News

Real Asset Management controls depot costs

Real Asset Management (RAM) has released Depot4000 to help
tank and box lessors eliminate the problem of verifying depot
and vendor invoices against their data.
Depot4000 manages all costs associated with a unit, such as
procurement, storage, handling, repairs, repositioning,
reconditioning, trucking, etc. By automating the process of depot
cost management, leasing companies can considerably reduce
administration time and associated costs, the company claims.
“The workload of administration staff associated with depot
invoices can be reduced by up to 75 percent,” explained Nicola
Byers, RAM’s marketing manager. “Time spent on each depot
invoice can vary from anything between 15 to 30 minutes during
the cycle of checking and resolving issues (even with the aid of
reconciliation reports) and this can be reduced dramatically to an
average of 5 minutes per invoice or even less.
“Daily operations are therefore more efficient and administration
staff can concentrate on tasks that improve profitability rather than
manually checking for errors and outstanding issues,” continued
Byers.
Depot4000 also benefits finance managers as they no longer have
to estimate accruals and wait up to 2-3 months for depots and
vendors to send final invoices for verification. An accurate
calculation of costs per unit is always obtainable and information is
ready to be exported to the accounts system.
“By self-billing and producing pro-forma invoicing, companies can
anticipate costs more accurately and calculate precise accruals with
ease,” declared Byers. “Over time, users can build up operational
data to be analysed such as cost per location, cost per customer, etc.
Lessors have peace of mind that investor pay-out calculations are
accurate.”