Tahira Food is implementing the Maxoptra dynamic vehicle route planning and scheduling platform to transform its Halal food delivery operation. A leading producer and distributor of Halal products across Europe, Tahira supplies a wide range of products to leading supermarket chains, such as Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Iceland, as well as more than 1,800 convenience, specialist and ethnic retailers.
In the UK Tahira operates an in-house fleet with the capacity to deliver up to 1,200 product cartons per day from two warehouse locations. Using Maxoptra, Tahira has already achieved measurable efficiency gains and costs savings and improved staff engagement.
“Prior to the implementation of Maxoptra we simply assigned a vehicle to a particular sales person and then devised routes based on the orders they achieved. This created enormous disparity between vehicles with some only being used for a few hours a day while others were struggling with capacity,” commented Mahmoud Mostafa, Business Consultant at Tahira Foods. “After reviewing and testing a number different systems we chose Maxoptra based on the functionality offered, ease of use, positive reviews and competitive and flexible pricing. The support has also been excellent.”
Founded in 1994 Tahira Foods was established to develop and make available a range of tasty and affordable Halal products that appealed to consumers across Europe regardless of their ethnic background, family status or age. Tahira has since developed to become a trusted brand and Halal reference point with a reputation for quality, authenticity and Halal integrity.
The Maxoptra cloud based solution integrates with Tahira’s sales and accounting software. Using a Maxoptra developed Excel Macro, orders are exported from Sage into the routing and scheduling software. Routes are automatically planned, taking into account customer and consignment requirements, manually adjusted as necessary and communicated to the respective driver’s mobile phone.
“Since introducing Maxoptra we have seen a number of operational improvements,” continued Mostafa. “We have been able to schedule deliveries to multiple areas using the same vehicle, which we didn’t think was possible, we have been able to reduce the fleet use by 10 percent on some days and even on the busiest days we have still completed every delivery. The drivers are also really engaging with the new system as it makes their lives easier and less stressful.”
Stuart Brunger, Maxoptra Business Development Director added, “Over twenty years Tahira has built an enviable reputation, not only for their products but also for their service. By using Maxoptra we can help them maintain this reputation and grow the business over the next twenty years.”
