No problem, the UFCS system utilises it's own set of consignment unique identifiers. What we mean by this is that the UFCS system was designed to utilise the industries world recognised ANA EAN-128 barcode format www.ean-int.org, and has it's own printed label format independent of any carrier.

Therefore as far as the system s concerned your local deliveries are in fact, just another carrier, albeit a local one. You would just set up a new carrier "LOCAL" (or any name you prefer) add the depots (sub contract companies) to that carrier and allocate the relevant outcodes to the depots, then assign this carrier as being the preferred carrier.

Any consignments you now key into those outcodes will go via your local carrier network. Not forgetting that at any time you are able to override the preferred carrier with any other carrier that covers that same combination. (Dependant on user level)



My current carriers provide me with their own software do I still need this?

Ninety percent of the time the answer would be yes, it depends on the carrier. Although all consignment information would be keyed into the UFCS system and then a file created for each of the carriers. The majority of carriers prefer this file to be imported into their software at your site, and then for you to transmit this information to them using their software.

Our system can of course by-pass this and transmit the consignment information directly to the carrier. However by using the carriers software for transmission there may be other information that is passed between you and the carrier that is of no relevance to the UFCS system, but is required by the carrier to update their own system.

The benefit of using UFCS is that most of your users will only need to use UFCS, and not the array of other software that you have been provided with.



How can I send my freight to many networks and keep control?

Allow us to give you a simple scenario, lets say you are involved with three networks (you could be in 10), one parcel carrier (A), one pallet carrier (B) and one mixed (C) (both parcels and pallets).

Each of these carriers has full coverage of the UK but have differing service levels. i.e. Carrier (A) offers a 09:00 service whilst carrier (C) offers both a 09:00 and a 10:00 service. Carrier (A) 09:00 service is less expensive than (C) 09:00 service, therefore you can default all 09:00 hour services to go via carrier (A).

During consignment entry the system will display every carrier that matches the given criteria, highlighting your chosen default (preferred) carrier and displaying all matching records with their costs. This allows you to select any carrier that matches your chosen criteria. (Dependant on user level). As mentioned earlier this is a simple scenario.

If you so wish you can divide the carriers to the following level, Outcode (Post Code) Freight Type and Service Level. I.e. The preferred carrier for a combination of Outcode "TR13" Freight Type "Parcel" and Service Level "09:00" could be Carrier (A), whilst TR13, Letter Pack, "09:00" could be Carrier (C).

Whilst we appreciate that this is an unrealistic scenario, it does show to what level you can decide which carrier does what. A more likely use for this is that whilst carrier (A) offers a less expensive 09:00 service to the TR outcode area, they are not as reliable as carrier (B), therefore you can make all freight types to all TR outcodes default to carrier (B). If carrier (A) improve their service, with one mouse click you can revert this to carrier (A).

Once you have set up your preferred carriers, your users never need to think twice about which carrier does what. Hopefully this gives you an insight in the degree of how you can manipulate the system to best suit your own requirements.



I have problems handling some customers ‘IDW’ (Irregular Dim’s/Weight) or ‘ugly’ freight.

You don’t have to turn this away. This can even be a service you specialise in as there are Carriers who specialise in this type of freight. Depending on the quantity you handle, you could join one of these Carrier networks or just become an input customer to such a network.



My Customers also use other Carriers because I can't offer all the services they require through my existing Carrier system.

UFCS is designed to remove any operational restraints that might prevent you from joining an additional Carrier system. We solve all that for you. You can easily send freight through another carrier, either as an input depot or just a volume customer.

If solving your customers remaining freight problems means you get all his business, his life is simplified dealing with only one supplier and one collection vehicle a day. If he has a computer system from another carrier he and his staff now only have to learn to use one.



I'm not happy with my current carrier and would like to change, but for the following reasons I feel unable to do so:-

We will need to join a new network ?
We will need to install new software at our site ?
We will need to install new software at our customers sites ?
We will need to retrain all our staff on how to use the new software ?
We will need to retrain all our customers staff on how to use the new software ?

Well no actually you wouldn't need to do any of these things if you were using UFCS, in fact you could change carriers as often as your business dictated, without any of the above interruptions.



I'm already in two carrier networks why would I need your software?

Why do you want to restrict yourself to only two carriers?

How well integrated is your current software?

Are you using more than one software package?

How do your operators know which one to use? - or more to the point, how do you make sure your operators make the choices that you want them to?

If your current software package caters for both the networks you are in, how easy would it be for you to join another carrier? (another 10 if you so wish).

Can your current software package add or change carriers at the drop of a hat?



What can your software do that ours doesn't?

We can't tell you this, as we do not know what software you are running. But we do know that there is no other software currently on the market that has been designed to combine the features that our does.

The majority of software developed for the overnight freight industry was originally developed for one particular carrier, and then modified it to suit another carrier then another, so on and so forth. The end result is an unwieldy, overcomplicated, non user-friendly piece of software that was never designed to do the job you are currently using it for. Therefore we took a clean sheet of paper and designed our new UFCS software from the end users point of view (The MD and OpsD are both ex depot managers) and not for any particular carrier.



In what way is UFCS different to my Carrier software?

Software designed to work for a carrier is exactly that, it has the carriers interests at heart, not you the depot/customer.

They do not want you to use another carrier, it's not in their interest, and therefore they do not make it easy for you to change, why should they.

The downside to this is it also means that some carriers are not inclined to perform to an acceptable level of service as there is no competition or incentive to do so. Or at least they will have to continually under perform before you consider changing carriers due to the complications in doing so.

We all know competition is healthy, it keeps us all on our toes. UFCS gives you back control, your current carrier can no longer afford to be complacent. We are not saying all carriers are complacent, in fact we know of many high quality carriers, all of whom you can utilise using our software.



I'm not a member of these carriers and cannot or do not wish to afford to be!

So don't, we have many clients who are not members (depots) of a carrier, they are direct customers of a carrier. No carrier is going to turn away a potential volume customer, which is what you are.



How can I ensure data integrity with regard to routing and costings with so many carriers?

You don't, we do. Part of the service we provide is to ensure all routing and all costing is correct, no matter how may carriers you are involved with. The UFCS system at your site will connect to our FTP server at least once a day, and all changes will be automatically updated. This includes depot routing, service availability, carrier costs, depot changes and contact changes.



Do you have a system that we can provide to our customers?

Yes, the UFCS Implant system has exactly the same functionality of the depot system. With added features that are more relevant to a customer site rather than a depot site. All customer implants are automatically updated with routing and depot changes when they upload their information to the main UFCS depot system.

For a full explanation of the implant system click here.



Can your software consolidate consignments?

Yes. But you also have the choice of how you wish it to consolidate. Whether this happens automatically behind the scenes, or prompts the user that another potential consolidation consignment exists, and asks if they wish to consolidate this consignment with the existing one.



Can your software accommodate our customer pricing structure?

We believe so, a lot of time was spent on designing the structure to accommodate both pricing and costing. As well as the usual functionality, we took into account that you may sometimes wish to charge for a consignment by a combination of both the number of items it has and by the weight.

You may wish to have many discount points, or create charge groups that you can attach customers to. Best thing to do is provide us with what you consider to be a difficult rate to compute and we can talk you through it on our interactive web site.

E-mail or call us for more details.



As part of a local distribution network I can make savings on my National carriers charges but this involves two office operations, prohibiting re-routing of consignments.

As a Networkable computer application, UFCS can be made available to any or all offices in your organisation. Because it is designed to accept consignments, produce documentation, and create export files for any Carrier, it can also do this for your local network.

You only need UFCS.

UFCS can be configured to warn you if a consignment to the same consignee already exists on the system. It can also be configured to default to a preferred Carrier (your local network) for particular types of freight, or services, to any region of the country.



Does your software calculate costs from ALL the carriers?

Simply, Yes, we have not yet come across a carrier whose pricing structure we can not accommodate. We are not saying this won't happen in the future, and if it does we will do our best to accommodate it. But we are pretty confident we already have.



Does your software have POD and Track & Trace facility?

Yes it does, we can import POD (Proof of Deliveries) details from the carriers, and you can also key in your own POD's as well as the carriers. Nowadays the majority of carriers have their own track & trace systems, therefore you have the facility (if allowed by the carrier) to connect directly to the carriers web site from within the UFCS consignment details page.



Can we produce our own Delivery Notes & Manifests?

Yes you can, UFCS has it's own concise delivery note and delivery manifest. This would be used for consignments that are sent via your local carrier i.e. You.



What sort of reporting functionality does your system have?

There are numerous reports that you can run, all of which are user definable as to what you want to report on.

You also have the ability to attach to the back end tables with well known third party products such as "Microsoft Access", "Microsoft Excel", "Krystal Reports" enabling you to create your own reports and data sets.



Does your software produce invoices?

Yes it does, there are a number of pre-set Invoice layouts, one being Sage.

The system also produces an export data file for the most common account packages. Some customers prefer to export data directly to their accounts packages then produce invoicing from there. Either way you're covered.



I have a requirement for recording haulage work, can your system accommodate this?

Yes it can, you can record multiple lines of descriptive text i.e. “40ft artic’ from Burslem to Harrogate”, enter the price, cost, and any subcontractor or cost centre.You can then either run your invoicing separately for your haulage work, or you can consolidate it with your overnight work, therefore presenting just one invoice to your customer.



What sort of hardware will I need to run your system?

Click here



What is the minimum specification of a PC needed to run your system?

Click here.



Can we contact someone who is using your system for their opinion?