Pella Windows and Doors of Nashville acquired two trucks and four interchangeable bodies by Demountable Concepts to streamline their Millwork delivery operation.
With this delivery system one body can make deliveries with the truck, while workers load a second body at Pella’s facility.
When the truck returns from its route, the empty body is quickly “swapped” for one that’s loaded.
Here are some of the performance issues Pella faced and how implementing the Demountable Concepts System improved them:
Issue: Late starts because loading trucks often extended into the next day
Improvement: Now, when trucks return in the evening they demount the empty body and mount a body loaded for tomorrow’s deliveries so they’re ready to roll first thing in the morning.
Issue: Frequent overtime expenses due to loading after normal working hours.
Improvement: Workers can now load a second or third interchangeable truck body during regular working hours instead of waiting for trucks to return in the evening to load them.
Issue: Lost delivery time because drivers had to wait for trucks to be loaded
Improvement: With Demountables, “swapping” bodies is a five minute operation. Time spent waiting has been transformed into time spent delivering more windows and doors every day.
Issue: Cluttered warehouse area due to product staging for upcoming runs
Improvement: Instead of staging upcoming deliveries in the limited space available on the loading dock, workers now load windows and doors into free-standing demountable bodies.
Issue: Costly product damage created by double-handling
Improvement: Millwork is now loaded directly into the demountable body that will deliver it so product gets to the customer with a minimum of handling. This results in less damage.
Using Demountables also enabled Pella to reduce their fleet size! With traditional trucks the power unit and body are both out of commission during loading. With Demountables, free-standing bodies can be preloaded while the power unit makes deliveries elsewhere. This increased efficiency enables a smaller fleet to do the same, or more work per day.
Here’s what Ben Cordray, Pella’s Operations Manager, said about how Demountable Concepts streamlined their delivery operation. “Thanks to the Demountable Truck Body System, we now load during the day and leave by 6 a.m. the following morning. This system allows us to preload our windows instead of staging them, which in turn reduces the amount of damage they incur because we are not double handling them.”
Demountable Concepts has installation centers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico that install their system onto new and existing fleets. They supply truck body manufacturers with the components to make bodies interchangeable and work with many truck leasing companies.
