Åkeri AB John Andersson is based in Björklinge, to the north of Uppsala. It was started by John Andersson 50 years ago, and is now run by his son Mikael and his partner Hanna. When they took over the business 15 years ago, the haulage company had one vehicle. The developments since then have been impressive, to say the least. Today, the company is active within the plant facilities industry. It has a total of 17 vehicles, including six concrete trucks, three crane trucks, two hooklift trucks and three dumper trucks, as well as employing 17 drivers.

In their leisure time, Mikael and his partner also have a small farm, as well as running a company providing ploughing and snow clearance services, alongside the haulage company.

Previously, the haulage company was linked to a centralised truck company. For the journeys they made on their behalf, they used their order system. For other journeys, however, they relied on telephones, paper and pens. When they withdrew from this collaboration, Mikael began to look for a new digital system. The supplier he decided upon was Workify.

“It’s obvious that Workify has been specifically developed for haulage companies, by people who know how our industry works”, says Mikael. I like the fact that the system is sufficiently advanced without being overcomplicated, and it includes all the functions we need. And the price is great, too. We work in an industry where the profit margins are very small, and we cannot afford to spend money on expensive, unnecessarily advanced systems.”

Last spring, the company tested Workify during a month-long trial, and subsequently decided to sign up. This was in April 2020. Workify helped them to download their customer register, and they then entered their own items themselves – and that was it! Today they use the Orders and Integration modules in Workify. The plan is to add the Rentals module and Customer Portal, as soon as Mikael has had time to familiarise himself with them a little more. So far, they have processed over 600 orders in the system. 

“Because we have quite a small order flow, we still call our drivers and tell them that a new assignment has been added in their mobiles”, says Mikael. “When they have finished, they enter their hours worked in the mobile app, and then report back to me. After a quick check to make sure everything looks right, I approve it and send the data for invoicing. The biggest difference for us happened when we integrated Workify with Visma. Invoicing now takes no time at all, so we can send invoices more frequently, which has given the company much better liquidity”, explains Mikael.

Mikael himself no longer takes such an operational role in the company. He stopped driving when the company invested in its eighth vehicle. Now he just helps out if somebody is off sick or if they are really busy. Four years ago, Mikael suffered from nervous exhaustion and was forced to avoid thinking about the company for around six months before he could return. Today, he devotes as much time as he can to developing the future direction of the company.

“I don’t think the haulage company should grow too much more; there are other things we can focus on refining instead. For example, I would like to further improve the efficiency of the business, acquire better control over costs, and learn about which assignments and customers are most profitable. At the moment, I rely on my instinct to determine what is or is not profitable. But with the data provided by Workify, I will be able to tell for certain, which will allow me to make better decisions in the future. It feels really good!”