Guided screens nearly 7,000 messagerie shipments daily, narrowing them to dozens of actionable alerts so Messageries du Bazadais can respond to delivery risks sooner.
Messageries du Bazadais is a carrier based in South Gironde. Founded in 1935, its 40-person team provides groupage, freight brokerage and pallet distribution. It delivers freight within its own region and works with partner networks such as Volupal for other destinations.
Every shipment has a deadline based on its destination and delivery partner. To keep deliveries on time, the dispatch team at Messageries du Bazadais must quickly identify shipments that are falling behind. The challenge is that delays are difficult to spot across thousands of TMS records.
Messagerie operations involve many different deadlines
Messageries du Bazadais handles around 300 shipments each day. The team must follow these new shipments while continuing to check those from previous days that are still awaiting delivery.
The checks vary from one shipment to another. Local freight may be due the next working day, while a partner may have up to three days to deliver elsewhere in France. If an appointment is required, the team also checks whether it has been booked.
Before Guided, dispatchers compared shipment updates against their rules and manually sent follow-ups to partners. If the TMS showed no delivery confirmation, they had to establish whether the shipment was late or had arrived without an update. These checks took time, while missed delivery deadlines could disrupt customers’ operations and expose Messageries du Bazadais to financial penalties.
Messageries du Bazadais’ playbook becomes the agent’s playbook
Guided built the agent to follow the same procedure as the dispatchers at Messageries du Bazadais. Guided spent time with the team to understand how they check shipments, interpret events and decide when to follow up.
Connected to the TMS at Messageries du Bazadais, the agent retrieves the latest shipment events three times per day. It checks them against the rules of Messageries du Bazadais, accounting for weekends, public holidays and requested delivery dates.
“Delivery times vary by destination. We need the alerts to reflect those differences and be as precise as possible.”
— Maëlle Bonnet, Operations Manager, Messageries du Bazadais
For example, a shipment is due at the recipient’s site today, but the TMS has no record that it is out for delivery. The agent flags it in the morning report, so the dispatcher can contact the carrier and warn the customer if the deadline is at risk.
Each alert gives dispatchers the shipment reference, the deadline and the reason it needs attention. They receive the results by email. Selected partners also receive a morning follow-up listing their shipments that require an update.
Dispatchers give feedback on the agent’s alerts as they use it. Guided uses that feedback to refine the agent’s rules as new situations arise.
Shipment checks reduced from hours to minutes
Guided screens nearly 7,000 shipments, sharing the ones that need attention directly with the dispatchers at Messageries du Bazadais. The team spends less time searching through the TMS. After the agent’s deployment, checks fall from two to four hours per dispatcher each day to just a few minutes.
“We get the problem straight away. We deal with the oldest one, then the next. It's far better than spending hours reconciling TMS data line by line.”
— Maëlle Bonnet, Operations Manager, Messageries du Bazadais
With less time spent checking shipments, dispatchers can contact carriers sooner and resolve problems before delivery deadlines are missed. If a delay cannot be avoided, they can warn the customer earlier. This helps Messageries du Bazadais provide a better service with quicker problem resolution.
What’s next: a clearer view of operational health
“The Guided tool is very useful for knowing where our operations stand. I look at the table every day, and it gives me a view of the delays we may be facing in distribution.”
— Benoit Hontebeyrie, Managing Director, Messageries du Bazadais
Using Guided agents, Messageries du Bazadais aims to build a broader view of delivery performance, with a simple summary of recurring issues and how they evolve over time. This would help the team assess service quality and identify where they need to focus their attention.
See how Guided can help your team identify delivery risks and act sooner.
