LoadProof Video Testimonial – John Barry, Kenco Group

So John, thank you very much for taking the time to join this call. You know, I mean, this is the analogy that I’d like to use because we get to build race cars, but we don’t race them. You know, that is the sad part of it, right? You guys get to race them, so that is how I look at it. We build great systems and hope we are doing a great job taking care of our end users really well. It’s always exciting for me to hear from an end user that’s living the day in, day out using the system, and hopefully we are adding value to you guys and so forth. So that’s why this is exciting for me. If you could please introduce yourself and talk about your day-to-day roles and some of the things that you do, and the organization that you support, we can get started there. Yeah, no problem at all, sir.

All right, well again, my name is John Barry. I’m the site quality advocate for Keno Corporation at the American Standard Brands locations in Groveport, Ohio, and Texas. Okay, great! We’ve been using Load Proof for a number of years but really started to use it in a large way about a year and a half ago. We made a conscious decision to use Load Proof on all inbound and outbound loads to capture everything from what we call trailer dock and release all the way through the trailer leaving the yard. This way, we had complete visibility on all products going into and out of a truck.

Great, great, great! So you guys are using both outbound as well as inbound, correct? Correct. For outbound, we’re using it much more extensively; our normal load might have 40 pictures in it because we’re taking a picture of everything going in, the condition of the truck, and things of that nature. But even on inbound, we’re taking anywhere from six to ten pictures to capture any in-transit damage and the like. So what was the exact problem you guys were trying to solve before Load Proof?

Initially, when we first came across Load Proof, it was only being used at our Hutchins location and only to show the truck when it was leaving the yard. Basically, just to show the seal. We were having issues validating what was actually in the truck. We proposed to the customer that we start using this in a larger way, and it paid off right away. American Standard is our customer; they are one of the largest manufacturers of toilet and bath products. Their biggest customers wanted to be able to see the product going to them, and Load Proof gives us that visibility.

So, your job as a quality advocate is to ensure everything gets shipped right—not just packed well but also that the right documentation is in place, such as the bill of lading and packing slip. This is crucial since American Standard products are all fragile ceramic items. You need to ensure the load bars, airbags, and other necessary precautions are taken to prevent damage from bumps or potholes on the road. We have to validate for the customer that when it leaves our dock, it’s in the right condition—stable and secure—so they know they’re getting good quality products.

What was it like before Load Proof? Before Load Proof, we referred to it as a whack-a-mole game. If an end customer complained about a bad shipment, we had no way to defend ourselves. The end customer was correct, and we couldn’t do anything about it. With Load Proof, we could show how the product was handled and trace it throughout the entire process from inbound to outbound. We went from having no ability to defend ourselves to quickly getting to the bottom of any issue.

If damage occurred to a load, the impact could lead to significant chargebacks or penalties for American Standard. If a product is broken, that’s a headache. The bigger issue is if you ship the wrong product to the wrong customer. They incur costs and fines for that. With Load Proof, we can analyze problems quickly, usually in about 20-25 minutes. Before Load Proof, we couldn’t perform a full root cause analysis and would often just blame someone without understanding what really happened.

Today, root cause analysis is straightforward with Load Proof. If a customer claims they’re missing a pallet, we can quickly access all shipment details and photos. We can see which pallet was loaded and verify if it was there. If there’s an issue, we can trace it back to the loader or auditor to see if there was a documented problem, making it easy to resolve any discrepancies. This tight process at picking, staging, auditing, and loading allows us to maintain accountability.

As a vendor, I strive to provide you with the ability to capture photos and extend this through all touchpoints—picking, staging, quality, loading, and more. This approach enables us to run a really tight ship and continuously expand the use of Load Proof whenever new issues arise. For example, if we need to handle hazardous materials, we incorporate Load Proof to ensure everything is compliant and documented correctly for our facilities in Canada or Mexico.

Extensively use and then you know show that put a put a pretty good control over the process and tight process and make sure it’s 100% perfectly shipped right. I mean that’s what we all striving to do every single day. That’s very fascinating to see. I mean before, we have some customers that all they do is just take photos after they load and that’s it—boom, that’s done. But you guys have nicely beautifully extended it even more and have gotten a really good control over the process and ensuring that 100% quality is delivered in terms of the loads that leave the facility.

That’s obviously one of, if not the biggest pillars we have when it comes to quality: to make sure that we have that documentation and everyone ends up relying on it. Yeah, exactly. The nice thing is that whether it’s in our corporation or whether it’s American Standard, they know they can access the same file no matter where they are. You and I are having our teams call right now; I’m normally based out of Texas but I’m actually up in Ohio at this facility. It doesn’t matter the issue this morning; I’m able to pull up the files for Texas, and within 10 minutes we had the issue resolved.

Wow, that’s awesome! Before that, you weren’t even able to get to the bottom of it. I mean, before that it would have just been a mess, you know, a lot of trying to figure out how could something have happened. No pictures of it, and the end customer never has pictures either. So we’re the only ones who have the photos and data. Before that, there was really no way to get to the bottom of it; all you could do was blame somebody. But even then, that’s not going to fix the problem.

Right, I mean, you can blame somebody and do something, but that’s not going to eliminate the problem from happening again. Now, this is going to eliminate that problem from happening again, and people can get back to, “Hey guys, this is where the problem happened. How did we drop the ball here?” That visibility is pretty good. So, if you could please list the key benefits. One is obviously the visibility—from picking to staging to loading to all the way to closing the door.

What are the other benefits that you guys have with Load Proof? I think the second one is you’re able to get to the root cause of the problem in 20 minutes. Before, it was not even possible to do that thoroughly. Yeah, I mean, and that’s really the biggest reason. There might be other programs you could use out there to do these things, but first of all, it has to be simple so we can give our team—whether it’s loaders, pickers, auditors, what have you—the ability to use it without being tech-savvy. They just need a not-very-smart smartphone to take pictures simply, enter a few basic pieces of info, and then just run.

When we first started this, people were thinking that this was going to slow down operations. It doesn’t at all; it improves your operation and certainly doesn’t slow it down. So I would say that’s probably the biggest thing: the fact that we could get to the root cause quickly, the fact that we could do it from wherever, and the fact that it would be easy to use on the floor. Those are probably the three biggest things that stand out for Load Proof. The fact that it’s flexible enough means I can keep throwing it at everything that comes up, and so far it’s been able to handle it.

So how is the impact right now? How has your relationship with your customer gotten better, and how has your relationship with your customer’s customer improved? Well, I mean, it’s gotten very good, let’s put it that way. Obviously, we have a good working relationship with American Standard; we’ve worked with them for a number of years in Texas, and we were fortunate enough to take over this facility in Ohio for them back in January. The fact that we have this quality system has played a part in that.

It gives them confidence that we’re going to ship good quality products and defend it, which means also defending them. When we make a mistake, the proof is there as well. We dropped the ball on our side, but we know that mistakes happen, and it allows you to have credibility when you say there isn’t one. We’ve heard from multiple people, “Hey, you know we do make mistakes, but we can get back to it with Load Proof quickly.” There’s a lot of credibility to be said for both our customer and their customer when they raise an issue.

If we say there isn’t one, that’s one thing, but if we admit it’s on us, it gives you credibility. So, how difficult or easy was it to implement Load Proof? There are two aspects of implementation: the technical part of getting it right and the second is really getting the people to adapt to it. The technical part is simple. We have far more technical headaches with our wireless system in a building than we do with Load Proof.

The fact that you can park your load if you have to because of spotty service in the building is beneficial. Physically training your people to use it is rudimentary. When we came to this facility back in January, the first perception was that it was going to slow things down dramatically. They had never used this. Suddenly, they were all complaining that they needed to be photographers instead of just loaders.

What they found very quickly was, number one, it doesn’t slow things down. Number two, if you’re the person on the floor, there’s no better way to cover your own rear end than Load Proof. They know if they take these photos, we’re not coming back and yelling at them for having done something wrong. The prior company had that kind of culture. It took about a week for people to get used to the idea that this isn’t that slow and that this isn’t that bad.

Then we were fortunate, after being here about three weeks, to have a customer who felt there had been a missed shipment. It took 12 minutes for us to show that, no, it was in the truck. The general manager who was brand new here was blown away. The general manager for American Standard who was here was like, “Okay, we’re done.” The customer was happy, and from that point on, we have never had any issues.

So, both in our building and here, technically it’s very simple, and usability is also very simple. It’s just that initial perception, but once they see it covers themselves or a coworker, you don’t have the issues anymore. Would you recommend someone else in your role to use Load Proof? I definitely would. We’ve recommended it throughout Keno to a number of our other sister sites, both smaller and similar size.

If you’re doing any kind of 3PL shipping or any shipping in general, this is the only way to prove what you’re sending out. Is there anything else that we can do for you? As part of this conversation, I love warehouses and enjoy spending time on the floor with people like yourself. That’s why we started this mission. One thing that would be simpler down the road is exporting the data.

We appreciate that we can do that when we run our reports every morning for accountability. It would be great to be able to export the photos in an easier format, instead of having to click one at a time. Again, that’s just because of the number of photos we take. It would be far simpler to pull them all at once.

Is it okay if I set up a follow-up call just to understand this thoroughly with the technical support person? Great! That’s a “me” problem because of the volume we do. Other than that, it does what we need. I think modern technology is evolving, and we can provide tools that are simple and easy to use. We strive for that because the last thing we want to do is make you spend a lot of time capturing photos; it shouldn’t be that difficult.

I appreciate that. I’ll email you later to set up a call. Thank you very much for your time, John. This is very helpful. Thank you for a great relationship and for being a customer of ours. Thank you for your time as well; I really appreciate your help. My best to your team out there!