Outside the box
June 1st 2006 When Stuart Miller, the man behind ByBox, purchased an ailing left luggage locker manufacturer he did not anticipate the business developing into an essential distribution tool for the service and maintenance sector. Charlotte Stonestreet reports
When you think of the concept of distribution in relation to your business, what is the first image that springs to mind? A fleet of liveried lorries perhaps, or maybe a busy loading bay? While there is no doubt that effective distribution, right from the receiving of raw materials through to delivery to the end customer, is viewed as an essential part of almost every business, there are still areas that can be overlooked in the drive towards supply chain optimisation.
Take servicing operations, for instance.
With competition in every market an ever increasing factor, more and more companies are pushing their aftersales service as the thing that differentiates them from the next player.
The promise of minimum downtime thanks to high first time fix rates and parts availability is a powerful influencer when it comes to winning new business.
However, if a provider cannot live up to its servicing and maintenance commitment, it is doubtful the business will be retained - so it is vitally important that this area is served by an efficient distribution system.
Growing importance
Although in the grand scheme of the logistics and distribution industry this type of business accounts for only a tiny proportion, it is nevertheless an area of growing importance - a fact that has been recognised by Stuart Miller, director of ByBox. Essentially the company operates a national network of more than 14,000 'dropboxes', in 750 locations, which it delivers to six nights a week. The delivered items are then collected from the boxes by whoever they are for. Although this is by no means a service that has benefits exclusively for the field service sector, it is this area that has emerged as ByBox's main business sector, and it's easy to see why.
Rather than having to deliver to multiple addresses that may vary from day to day, the ByBox driver delivers to the same location all the time, so no time wasted trying to locate obscure addresses. As the items are collected from the boxes, either using a PIN or a conventional key, there is no need for signature collection and the whole process can take place during the night when there is no traffic to hold up the operation. As a result the service is highly efficient and almost 100% reliable.
"The ByBox system is an unusual combination of really drastic efficiencies and increased service," says Miller. "It gives our customers the control and flexibility to collect their parcels at a time that is convenient to them, as well as the assurance that the item they ordered will be with them when they need and expect it."
Part of the reason ByBox is able to provide such a reliable service is that the company owns and operates not just the boxes, but the distribution arm of the business as well.
This wasn't always the case, though. Miller started the company from what he refers to as the "bones" of a French left luggage manufacturer, with the aim of establishing a network of electronic banks of boxes for major parcel carriers to make night time deliveries into for the consumer market.
Having touted the idea around possible markets ranging from Silicon Valley to Deutsche Post, Miller still had not found a viable partner or a new way to progress the company when he chanced upon Hays Logistics at a trade show. As result, ByBox entered into an agreement with Hays Field Support to provide 335 banks of boxes.
"In this business, unless you can control everything in the proposition, it's a very difficult place to be," says Miller. "At that point I was a manufacturer and an R&D supplier to a distribution company, Hays, and what I really needed to do was to own the distribution as well, because if I could do all of it and continue with the R&D, then I could make bold promises that ultimately translate as 'I will not let you down'."
So when the opportunity arose to buy Hays Field Support, complete with customer base and 11,000 boxes, Miller leapt at the chance. Within 12 weeks eight depots and a hub had been set up and business has been booming ever since.
"I swiftly came to the realisation that in the field service sector it's all about the distribution. The end user doesn't care whether they go to a shiny electronic box or to a lock box with a conventional key - all they want is the part in their hand, reliably, when we say it will be there. They don't want gadgets, they don't want excuses, all they want is the spare part. And this is what we provide."
Customer enablement
Having got the basic elements of the boxes and the distribution - backed by an advanced IT management system - under company control, Miller began to develop the business in terms of how ByBox can enable its customers.
"Our customers want us to help them do two things - maximise their engineers' time and minimise their stock-holding, so we are continuously developing services to allow those things to happen," says Miller.
One example of this is the invention of a returns label system that retains all information about a package throughout its time in the distribution network. Previously when items were returned because they were faulty or not needed information would be lost, making tracking and stock visibility difficult. Now all information on each package is available at all times.
Another ByBox innovation allows engineers to 'swap' spare parts without having to send them via their centralised spares warehouses, saving both time and expense.
It is this type of development that is helping ByBox serve clients across all sectors, including Mastercare, BSKyB and KonicaMinolta.
"I know that if I go on a relentless mission to learn more about the field service sector then no one will catch us," concludes Miller. | 
