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News Article
The following is a summary of an article that appears on the Source Wire website. |
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Logistics Software Plans the Road Ahead for Students
17th March 2009
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Students at the Hull University Business School Logistics Institute will now be able to take advantage of the latest in vehicle routing and scheduling software with the introduction of DPS International’s LogiX software.
The world class vehicle routing and scheduling system will be used to enhance current teaching methods across the suite of Logistics courses offered at the institute from MBA, MSc and undergraduate degrees, to commercial training in areas such as supply chain strategy and network planning.
Although it is used by some of the largest retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies worldwide, the institute is one of only 3 universities to utilise LogiX not only for teaching, but also in a high-level research capacity, which attracts students from around the world.
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Reduce your CO2 Emissions with help from DPS
February 2009 |
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Distribution Planning Software are pleased to announce they have produced a new function within the LogiX Suite that will show and help companies to reduce the CO2 that their vehicles produce.
The CO2 Reducer will appear within the software and show users the amount of CO2 that is being used by each vehicle and per 1000 miles. This in turn enables the user to be able to see how much CO2 can be saved by when they are optimising their planned schedules. This in turn cuts their operating costs and also their carbon footprint.
At the same time our ROI will show you current CO2 emissions per annum and current offset cost per annum. The ROI will show you the CO2 that can be saved over the desired project length & show the offset costs that will be saved over the project. The ROI not only shows CO2 per vehicle but it also shows CO2 per 1000 miles.
The CO2 Reducer will be showcased at the Logistics Link Show at Sandown Park, where DPS together with TomTom Work are exhibiting. The CO2 Reducer will be part of LogiX 5, DPS’s new release that is happening in February 09.
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Sweco optimize newspaper distribution
December 2008 |
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Sweco’s GIS-consultants have been engaged by Aftonbladet and Expressen, two of the largest newspapers in Sweden, to make their whole distribution of newspapers more efficient and to reduce the transport costs. They have in common 12 000 retailers.
The project was started in Sundsvall, north of Sweden where the optimization result showed a reduced delivery time in total of 9 % and the number of vehicles where reduced from 4 to 3. Nothing was changed for the retailers, they receive the newspapers at the same time as before.
“The next task was to develop a custom-made system for route optimization to support the transport leaders”, said Katarina Malmberg, senior consultant at Sweco Position AB in Stockholm. Now the system is operating. This work is continuously an ongoing project, which leads to improved economy and reduced environmental influence.
Swecos solution has been integrated with the DPS route optimisation engine LogiXIE with Navteq database and visualization from Ms MapPoint Web Service . |
DPS Welcomes Hemmalivs
December 2008 |
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Hemmalivs Scandinavia is a grocery company with online Internet food sales, founded in October 2007 by the two owners Johan Eriksson and Magnus Johansson. They have together over 25 years experience in grocery logistics, from companies such as ICA and suppliers to McDonalds. At present Hemmalivs have nine employees and estimate a turnover of 30-40 million Swedish crones the first year.
The business is running from a warehouse in Helsingborg, which supplies over 750000 potential customers round the Helsingborg region, south-west of Sweden. Hemmalivs have developed a homepage www.hemmalivs.se which is clear and easy to understand. At the website you order the food and book delivery time by choosing a time window, which is limited to 3 hours.
To be able to run a warehouse over a great geographical area, you really need a good planning system. - It was an easy choice to continue with DPS optimisation system, PlanLogiX, said Magnus Johansson, who has been satisfied with the software from earlier work experiences. – We are using PlanLogiX with the map Navteq Sweden for daily operative plannings of food deliveries and for strategic planning to simulate future distribution area. PlanLogiX has been integrated with Hemmalivs ERP system and GPS solution.
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DPS & TomTom Work Join Forces
December 2008 |
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TomTom WORK is the business-to-business division of the world leader in portable navigation solutions, TomTom. Created in 2006, TomTom WORK is already Europe’s fastest growing telematics solution provider and continues to provide innovative, easy to use and affordable vehicle tracking and navigation solutions.
With TomTom WORK, fleet managers have the opportunity to track vehicles around the clock and profit from extensive reporting tools. This includes reports on mileage, vehicle idling, exception reports and detailed journey reports, as well as providing a simple tool to dispatch jobs directly to the TomTom navigation device.
TomTom WORK and DPS have combined forces to offer a fully integrated end to end scheduling and job dispatch solution, allowing the scheduling and route planning to be optimized using the real tine information provided by TomTom WORK. In particular, ETAs from the TomTom Navigation device are fed back to the DPS scheduling platform, allowing the system to react to changing conditions on the road in real time.
TomTom WORK have also just released a Truck Navigation solution for the first time which will also benefit businesses using the DPS solution. This solution will provide route information that is optimised for HGVs and features relevant information such as clearance heights and weight restrictions. With new routing algorithms, TomTom WORK's truck navigation solution makes it possible for trucks to be kept away from small town roads and narrow residential areas whenever possible. Typical or maximum truck speeds are also taken into consideration and so the expected arrival times are realistically calculated. All users have to do is enter their vehicle parameters, such as vehicle measurements or axle and total weight, into the TomTom WORK navigation solution
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DPS attends Green Logistics Summit @ Pall-Ex Hub in Leicestershire
November 2008 | |
DPS and a range of other companies attended a one-day workshop that identified practical actions and solutions to reduce costs by more than 10%. This is applicable to all companies that operate commercial vehicle fleets, warehouses and other facilities in the supply chain.
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DPS welcome new customer Baumatic
September 2008
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As an Italian manufacturer, Baumatic has been a market leader in the White Goods industry since it was founded in the UK in 1992. The company has experienced dramatic growth due to its emphasis on design, style, innovation and quality; traits which set the company apart from many of its competitors.
Explaining the reason behind choosing LogiX from DPS Leon Holt MILT, Logistics & Transport Director said "Baumatic Ltd attended Logistics Link South with the specific purpose of meeting and viewing transport scheduling software providers. Having spoken with most of the suppliers it was clear that we did not need a huge package that would plan for 100's of vehicles, this meant that we focused on the requirement that the solution must be easy to use, flexible for fleet levels, demonstrate efficiencies prior to procurement of the package and the supplier must be able to offer full and flexible after sales support.
Having looked at many solutions the LogiX solution looked like the 'friendliest' to use, clear information, easy import and export.
With key users attending a well presented 'hands on' training course, at DPS offices, in September Baumatic Ltd are aiming to be using the package in full by October."
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DPS welcome new customer Boyden
September 2008
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Since its formation more than 80 years ago, Boyden & Co Ltd is one of the best known names in the ceramic tile retail and distribution industry. The company remains an independent family owned business. Boyden & Co are probably the largest tile and ceramic adhesive stockist in London and the South East.
Explaining the reason behind choosing LogiX from DPS Paul Nightingale, Operations Manager said "that the reason I decided on LogiX was really the attention to detail provided by DPS staff. Nothing so far you have done has disappointed me. I would be happy to recommend your company to other potential users.
The benefits I expect from LogiX are as follows:- Improved route planning, Improved customer service due to knowing when and where a driver is going to be, resulting in reduced calls to drivers, A 10% saving on overall fleet costs, Improved long term planning opportunities for fleet upgrade, Allow the introduction of a same day delivery service within the M25."
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DPS welcome new customer Trader Media
June 2008
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As one of Europe’s largest specialist media publishers, Trader Media Group produces over 70 leading classified titles, runs a selection of popular and profitable websites and operates several high-volume printing businesses. Rapid growth has made us one of the largest conventional and online printing and publishing groups of our kind - and we’ve lost none of the drive behind that growth. As a young company we thrive on challenges - constantly exploring new technologies, new channels to market and new business opportunities that continue to deliver sustained profitable growth.
Explaining the reason behind choosing logixcentral from DPS, James Simpkin, Project Manager said
“Although different to a transport/delivery company Trader Media Group provides many of its customers with a face to face collection service for photographs, advert wording and payments, so it still about getting people to place in the most efficient and effective way. logixcentral has provided valuable information regarding TMG’s existing collection operation, not only has it helped identify some inefficiency in our processes but it has also helped quantify them both in terms of time and costs. So far we have used the software to help plan new more flexible territories and to plan more direct routes that our team will work, as it gave us the capability to merge the inefficient routes into efficient routes and optimise the use of our company's assets to give our customers a better overall service. Although we currently only using Logix for analysis & planning and not the scheduling side it is something we are working towards in the near future. I look forward to a continuing working relationship between TMG and DPS’s supportive and friendly team.”
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News Article
The following is a summary of an article that appears on the Source Wire website. |
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Logistics and Transport: Dramatically reduce fuel costs – with help from the web! says Denis O'Sullivan.
30th May 2008 |
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In a week where we have seen truck drivers protesting in their hundreds in
London and South Wales, there is a simple way to use the web to
dramatically reduce fuel usage and show a positive cash flow from day one.
And it is cost effective for fleets of all size, ranging from fleets with
as little as five vehicles.
The latest version of the web-based logixcentral vehicle routing and
scheduling system
(www.logixcentral.com), from DPS International,
costs just £20 a day for a planner to use – and that is the equivalent of
just 18 litres of diesel at last year’s prices of £1.10 for a litre.
The CEO of DPS, Paul Palmer, said that many companies had been put off
using routing and scheduling because of the cost involved, including the
hidden costs of additional hardware and support. “There is no need to
purchase a licence for logixcentral (up to £45,000 for similar desktop
versions), buy additional hardware or create extra work for IT departments. And its future proof – maintenance and upgrades come without further
charges.”
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Essex Equipment Service increase next day orders and reduce fuel
7th February 2008 |
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The Essex Equipment Service provides a wide variety of services to the people of Essex working in partnership with five Primary Care Trusts and three district councils, in addition to the Essex Occupational Therapy Service and Fostercare Service. They operate as an integrated provider within the meaning of the 1999 Health Act flexibilities. They have service level agreements with all partners which specify precise service requirements and performance standards.
Essex Equipment Services have undertaken a 3 month pilot of DPS Logix routing software for its driver fitter team. The anticipated outcome of the pilot was that savings would be made by increasing the productive time spent delivering and installing equipment for service users rather than each driver route planning on an individual basis. It was anticipated that efficiencies would also be made in fuel consumption per delivery as well as in having less vehicles on the road, so lowering the carbon footprint of Essex Equipment Service.
This pilot has now finished and EES are fully utilising the software. Don Gibson, Logistics Supervisor at Essex Equipment Service, said:
"This implementation has led to an increase in completed orders on a next day basis of 24% and a per delivery fuel efficiency improvement of 20%. Logix enabled EES to increase the capacity of its team without increasing staffing costs and has justified the investment. The software is now an integral part of the Essex Equipment Service delivery process and the potential for further efficiencies using additions to this system are currently being explored by EES."
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DPS wins two major ICT Excellence awards!
26th November 2007 |
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DPS International are proud to announce that we have won two prestigious ICT Excellence awards. The ICT Excellence Awards 2007, organised by West Midlands ICT Cluster and sponsored by Accredit UK, were held on 22nd November.
logixcentral, the logistics web-based vehicle routing and scheduling system from DPS International, was the winner not only in the Product Innovation category but also overall winner of the event.
The ICT Excellence Regional Champion Award was won outright by DPS with logixcentral. The award was presented to the organisation selected from all the individual award winners who demonstrated outstanding achievement and who is an exemplar of good practice to the region’s ICT business community. In addition to a trophy, the prize for the overall winner included a cheque for £2000.
Paul Palmer, CEO of DPS, receives the Regional Champion Award, presented by
Scott Dodds (General Manager, Small Business Division, Microsoft) and
Richard Leary (COG Chair, West Midlands ICT Cluster)
In the ICT Excellence in Innovation (Product) Award, DPS was a joint winner with the Lanner Group. This award was sponsored by the University of Warwick Science Park. It was awarded for the most innovative product introduced by an ICT business.
The judges citation for DPS was "DPS International is a supplier of vehicle routing and scheduling software, the LogiX suite is based on a wealth of experience in logistics consulting. Now in its 25th year, the West Midlands based company has recently launched a web version of LogiX, called logixcentral. In addition to the usual benefits of LogiX, such as reduction in mileage, fuel, vehicles and hence carbon footprint, logixcentral offers the convenience of web access and its pay-as-you-use pricing system makes it viable for smaller companies."
Some of the DPS team celebrating our double win at the ICT Awards!
Paul Palmer, CEO and founder of DPS, said: "These awards are particularly welcome in our silver-jubilee year. They show that DPS is still at the forefront of freight transport planning after a quarter of a century. They also acknowledge that the Internet is the way forward for such applications and this also opens the market for new sectors, particularly in the service sector, and for smaller companies who cannot afford traditional desktop solutions."
Earlier this year logixcentral was named Web Based Vehicle Scheduling Solution of 2007 by the Institute of Transport Management. |
PalletFORCE develop their business with DPS LogiX
13th November 2007 |
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DPS are pleased to welcome new customer PalletFORCE. PalletFORCE is one of the fastest-growing palletised distribution networks in the UK, with a comprehensive and expanding service to mainland Europe.
Launched in 2001, PalletFORCE has expanded rapidly and continues to grow, handling thousands of pallets every night through its 210,000 sq. ft. central hub in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
 Thanks to this rapid expansion, PalletFORCE currently offers a network of over 85 shareholder members who combined have over 3000 vehicles and 4 million square feet of warehousing.
With its strategically-located depots around the country serviced by the central hub, the PalletFORCE network offers a streamlined process with significant efficiency savings over conventional methods of distribution. Both members and customers benefit from a more competitive, profitable service, whilst environmental impact is substantially reduced.
Unlike most other networks, PalletFORCE is owned by its members creating an unrivalled commitment to quality and service, with clear advantages to customers across all market sectors.
Alan Cooke, Business Development Director, commented:
"Having reviewed the software available in the marketplace PalletFORCE felt that DPS LogiX offered the best all round package. We felt that the combination of the quality of product, support and pricing provided the platform we needed to develop our business."
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Why buy? The availability of 'on-demand' logistics Software as a Service is changing the rules of the supply chain game, says Denis O'Sullivan.
23rd October 2007 |
One of the biggest inhibitors to efficiency and high levels of customer service in the supply
chain has always been a lack of real-time relevant knowledge. There is plenty of historical data
about what went right and wrong, but it is a huge task to recover and analyse this to gain a real
understanding.
What is needed is real-time knowledge of what is happening out there now – but delivered in an
affordable way, without the need for major capital expenditure.
SaaS (Software as a Service) is now becoming available for supply chain and logistics applications – and you do not need to buy it, nor the hardware infrastructure to run it, and there are no charges for maintenance and upgrades!
The change is being driven by business and consumer customers demanding better service and 24x7 access to information relating to their orders. Because of the web delivery of the software solution, companies of all sizes, from recently created mega-carriers to small regional businesses, are able to access even advanced logistics applications.
Read more
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Press release
Smart transport planning with LogiX for smart energy metering
30th August 2007 |
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Many organisations are taking steps to minimise energy usage and reduce their carbon footprints, but all too often there is a lot of energy used and carbon generated in the setup phase. This is because of the need to visit many sites and install appropriate equipment.
One company, Utility Partnership Limited (UPL) of Cardiff has tackled this problem and taken effective action which has also brought cost and efficiency benefits. UPL specialises in Smart Metering, also known as AMR (Automatic Meter Reading). This shows what and when gas, water and electricity has been used. The solution to creating efficient and low energy work plans was to use vehicle routing and scheduling software from DPS International to plan the routes for the engineers fitting their Smart Meters.
The company works with three out of the four major mobile phone companies, fitting and monitoring Smart Meters at phone masts, and with many major retailers checking the energy usage at stores and facilities 365 days a year.
Read more...
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Norsk Hydro fuel benefit from new tanker features in Plan LogiX
22nd June 2007 |
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Norsk Hydro delivers approximately 1.4 M m3 of fuel across Sweden, which is about the equivalent mileage of 2000 times around the globe each year. Given the amount of mileage the possibilities for cost savings through efficient route planning are huge.
Norsk Hydro signed an agreement with IBS AB to make their whole transport management more efficient. The contract comprises of IBS transport system CockPit Tanker Version, mobile data communication from MobiOne and DPS scheduling system Plan LogiX. The combination of these systems gives support to order handling, route- and load planning, vehicle control, real time positioning, economic control, environmental and quality control, mobile communication and depot management.
During this project DPS developed a multitude of new features in PlanLogiX; most of the features are specific for tanker transport but there are also general features that other transport segments benefits from, such as truck and trailer management, available product per depot and the number of loading bays can be limited to prevent build up of vehicles waiting to load/unload.
The contract gives Norsk Hydro a broad transport optimisation platform which is easily integrated with their other systems.
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Skånska Byggvaror AB choose LogiX
20th June 2007 |
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DPS welcomes Skånska Byggvaror AB as a new customer. Skånska Byggvaror AB is located in Sweden and they are using LogiX on an operational level to plan their daily distribution. Skånska Byggvaror AB supplies the market with quality construction materials for home improvements, such as windows, garden sheds, green houses, bathroom interiors etc. Recently Skånska Byggvaror AB inaugurated a new top modern distribution facility in Ängelholm to expand even further.
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DPS welcome new customer Wolseley
12th June 2007 |
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DPS would like to welcome Wolseley UK as a new customer. Wolseley are using LogiX for strategic analysis, consolidating and re-modelling the transport network across their brands, and optimising depot locations.
Wolseley UK Ltd is the UK operating subsidiary of Wolseley PLC, one of the largest distributors of building products in the world. Wolseley UK's head office is at Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. The company is wholly engaged in the distribution of construction products and materials through a nationwide network of over 1,800 branches.
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The company is organised into trading brands, which service distinct customer groups. Many of these brands are market leaders with outstanding reputations for supplying professionals in the construction market. Names such as Plumb Center, Build Center, Parts Center, Pipe Center, Drain Center, Climate Center, Encon, William Wilson and Brandon Hire are widely recognised throughout the industry. |
Read more...
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Mattressman choose DPS LogiX scheduling
8th June 2007 |
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DPS welcome new customer Mattressman who have chosen our vehicle routing and scheduling software to manage their deliveries throughout the UK.
Mattressman is an online Mattress and Bed shop offering a large range of Mattresses including Memory Foam, Miracoil and Pocket Sprung Mattresses. Mattress Man also offers Divan Beds, Sofa Beds, Kids Beds, Guest Beds, Headboards and Bed Frames. They check their mattress prices daily to ensure that they are the cheapest online mattress and bed shop in the UK. They also offer Free Next Day Delivery on all orders.
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Poundland choose DPS LogiX
30th May 2007 |
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DPS International are pleased to welcome Poundland as a new customer. They have chosen DPS scheduling software to manage their fleet of vehicles.
With over 150 stores, Poundland is the UK's largest £1 retailer. Poundland is a retailer that has taken advantage of "leading edge" technology, providing management controls which are considered by many to be superior to those employed by other retailers.
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Press release
Silver jubilee logistics company offers green logistics solution
4th April 2007 |
DPS International has marked its silver jubilee in the best possible way – by winning the prestigious award from the Institute of Transport Management (ITM) for the 'Best Vehicle Routing System 2007' ITM Award. The award was made for the excellence of the desktop solution Logix and the Software as a Service web-based solution, logixcentral. To mark his silver jubilee, Paul Palmer is now incorporating Green features in all of his systems to enable companies to measure the carbon footprint of their fleet and the impact of any fleet changes.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul Palmer left the logistics division of the Unilever Group to set up his own business helping companies become more efficient in running their freight transport operations. From that one-man consulting business has grown a business that developed to be one of the most advanced vehicle routing and scheduling systems providers in the world.
DPS International led the way in the development of state-of-the-art desktop solutions (LogiX) and recently introduced the only web based pay-as-you-go routing and scheduling system, logixcentral. Because Paul Palmer is always looking to provide his clients with fleet efficiency, he has now developed a module to let them measure their fleet’s carbon emissions and the impact of introducing different vehicle types, and reducing mileage and numbers of vehicles.
Read full article
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Press article
Software as a service: developments in supply chain IT
The following article appears in this month's Logistics and Transport Focus (the flagship magazine of CILT UK). |
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3rd April 2007 |
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Most companies are still lagging behind in the use of information technology to manage their supply chains and logistics. But now a major development is changing the way companies use their software.
Denis O’Sullivan explores the concept of software as a service.
Left: Denis O'Sullivan |
The leaders in IT are usually the very big companies who have spent millions to buy or to develop major customised systems. However, this is not always as beneficial as intended. Upgrades and enhancements are expensive and changing systems can cause major business disruption. But, changing market requirements and customer demands mean that regular changes and upgrades are essential. This in-house approach is no longer economical for even the largest of companies, and certainly not for smaller companies. It is the software equivalent of painting the Forth Bridge. However, even this analogy is no longer valid; technology means that this once symbol of never-ending work is now only painted once every 20 years!
Major changes in applications incur major investments beyond the cost of development or licences. New software usually brings with it the need for updated hardware, or at least some additional expensive hardware. Then there is the need for maintenance contracts or in-house maintenance costs and often additional support staff. But, without leading-edge logistics solutions, companies cannot meet customer and consumer expectations. Therefore, the opportunity to grow and win business, by adding value through advanced use and sharing of information, is often based on the commodity concept of low-priced transport. In-house operators will often outsource rather than face up to the need for huge investment in IT.This may not solve the IT problem – if their logistics partner also does not have the best possible computer systems – but at least it moves the IT investment problem off the balance sheet.
Software as a service
A major development in IT is changing the way companies use software. It is a new approach to how we access and pay for the applications and is known as software as a service (SAAS).
SAAS – also referred to as on demand – has been talked about for several years and was originally fanfared as the end of the desktop PC. As is often the case, it took a breakthrough by one company to start the ball rolling. In this case that company was SalesForce, a traditional PC-based applications provider. When it changed to SAAS, it turned the customer relationship and sales force management market on its head. Now other software companies, including supply chain and logistics applications providers around the world, have followed this course. In fact, in several cases the UK SAAS providers are absolute world leaders.
These solutions provide access to business functionality remotely as a service, with costs that are aligned with usage, minimal upfront expense, rapid implementation, and time to value. The investment to get up and running is often very low and very quick, and the return on this investment (ROI) is almost instant. However, even better, the service is usually charged on a transaction basis. This means that companies do not have to pay for tomorrow’s needs today, but can wait until the business expands and more capacity or additional features are needed: in other words, not just a case of pay-as-you-go, but you also pay-as-you-grow.
Read full software as a service article
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Meet DPS Europe at the Transport 2007 exhibition in Denmark
21st March 2007
DPS Denmark will be at the Transport 2007 fair in Herning, Denmark for the 3rd year running. The fair runs from March 29th to April 1st. You can find us in Booth 7247 in Hall J, where we will show innovative solutions for both routing and scheduling. We will also show, how we can can handle complex scheduling tasks and simulations on a consultancy basis. |
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On the 29th, as well as DPS Denmark, Paul Palmer (founder and CEO of DPS International since 1982) and Thomas Rickne (Head of DPS Europe in Göteborg), will also be at the fair.
We will, of course, be showing off our Route LogiX software, the application that has set the de facto standard for routing software in Denmark. The program is user-friendly, reliable and takes all the factors into account that are vital for professional routing such as various speeds for different types of vehicles, weight limits, driving times and costs. The program will produce maps, itineraries and statistics and can even optimize the order of your call points. At the fair we will also show a beta version of the next generation of this program with some of its new and exiting features.
Also experience Plan LogiX and logixcentral, our two award-winning scheduling solutions. Both applications can among many other factors, incorporate location, opening times, priorities, access conditions, capacity, travel speed, number and type of vehicles and of course type, amount, size and weight of your products into an easy-to-use package. The program will generate all the information you need for both daily scheduling, strategic planning and cost analysis.
For more information, please visit the Transport 2007 website or contact DPS Denmark.
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DPS UK is pleased to announce that we are now climate neutral! In other words, we have worked with Climate Care to offset the carbon emissions generated from energy used within our offices and from business travel.
Climate Care is a service that helps you to repair the damage your activities do to the climate. It does this by 'offsetting' the greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, from your activities by reducing an equivalent amount of CO2 on your behalf. These reductions are made through a range of projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency, which not only fight climate change but bring benefits to communities around the world. You can offset emissions from flying, driving and energy use. To find out more, visit www.climatecare.org.
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For over sixty-five years,
USA Company Culligan has
been a world leader in water
treatment technology supplying
high quality water for drinking,
cooking, cleaning, bathing
and manufacturing. The company
supplies from single apartments
to whole towns, in more
than 90 countries worldwide
and have had an international
presence in the UK since
1960.
However, when it came to
a need to reduce costs,
improve service and grow
market share, the company
realised that one key management
skill that was missing was
logistics. Management skills
were in the production of
high quality water but there
was a need to get to grips
with the cost and effectiveness
of getting that water to
UK customers.
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Bottled
water of the type
we are all used to
in our offices, represents
40% of Culligan’s
UK business. They
supply in addition
salt for water softeners
and the servicing
and sanitizing of
officers water coolers.
One of the issues
the company faced
was that these three
services were not
integrated and were
treated quite differently
in logistics terms.
A range of vehicles
including transit
type vans, 7.5 tonne
vans and 7.5 tonne
flatbeds for sale
deliveries were used.
The sanitization was
outsourced at a cost
of £7.80 for
each call.
Jon Wilkinson was
appointed UK CEO in
2006 and he quickly
spotted the difficulties.
His background was
in senior management
with Parcelforce,
DHL and Deutsche Post
Global Mail UK. |
Mr Wilkinson introduced
the concept of logistics
metrics to Culligan and
was fortunate in being able
to take advantage of nine
months distribution data
collected but not used.
Although Culligan did not
regard itself as a large
fleet operator, they obviously
had either too many vehicles
or the ones they had were
too big. They were in fact
operating a fleet mix of
40 x 7.5 tonnes and 11 x
transit type vehicles. All
drivers were qualified to
drive 7.5 tonne vehicles
– even those who only
drove transits.
Not surprisingly, the
water business is highly
seasonal and over an eight-week
period in July and August
volumes increase by an average
of 50%. At peak times volumes
increase by 64%.
His previous logistics
management experience allowed
him to harvest low hanging
fruit very quickly and he
reduced fleet size by 12
vehicles. However, it was
also obvious that there
were many benefits to be
gained by Culligan needed
more sophisticated analysis.
The changes Culligan needed
to introduce were fundamental
to running a modern business.
The business had to improve
profitability by a significant
change to the way they approached
logistics. To achieve this
Mr Wilkinson approached
three companies to help
him with this project. This
was a competitive approach
involving the three companies.
"Only DPS using their
Logix routing and scheduling
software were able to model
the existing operations
and costs of the business,
the other two could not
get close," Mr Wilkinson
said. "If they could
not model the existing business,
there was no way I could
have faith in any results
from a study. DPS got within
2% of the current situation
– a remarkable achievement."
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Following extensive research and customer recommendations, the UK Institute of Transport Management has awarded DPS International the title of "Best Vehicle Routing System 2007" for its vehicle routing software, LogiX.
Given the complexity of managing all modes of transport today, with increasing time and scheduling limitations, vehicle routing and scheduling is critical in successful logistics execution. |
The emergence of technologies and information systems allowing for seamless mobile and wireless connectivity between delivery vehicles and distribution facilities is paving the way for innovative approaches to real-time vehicle routing and distribution management.
Fleet managers have discovered how essential it is, in effective fleet management, to have a system which provides real-time control and scheduling systems that determine the vehicle routing plan based on the current status of the system. As a result of the in-depth research conducted in this area, the Institute has found that DPS's vehicle routing software, LogiX, does just this.
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A ground-breaking logistics project in Sweden has increased the amount of time nurses spend with home-care patients by 40% while achieving a dramatic reduction of costs by cutting the distance covered by 25%. This was all achieved using a UK logistics routing and scheduling solution, LogiX, from DPS International, without an increase in the total working time of the staff.
Paul Palmer, CEO of DPS International believes that the NHS could improve efficiency of nurses and healthcare workers in many areas in the UK if they were to learn from the experience and expertise applied by leading logistics companies and now in Sweden. “Experience from other businesses, who work within the logistics field, shows that the results achieved with vehicle routing software are not always taken seriously as they seem too impressive. However, now that the new planning system has been successfully integrated into the daily work, and they’ve actually seen the benefits, they don’t want to go back to the old way of planning”, Mr Palmer said.
For the last year, Röra a Swedish home-help service in the health sector, based in the municipality of Mark, have been planning nurses and home-help transport and services with the route scheduling and optimisation system, LogiX, from UK company DPS International. The results have been outstanding. The number of kilometres driven by the home-help service in the district has been reduced by approximately 25% and the efficient working time increased by 40%, without increasing the total number of working hours.
The total efficient working time has increased from 52% in 2005 to 73% in 2006. Orust is now expanding the logistic system to another district that has great potential to achieve the same results that have been accomplished in Röra. This is comparable to the best results achieved in more traditional market applications of vehicle routing.
Because of the success of the home nursing and home-help project, Mark municipality is looking at the introducing a support system to revolutionise the way resources are planned in the home-help services. One possibility that is also being discussed is to centralize the planning function. The planning function may even be able to handle other travel services such as business travel, as well as regular transport of goods in the municipality activity. Mark municipality has created an administration that among other duties is used to supervise all vehicles within the municipality.
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Axfood Närlivs is Sweden’s market-leading wholesaler. Axfood Närlivs is a complete open wholesale trading system which offers customers a wide range of merchandise with reasonable prices, using national, efficient logistics.
"By concentrating on the service market, Axfood Närlivs combines local customer focus with efficient logistics," says Daniel Johansson, the head of transport at Axfood Närlivs.
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During 2006 Axfood Närlivs has gradually implemented the route optimisation system Plan LogiX into their transport scheduling. The point is to get system support for very complicated transport planning. The goal has been using Plan LogiX as an operative planning tool for daily route scheduling, meaning building new routes every day with regards to the total volume of sales.
"The implementation has taken some time but has still gone very well and we have managed to find routines for an operative daily route planning," says Daniel Johansson. Currently Plan LogiX is used for transport planning in the Linköping and Stockholm regions. Örebro region will be included in the route planning in the first part of 2007 and later on the Tyringe region located in the south of Sweden will also be added.
"The results that we've accomplished so far speak for themselves. First off, our transport leaders find themselves having a much better overview over the total volumes of transport. We have also had a better control of our routes and we have managed to reduce our transport costs," said Daniel Johansson.
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IBS AB is a Swedish stock company founded in 1978 with 2000 employees in 40 countries and has a turnover of roughly 2400 million Swedish crowns. IBS transport has been in business since the early '80s and is today the market leader in the transport and information system field.
Today the IBS transport system CockPit and DPS's routing software Route LogiX Professional are integrated together in different ways to make the work in the transport industry more efficient. The users of the transport system CockPit can, when placing an order, directly calculate distance and view road descriptions with the help of coordinated supply and demand lists. The results from the calculations in Route LogiX are automatically imported and presented in CockPit. It is also possible to distribute the information from CockPit to Route LogiX.
When planning an order using the order summary and/or an integrated map in CockPit, options are available to plan a route which can be sent to Route LogiX for optimisation and other calculations, which will then automatically update the order summary and/or the integrated map in CockPit. It is also possible to printing and processing other calculations from Route LogiX. |
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ISS is one of Sweden's leading companies in facilities managent and integrated service solutions. ISS have 10,000 employees in Sweden.
One of ISS' sectors is route based services, such as the distribution of fruit baskets and the service of plants in office environments. Part of this is also smaller cleaning customers, where a large fleet of vehicles is used for transport between clients during the day.
"This must be done with efficiency - and still we must deliver the service to the customer at the correct time and place", claims Anna-Maria Lång - logistician at ISS Stockholm.
ISS chose a Swedish company license of the optimisation system Plan LogiX with the map Navteq Sweden. The agreement is valid for ISS in Sweden. Plan LogiX will support ISS in a variety of planning activities, such as improvement of service level and efficiency for cleaning, fruit basket distribution and plant services.
"When it comes to distribution of fruit baskets we do a tactical planning in Plan LogiX based on ISS' customer database. The tactical plan is then the basis for the operative planning of the daily fruit basket deliveries", explains Anna-Maria Lång.
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Swedish Radio P4 Kalmar reports that:"the new system with local bus transit in Kalmar has been a success. 55% more people are riding the new buses compared to the previous flex buses. This information comes from statistics over the last six weeks in operation.
Since the start of the year, anyone can order the bus service, without ordering in advance or being registered as eligible for 'transport service for the disabled'. Also, if you live within the defined area, you can get picked up right on your doorstep. In the future the number of buses and routes will increase if the interest for this service keeps on growing."
Aspea Mobile Systems was hired to do a job for the Kalmar region order central (KLB), to create a technical platform for increased atomisation and optimisation of vehicle resources. KLB plans community paid transport in the Kalmar region and around 1700 routes are jointly planned on a daily basis.
The requirements were being able to combine linear-steered public transport, call-steered public transport and random taxi routes to find the cheapest solution for every journey. Aspea chose to implement the DPS route optimisation engine LogiX IE, mainly because it's easy to control from external applications. Another requirement was being able to work with several concurrent calculations as it is imperative to calculate all queries several times to come up with the most cost efficient route. |
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DPS International is pleased to announce a new Danish partner: PHD. The Danish IT company have already integrated with the DPS route scheduling software Plan LogiX at Corus in Denmark.
They have also developed an application connecting mobile telephones with route scheduling systems for the transport industry.
The application, Cargoroute, enables drivers to update current route scheduling systems by a simple text message from their mobile phones.
Cargoroute has been integrated with DPS International's online route scheduling system, logixcentral.
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Douglasdale Dairies in South Africa has been a working dairy for over 70 years. It supplies milk and other dairy products to the greater Gauteng region and includes distribution as far afield as the North West Province and Mpumalanga.
Douglasdale chose DPS LogiX software to fulfil its delivery scheduling needs and staff from DPS UK and DPS South Africa recently visited the dairy to implement the system and carry out training.
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EDM Introduces New Vehicle Routing Solution
The following article appears in Manufacturing and Logistics IT Magazine
7th March 2006
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Internet Vehicle Routing Improves Electronic Data Management Service.
The EDM Group, the UK market leader in electronic document management, has introduced logixcentral online vehicle scheduling from DPS International in a move that will provide improved supply chain performance tailored to the needs of its individual customers. |
Transport and distribution services at EDM's Wolverhampton site were previously planned on a manual basis with a manually optimised approach to the planning of daily collections. logixcentral provided EDM with significant cost improvements made through the efficient management of the transport resource via reduced number of routes, times, distances and improved vehicle fill. Savings will come from reductions in both the fixed costs and variable running costs.
Steve Massey is Logistics Manager with EDM: "Software-enabled scheduling completely maximises the efficiency of our vehicles, ensuring that daily collection cycles are achieved effectively. As a result we have to make fewer journeys, which means improved lead times for our customers."
"Our business is all about providing compliant and secure document management solutions for UK businesses that enable them to improve operating efficiencies and reduce costs by using web-enabled solutions to speed up the process without the need to invest in additional IT infrastructure. Introducing web-based routing and scheduling with a similar philosophy was therefore an obvious step for us.”
EDM vehicles collect confidential documents in a secure, reliable and timely manner from companies throughout the mainland UK. Customers include hospitals, banks, building societies, solicitors, hotels, insurance and estate agents, all of which benefit from EDM’s solutions to risk reduction, business continuity, compliant information management processes, security and protection.
Paul Palmer, CEO of DPS International, believes that the EDM Group’s use of logixcentral is a classic case for web-based vehicle routing and scheduling. "EDM Group is offering a service to provide greater efficiencies and cost reduction with web services. It makes sense that they should apply the same reasoning to their own business – and logixcentral offers exactly the same web service benefits."
EDM Group is already seeing the benefits of using logixcentral. "We are now able to build in customers' collection requests or let them have a realistic estimated time for collection," said Mr Massey. "Our service provides for having electronic documents accessible on the web within very tight lead times. More effective scheduling, greater flexibility and better management of resources allow us not just to meet, but improve upon order lead times. It is now much easier to plan for this."
"Because we are able to offer this level of reliability in our service, we are gaining new business. But the benefits go further – not only are we getting service and cost improvements with our current fleet, it is obvious we can get even more benefits by eventually changing the size and composition of the fleet," Mr Massey added.
The next stages for EDM include rolling the service out across the company’s other sites in Bristol, Poynton and Gamlingay.
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