistics, now manages flows of 12.000 Evp (equivalent of twenty foot- containers) per year, for the home hardware and D.I.Y. specialist.

This represents twice the initial volume when the collaboration was set up four years ago (5.500 Evp transported in 2003), without significant additional personnel or loss of fluidity in their operations.

In 2006 alone, 12.000 Evp from South-East Asian countries and China have been treated and 5800 deliveries made to Adeo’s 19 European warehouses via DDS Shipper. During the course of this year, the software package has fully proved its worth by supporting Adeo’s increasing transportation activities.

DDS Shipper, set up by Adeo in order to improve and automate the management and traceability of import flow, allows the containers to be physically and logistically monitored (loading of goods, arrival in real time, written tracking, reception, transit documentation, and so on), whatever the transportation mode (land, sea, etc.), and to check the ‘state’ of shipments. The various service providers involved have access to this information via an Internet portal and can make updates by integrating their data (loading plans, etc.).

The information is therefore synchronised between all parties involved, thus providing a significant productivity increases. The billing and quote possibilities of DDS Shipper have also been put to the test: Adeo has realised 17000 matched invoices in 2006 thanks to the software package, which integrates a ‘Finance’ preference. This allows transportation pre-invoices to be edited, and full costs upon delivery calculated, integrating the product’s purchase cost and the logistical shipping costs per destination. This system offers the advantage of presenting the real source of costs and to set the product sales price for each of the brands.