An efficient planning system reduces transport costs

One of the largest discount store chains in Poland, in search of savings, set itself the goal of reducing transport management costs while maintaining strict delivery punctuality requirements. The company has several Distribution Centers (DCs) that divide Poland into regions. Each DC oversees a network of about 150 stores and its own fleet of over a hundred vehicles. Several times a week, stores generate orders to the DC, from which transport orders are generated after processing by the ERP system. These orders are picked, loaded onto trucks, and delivered to the stores. Until now, the entire transport operation was handled by one or two people. Their tasks included assigning individual transports to vehicles, planning routes, and managing the vehicle fleet. This work practically filled the entire day of the transport manager. The company set itself the goal of shortening planning time to a minimum and reducing the cost of transporting a pallet by decreasing the number of kilometers and increasing the utilization of vehicle loading space.

In addition to the goals mentioned earlier, certain additional assumptions and constraints were adopted that had not always been or could not be realized before. One of the very important criteria was maintaining established delivery time windows at individual stores. This was intended to eliminate delivery delays that disorganized store operations. The only accepted deviation could be an earlier arrival of the vehicle. It was also necessary to minimize situations where more than one delivery was sent to a single store on the same day. Another important issue was the problem of undelivered pallets. Until now, if there were no free vehicles, the goods were delivered over the following days. This situation was not to be repeated. The final assumption was to maintain a high level of vehicle utilization, at a level above 90%.

This task was undertaken by the Poznań-based company TALEX SA, which has been offering modern IT solutions supporting enterprise management for many years. Talex has been a partner of the Baan company in the Polish market for several years. It was decided to implement the iBaan RoutePro solution, which is part of the iBaan for Logistics suite. This solution is based on the experience of the American company Caps Logistics, which (like Baan) is part of the Invensys capital group. The RoutePro system can boast many very successful implementations and thus excellent references.

The RoutePro program is characterized by very low hardware requirements: a mid-range PC is sufficient. Its user-friendly interface allows users to start working very quickly, without the need for long-term training. The interface is based on computer maps, on which routes, orders, distribution centers, and stores are graphically represented. Created routes can be easily modified using the “drag & drop” technique. There is a possibility of cooperation with various databases, exporting created routes for archiving and use in later reports. RoutePro can work with GPS systems, thanks to which the operator can monitor the vehicle’s position on the program map in real-time. The program has a rich set of reports allowing for information on planned routes and costs. In addition, there is the possibility of creating new reports using the Crystal Reports program. RoutePro is supported by a very flexible macro language allowing for significant interference in the program’s operating rules and providing the ability to adapt the solution to the specific needs of the client.