History
A pioneering solution
Vanputer's founder has many years’ experience of the van sales business. As director of a van sales company, he became increasingly frustrated with the limitations of manual processes. So he put together his ‘wish list’ of what a solution would have to achieve and, in 1979, he pioneered one of the first computerised van sales systems.
From national names to local businesses
The first Vanputer installations were undertaken in 1984, and these were soon followed by a larger installation with a Yorkshire company manufacturing cooked meats, pies and a famous range of spreads.
The company was operating 50 vans from three locations and the installation was featured in the Sunday Times Business Section as a breakthrough in taking the manual world of van sales into the computer age. Many other installations followed.
In April 1987, we introduced a new version of our on-van hardware at the Chilled Food Fair in Birmingham. Later that year, we supplied the system to a major chicken producer, for distributing their produce with 30 vans from four depots, servicing London and the surrounding counties.
In the late 1980s, many independent van sales businesses throughout the country ventured into the IT world with Vanputer – taking advantage of our in-depth knowledge of their industry, our market-leading products and our straightforward approach.
New developments
In 1990, we introduced a handheld portable computer; again which we’d fully designed and manufactured in-house. This time, we were able to offer it with wireless printing technology. This saw interest from a wide range of semi-national and national operators.
After several installations with companies operating 50+ vehicles, both in the cooked meats/pies and snack food sector, we undertook an installation in 1993 with a national snack food manufacturer operating 300 vehicles from 23 depots throughout England.
Today’s technology at your fingertips
We’ve now introduced an exciting new solution, which is already in use with a customer of 20 years’ standing, manufacturing ice cream and distributing imported gateaux and desserts throughout Scotland. If you’d like to find out how this system can work for you, please contact us.