LoadProof Video Testimonial – Jacob Sayer, Ensemble Global Solutions

Okay, great. U you know um Jacob thank you very much for taking the time to join this call. Um he want yeah thank you very much for taking the time to join this call. My name is Pugash Shankara, so if you could please introduce uh you know yourself, your role, your day-to-day responsibilities and activities, and you know all those things that you do we can get started there.

Yeah, uh my name is Jacob S. I work for FR and I’m the uh shipping supervisor here at uh FR. We are a manufacturer of sounding materials for ceilings, walls, you name it. So basically we were having a lot of issues with our customers, okay, um saying that when they receive their product, they would be missing hardware, missing stuff, or it came damaged. Okay, so we would and we had no records of hey how did it ship, what did we ship.

Yeah, so that was our biggest issue with uh our customers and then also with the carriers that would pick up. We would show them hey this is how it left our dock and this is how it got received at our customers, and it doesn’t look the same. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then what do you guys do when that happens? I mean know what is the resolution?

Like we would try to file a claim as long as the uh customer would uh write on the uh B uh damaged product. We would follow the claims but there weren’t any pictures to back up anything except for on the customer’s end. So they would say yeah I mean you guys did package it right or whatnot and basically we received zero compensation for any of the damaged material.

Oh really, any of the carriers? Okay, okay, okay. So after the fact that where we started using Load Proof uh with the carriers, specifically we uh I think we had been compensated about $10,000 okay in this past year. So okay, that helped greatly um so we didn’t have to eat the cost of uh remanufacturing product and stuff, just because our customers it’s pretty much uh specific to their needs.

So it’s not like we could just bring it off the shelf and ship out something uh that they were missing or that got damaged, right? So we would have to remake like everything that was damaged. Okay, yeah. So the customer wasn’t happy, we weren’t happy and you know uh some of the uh products were like $20,000-$30,000 worth of material. Wow, okay, okay.

Yeah, so yeah, uh yeah I think uh the year before, yeah, um I think there was like a quarter million dollars worth of damage. Wow, okay, yeah man that’s a lot of money. Yeah, yeah that’s a lot of money that’s like what at least four FTES, four full-time employees, right? I hear, yeah.

Um no we we have here I think about 30 people. I mean we there’s probably like 20 good 20 people in production and then okay uh like uh one group there production group about 20 people and then we have engineers and sales here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no I mean the $250k if you guys save that that’s a, you know, four people can easily get paid for those at all more than four people.

Yeah, more exactly, yeah that’s my point at least four people if not more. Yeah, yeah, yeah so yeah it was uh it was a substantial amount and then uh so that and we also stopped using that carrier also. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah that helped out greatly.

Yeah, so uh then our next biggest issue was our customers uh saying that they were missing product uh and we didn’t have any proof that we shipped it. Yep, so once we started using Load Proof we were taking pictures uh with just a camera and then uploading it onto our sales folders.

Yeah, um it just was hard to find so sorry where were you uploading it to? Uh we were loading it up uh we have a folder for every sales order that we have. Got it, that we create we were loading uploading the uh the pictures that we took into the sales folder.

Okay, um but then we’d have to do that manually. Yeah we’d have to go back yeah and literally like look at the picture look at the sales order Y and figure out hey I think this picture goes to this sales order. Yeah, yeah, yeah uh instead of hey I can load all the Sal this all the pig for that sales holder is hey just type in s blah blah blah.

Yeah, and it doesn’t matter when it was taken, yep because we would have multiple pallets on some orders, yep, and they would be taken at different times, you know, multiple days sometimes, yep when we’re packaging it up. Yep, so and and with Load Proof we could actually see all of them.

So once I T about like s 3523, yep, doesn’t matter you know when it was taken it could be multiple um downloads, yep and everything would pop up say yep uh we shipped you know the cable we shipped everything. Or I can say yes, uh we missed it exactly.

I mean that’s good also right at least from a visibility perspective you know mistakes happen so that’s fine. Yeah, at least we know you know what hey we got to do a better job next time. So yeah, that’s so that that’s a good thing you know it’s like hey and also we’re trying to implement it to where um our QC process.

Yeah, so that we can say hey where’s our shortfall here is it uh in gluing is it in cutting is it in packaging, yep material. Yep, so so uh so I’m we’re going to try to implement that on the QC side of it where uh QC can catch us hey uh yeah it’s bad cut, y it was bad you know gluing.

Yep, what where is the fault at and let’s try to fix it at the point instead of like it goes to the uh customer and they’re like hey you know your product’s bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah I mean we’ve been using it uh a lot especially on the shipping end of it, okay and uh yeah it helps us as far as trying to teach my guys especially on the shipping end.

Y because we’re the ones that pull all the uh hardware for the for our product, yep, and you know try to teach them hey this is what the hardware goes with each you know baffle or cloud or whatnot so that they they kind of have an understanding of what we’re trying to do and then you know if.

We and the biggest thing is if they don’t take the pictures I have no clue what we said. Correct, correct, correct, correct, correct. I try to instill in you, you got to take a picture. I mean, it’s going to protect them, right? It’s going to protect them. Yeah, yeah, it’s kind of pointless to just say, “Oh yeah, hey, it’s strata, we won’t take pictures of it.” But then if we have issues with that shipment, there’s no record of what you pulled, correct? Anything. So, you know, just take pictures and also take a picture of the count so that you know they’re individually packaged.

So that we can say, “Yes, we did ship you 50.” Yep, and you said that you only received 49. If there’s a picture showing that we actually shipped you 50, then it’s like, where was the disconnect? Yeah, yeah, so whether it got lost in transit or whether you guys are not exactly telling us the truth or something, whatever it is. I think one, it looks like you guys went through this change management issue, and we see this all the time. Generally, people question, “Hey, why do I have to take photos?” That comes up, and then once they realize, “Hey, you know what? I did everything right and something went wrong, and they blamed me or they blamed us,” they can share those photos and get rid of that blame coming towards them.

That’s our biggest reason that we implemented Load Prooof. I mean, it went through Kinetics. Justin was the first one to use it up in Kinetics; I think they’re up in Ohio. He loved it, and we had a meeting with all the logistics and shipping managers for the company, and we all decided, “Yeah, that’s great.” We were already doing it with just pictures, but this is a lot easier process versus us manually uploading photos per order. This way, we could see everything because sometimes guys forget to say the photos with the sales order, but this way, hey, we’re doing it right there.

They have the sales order in front of them, and they can just type in the sales. It’s five characters, so for them, it’s not that hard. They can take 20, 30, or 40 pictures for one order. The more, the merrier. The more proof you guys have, the stronger your argument is. The only issue that I kind of have with Load Prooof is that the resolution—I don’t know if it’s our camera because we’re using a pad. I think it’s an HP or something like that.

I don’t know if the camera on that doesn’t have great resolution or whatnot, but once I try to zoom in on it, download, and then zoom in, it just gets a little fuzzy. So you can actually set up four resolutions: low resolution, medium resolution, high resolution, and actual resolution. Low is low, medium generally works for everything pretty much. If you guys don’t have medium, you can set it to high resolution. If you want really, really good, you can set it to actual. The higher the resolution, the bigger the file size will be, but actual resolution is really good.

What device are you guys using, and when was it launched? One second here. I got one right here. That looks like a Samsung Tab Active, is it? Yeah, it’s a Samsung tablet. What model is it, and when was it launched? I think this one was launched. If you can give me the model number, I can ask my tech support guy to call your product support guys, and they will help you with adjusting the resolution of the photos. I have a box around here somewhere with the actual model and everything. I just didn’t know I needed that.

You can also use your own device. I don’t know if you guys have any company-issued corporate phones or anything like that. You can install Load Prooof on those devices too. I used before because the tablets came, and we were having a hard time connecting with our Wi-Fi because our IT department is up in Ohio, and they had set the Wi-Fi to their Wi-Fi up there in Ohio. We were like, “Hey, how come it’s not connecting?”

The IT guys were like, “We don’t know.” We just did what we were told—download this app and hook it up to the Wi-Fi. But it was hooked up to the Wi-Fi up in Ohio, so when we got it, we were like, “Oh man, it wasn’t connecting to your Wi-Fi here locally.” We were trying to connect it, and we finally figured out, “Yeah, that’s the wrong Wi-Fi.”

Like I said, everything went through Kinetics as far as purchasing your product, and all the setup and tech stuff was through Kinetics. Justin was the one that contacted you guys and set everything up. I think we’re all under one account, but I’m not sure. Of course, we have our FR, they have Kinetics, Sound Sill, and I think a couple of two other divisions are actually using you guys. But yeah, I’m liking it; it’s a lot easier. I can give access to our sales team and our customer support team so that if they have issues and they contact saying, “Hey, we didn’t receive this,” they don’t have to come to me.

They have access. Before, it was all, “Hey, do you have a picture of this? Do you have a picture of that?” and I had to scroll through trying to find it. Now they can just click on Load Prooof, type in the sales order, and it’s like, “There it is!” They can send it off to the customer, and I don’t have to be involved in it. That takes time, actually scrolling through pictures versus, “Hey, it should be under this sales order.”

If not, then I’ll try to see when would these pictures have been taken. Sometimes they might not have put a sales order number or might have put the pictures under a different sales order number. You know, people do that. I found something like that where they typed the wrong sales order. We have the pictures; it was just under the wrong number. I can say, “Yeah, it should have been taken between this date and this date,” scroll through, and there it is.

The product is definitely great. The only issue that I’ve really been having is the resolution of the pictures sometimes—not always, just when we’re zooming in for small hardware products; it’s kind of hard to see. So, do you like any other capabilities to be added to the software that will make your life even better? Not really. With what we use it for, it’s basically just for the shipping aspect of it, whether it’s sending it to the carrier or sending it to our customer.

I have access to it, and it’s not just me; everyone in the company has access to those pictures. That’s perfect instead of me always going in, pulling the pictures, and emailing them. This way, they can pull the pictures themselves and send it off to the customer. Right now, I don’t see any other need. We’re not super advanced or anything; we just take pictures to cover our backs. There’s nothing wrong with that.

So, would you recommend Load Prooof to someone else in your role or a similar role that is shipping a lot of expensive items? Yeah, it’s a great product. We’ve gotten back about $10,000 in claims for damage with certain carriers we just don’t use anymore. It helped us with, “Hey, this is how it left our dock.” We have visual proof of this order versus, “Hey, we have no idea.” There were some pictures, but we didn’t actually take pictures of the finished product.

This way, it’s a lot easier for me to keep everything in order. We don’t have that many issues with that. Our biggest issue is with our customers saying they didn’t receive some products they were supposed to. We have documentation that we did ship it since it’s on the pallet. Approximately how much time are you saving now that customer support can look at the pictures themselves?

For me personally, I’m probably saving 15 to 20 minutes a day. Some of our customers don’t open their packages for months—it might be two, three, or four months. Is it because you guys are delivering to some construction sites? A lot of our customers might be new builds. In order for them to put up our product, they have to have drywall or the ceiling finished. They might have ordered a little too soon, so it’ll be sitting in their warehouse, and they won’t even look at it for two, three, or four months until the job site is ready.

Then we’re like, “Oh no, you guys, we shipped that three months ago.” We go back, and it’s like, “Okay, hey, there it is,” versus me scrolling through pictures from three or four months ago. That’s painful. Nobody remembers anything; everybody’s busy shipping new orders. It saves a great deal of time and is more efficient for us. It’s not I don’t always do that because they don’t come to me anymore.

A lot of times they say, “Yeah, just look at Load Prooof.” That takes me all of 10 seconds to email like a Load Prooof. Perfect. Anything else you would like to add, Jacob? No, it’s a great product. I’m glad Justin got us into it. I would have never even known about you guys.

Thank you very much for your time, Jacob. Thank you very much for sharing the feedback. Bye-bye.