Sanitarium adds e-business ingredient to its Weetbix

By Christine Nikiel

Friday 9th November 2001

NICOLA HUNTER: Five carriers in Australia interested

Truckies turned IT experts? There must be something in the Weetbix.

Sanitarium's national distribution manager Robin Green boasts the food giant's new internet freight-tracking system was so easy to get up and running a bunch of truck drivers did the job.

Surely a compliment to its creator, eCargo, a startup software company, which says its simple system is the first of its kind in the country.

In an attempt to cut $2 million a year in freight costs, Sanitarium adopted eCargo's system last month.

Mr Green said there was already a 20% reduction in the number of vehicles needed, as well as time saved in administration. Being able to get the system up and running in under three weeks was a bonus, he said, and a sign of its simplicity.

The system, also called eCargo, tracks freight in real time from warehouse to its destination. Because it is internet-based, the company and freighter can check progress at any time.

Proof of delivery is made easier with all inquiries going to one site, and the help desk able to check the whereabouts of the freight in real time.

ECargo enters the supply chain management market when it is crowded with software systems claiming to be the fastest, easiest and cheapest.

Can it compete? General manager Nicola Hunter said it already had five carriers in Australia interested, and both Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) and Sanitarium planned to use the system in their Australian operations.

Sanitarium runs about 12,000 onland freight jobs a year and opted for Kiwi-made after discovering international models would be too expensive and not offer the required level of support.

Companies with small to medium freight needs had been standing back from taking up freight software systems, Mr Green said, waiting for the best version to come out.

"But we could have been waiting forever," he said.

ECargo has been based in Parnell's Icehouse incubator for startup businesses since September and Sanitarium is its first non-shareholding commercial customer.

It started last year as an online market place for ad hoc freight management system but saw a chance to expand the idea when CHH took a 70% shareholding. It is one of five businesses in CHH's corporate venturing programme.

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