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Routing Problems and Fleets Optimization Application

Country of Origin: Spain
Reference Number: TOES20170724001
Publication Date: 27 August 2019

Summary

A Spanish IT company offers an advanced technology application that allows the optimization of fleets and routes. It calculates optimized routes for each and all of the vehicles in the fleet, satisfying the defined constraints (characteristics and number of vehicles, time, kilometers…) and optimizing the proposed objectives (deliveries, visits, cost minimization…).The company looks for partners from industry or companies with logistics needs to establish license agreement or services agreement.

Description

A Spanish IT (Information Technology) company offers an application with cutting edge optimization technology that permits the optimization of routes and fleets. It is a computer software of professional features for the solution of real vehicle fleet problems with different characteristics and constrains (capacity, distance, time, etc.), route optimization and management of the associated logistics information in this field of application.

The tool integrates a large set of functionalities of interest for the management of logistic processes and the distribution of goods, among others.

The product relies on the professional experience acquired with the collaboration and work with enterprises and on the research knowledge obtained within the collaboration with a Spanish ICT (Information and Comunications Technology) research center. These two variables empower the company with the needed capacity for adapting to the specific needs and requirements of the clients, developing ad-hoc projects in the field of fleet and route optimization.
This Routing Problems and Fleets Optimization Application is able to provide optimized solutions at an operative and strategic level. The system permits the construction of different scenarios (by changing the fleet or the demand) and visualizes the results of each one (route maps, costs, itineraries, timetables, etc.) allowing to choose the best configuration for our needs.
At an operational level, routes are jointly calculated and optimized, considering all characteristics of all fleet vehicles and satisfying all defined constraints and optimizing the given objectives. Some of the considered constraints are:
- Number of available vehicles
- Different capacity and cargo for each vehicle
- Maximum route length per vehicle
- Maximum driving time per vehicle in the route
- Time window constraints *
- Associated costs (fixed and variable), usage priorities...
- Accessibility constraints per vehicle
- Owned fleet/subcontracted fleet
- Capacity and available fleet at warehouses and logistic centers *
- Typology: refrigerated, special cargo *
* In development

It is also useful as a strategic tool:
- Sizing of the required fleet for achieving desired objectives and to cover specific needs

The main uses, applications and advantages are:
- Location of clients and warehouses (geocoding, waypoints...)
- Calculation and management of distances, times and trasnportation costs, variables related with fuel consumption, CO2, etc.
- Calculation and optimization of transportation routes for a set of vehicles
- Vehicle and fleet management (homogeneous/ heterogeneous)
- Service order management (delivery / pick - up or backhauls / commercial visits, etc.)
- Analysis and selection of vehicles (owned fleet vs. subcontracted fleet)
- Distribution zones definition or zones of logistic coverage
- Delivery and procurement fleet planning
- Definition and analysis of delivery and pick - up timetables
- Map generation. Improvement of the logistics documents
- Reduction in costs and transportation times
- Improvement of the logistics management
- Sharing and integration of route information with clients and providers
- Interchange of information about locations and itineraries with other mapping software (Google Eatrh, Tom Tom, Google Maps, etc.)

There are many application sectors for the optimization of routing problems and feet, for instance:
- Commerce and Distribution
- Transport and Warehousing
- Car Manufacturing
- Food and Agriculture
- etc.

The company is mainly looking for partners with logistics needs. Different types of co-operation are possible: license agreement or services agreement. The company will offer his knowledge and technical advice during the deployment of the product in the final client. Moreover, the company will assist and collaborate in the implementation of the product according to client’s needs.

Advantages and Innovations

The product offered by the Spanish company is an advanced technology application that allows the solution of complex and real problems, with heterogeneous fleet (load capacity, costs, fuel consumption, etc.) and with different objectives and constraints (legal, cost, business rules, etc.) giving as a result different solution scenarios of efficient decision making.

Some of its characteristics are the following:
- Optimizes urban routes, inter-city routes, with a vehicle, on foot and others, useful for different types of companies: transport, distribution, maintenance services…
- Compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 (32 y 64 bits)
- Easy integration with other document management systems or business intelligence tools
- Interoperability: export to many well-established formats (XML, CSV, TXT)
- Robust solution and with a high modularity degree, which allows for an easy adaptation to different problems
- Works with the Google Maps GIS (Geographic Information System), it can export information to Excel and to other GIS formats, including Google Earth and Tom Tom Navigator

The main advantages that can be highlighted are:
- Minimizes fixed and variable costs
- Maximizes: Operations benefits, salesmen performance, maintenance services, …
- Reduces the number of needed vehicles, total transportation time, waiting
- Improvement in the quality of service to clients
- High speed response due to the utilization of the latest processing techniques
- Scalable, allows for the adaptation to different company sizes, from microenterprises to large multinational corporations

Stage Of Development

Already on the market

Requested partner

Type of partner sought: industry / company.
Activity of the partner: manufacturing, sales and/or distribution.
Role of the partner: final client, with logistics needs.

Cooperation offer is closed for requests