MapMechanics offers a range of new functionality and enhanced ease of use

Considered “the industry standard for routing and scheduling” in key food and drink markets such as bulk movement of milk, TruckStops continues to be MapMechanics’ best-known product. Demonstrated live at the Food and Drink Logistics Show at stand Z450, TruckStops VRS provides a bespoke solution for each operation, straight out of the box.

The ease of use and flexibility of the product has enabled users in this sector to make TruckStops suit the way their individual business works without the need for expensive customisation – taking in its stride fixed routes or daily scheduling, collection and delivery, bulk container movements or home delivery, priority orders and incompatible goods.

Recent developments include journey-time variations according to vehicle type and time of day, enabling TruckStops routing and scheduling to take account of the typical road speeds and traffic conditions on the various road types encountered throughout each journey.

Another development especially appropriate to the high-volume food and drinks business is TruckStops Pallet Networks, which works out automatically which loads a vehicle operator can allocate most cost-effectively to its own fleet, and which should be subcontracted to other carriers.

The MapMechanics transport planning portfolio continues to grow and now includes solutions for trunking and tramping, radial distribution and strategic and operational use. Product developments this year include Full Loads, a finely-targeted solution addressing the special scheduling requirements of both own-account full-load trunk vehicle operations and the multi-point “tramping” operations that are typical of the haulage industry. It offers an unequalled range of multi-vehicle, multi-depot, multi-day, multi-user capabilities.

Also new this year is GeoXploit, a solution that offers low cost, easy-to-use mapping analysis for powerful depot territory management and performance monitoring. It includes enhanced drivetime isochrones, complete street-level mapping and aerial photography, detailed postcode information (full, partial, current and historical) to enable users to add all their depots, outlets and call points easily to the map.

All MapMechanics solutions are designed to reduce costs, improve customer service and save time. As a specialist in optimisation, the company understands the importance of incorporating solutions efficiently into the user’s overall operation, so MapMechanics’ products integrate with the user’s own transport management system and other technology such as tracking and handheld devices used by drivers in the field. Another improvement this year is the development of even closer links with key suppliers of transport management and tracking solutions to further improve this ease of integration.