EcoFuel.ie planning wood deliveries remotely with EasyRoutes

EcoFuel began its journey back in 2014 when they launched a small online store selling natural heating products. While other businesses try to grow by expanding their product range, EcoFuel did the opposite. Instead of adding products, each year they narrowed their selection further until they were going all-in on sustainability. EcoFuel has since transformed into a leading Irish renewable fuel brand, delivering top quality kiln dried firewood and wood briquettes to homes across Ireland.

For EcoFuel, making their delivery workflow as smooth as possible is essential. Not just for themselves, but for the customers too. EcoFuel typically delivers their wood to homes on pallets, and for those who have had to stack firewood before, you know it can be a workout! So EcoFuel also also offers a Concierge Trolley Delivery service around what they call “The Final Forty Feet” to help unload a firewood delivery. Because their delivery service sometimes extends beyond just dropping off a delivery, EcoFuel hires and runs their own fleet of drivers.

Before EasyRoutes, EcoFuel's delivery team were typically spending 20 hours a week planning their delivery routes, creating packing lists for each truck, and making last-minute changes. Not including time spent communicating with customers to confirm deliveries. The team would also have to physically be in the same space in order to hand out inventories and routes to drivers.

"Since we've started using EasyRoutes we've gone from spending about 5 hours a day organizing routes to only needing an hour each morning to plan out our deliveries"

“The time and paperwork involved in planning orders was immense; we were scouring Google Maps to ensure routes made sense and then printing out every order for drivers, while writing out any specific delivery instructions for each order”, says Susie Tan, Office Manager at EcoFuel.

That's when EcoFuel met EasyRoutes.

EasyRoutes seamlessly integrates with Shopify, the platform EcoFuel uses to run their online store. It takes all the orders they receive and transforms them into optimized delivery routes with packing lists for each truck. Instead of hand-picking orders and crafting routes for each driver, they can select a batch of orders at once, specify how many routes they want, and EasyRoutes automatically splits the orders into that number of routes.

“Since we've started using EasyRoutes we've gone from spending about 5 hours a day organizing routes to only needing an hour each morning to plan out our deliveries”

When Covid-19 hit, EcoFuel's delivery team had to adapt to working remotely. EasyRoutes allowed the delivery planning process to go completely digital. Routes can be created by one individual, reviewed by another, and then assigned to drivers, complete with a packing list. All without having to meet in person.

"We've nearly eliminated paper waste from our operations processes since working with EasyRoutes."

“Not only has EasyRoutes made us more operationally efficient it's also key to our commitment to reducing paper across our business. We've nearly eliminated paper waste from our operations processes since working with EasyRoutes” says Janis Vitols Operations Manager at EcoFuel

EcoFuel continues to grow during the pandemic, with plans to expand their deliveries this year using EasyRoutes.

For more information about EcoFuel, and to order your own top-quality firewood and wood briquettes, visit Ecofuel.ie