Office Depot deploys wireless tracking, delivery

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By BOB BREWIN

(IDG) -- Office Depot Inc. has started a nationwide rollout of a wireless delivery and tracking system based on rugged handheld computers operating over a packet data network. The company plans to equip all 2,000 of its delivery vehicles with the system.

Dennis Andruskiewicz, senior president for distribution at Delray Beach, Fla.-based Office Depot, said the company opted for rugged personal digital assistants (PDA) based on Santa Clara, Calif.-based Palm Inc.'s Palm OS and supplied by Holtsville, N.Y.-based Symbol Technologies Inc. The logistics management software is supplied by Aether Systems Inc. in Owings Mills, Md.

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Office Depot has already gone live with the system in nine locations and plans to have it operating in 20 markets by year's end.

Andruskiewicz said the Office Depot Signature Tracking and Reporting System (OD STAR) provides delivery management, from loading a truck to getting a customer's signature.

Drivers use a bar-code scanner to record each item in a shipment as it's loaded onto a truck, automatically creating a manifest that's viewable on the company's Web site once the driver inserts the PDA into the truck's wireless data terminal. Data from the PDA is then sent over a packet data network operated by Atlanta-based Cingular Wireless to the company's back-office systems.

At delivery, the driver again scans the order and has the recipient sign for it electronically. The signature is transmitted to the back-office systems to aid in electronic order reconciliation. Andruskiewicz said that because Office Depot handles about 100,000 deliveries daily, the electronic signatures will make it easier to reconcile disputed deliveries with signatures stored in a database, obviating the need to search through masses of paper.

The new system will also enable Office Depot and its customers to view the company's Web site to check truck locations, with the mobile network constantly updating the position of each truck on its route.

Jeff Kagan, an Atlanta-based wireless analyst, said the Office Depot tracking system appears to be similar to systems used by United Parcel Service Inc. in Atlanta and FedEx Corp. in Memphis. "What works for FedEx should work for other companies," Kagan said.

Analysts said OD STAR may provide Office Depot with a competitive edge against rivals such as OfficeMax Inc. in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and Corporate Express Inc. in Broomfield, Colo. An OfficeMax spokesman said the company has a policy against commenting on competitors. Corporate Express didn't respond to a request for comment by deadline.

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Office Depot Inc.
Cingular Wireless
Aether Systems, Inc.

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