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A package of compelling new features has been introduced in TruckStops Roads, an enhanced version of the TruckStops routing and scheduling system, making it even more appealing both as a strategic modelling tool and for practical everyday route-planning; and leading logistics company Lloyd Fraser is the first user to adopt the system.
Lloyd Fraser has been using TruckStops for over three years in both strategic and dynamic applications, and completed possibly the quickest-ever implementation last year when it transferred a new customer, Focus DIY, to TruckStops from another system in just two days. |
“We’ve been pleased with the performance of TruckStops ever since we introduced it,” says director Simon Ives, “and the latest enhancements make it an even more practical and flexible product.”
The new package includes features developed in Britain by Kingswood MapMechanics, which supplies and supports TruckStops here. These draw on the company’s special knowledge of digital mapping and geographic information systems to enhance the standard product.
A fundamental change in TruckStops Roads is its ability to base its optimisation process on times and distances calculated from digitised road networks. TruckStops has always used a different system, which breaks journeys down into their main elements (local, long distance and so on), and adds a range of user-definable correction factors to reflect real-life journey times and distances more precisely. Now TruckStops can use either method of calculation, or both methods together in whatever combination suits individual users.
As Lloyd Fraser’s Simon Ives puts it: “We’re happy with the accuracy of TruckStops as it is, but there are times when it will help us to be able to cross-check the standard results with road-network calculations.” Typical, he says, will be occasions when TruckStops is being used to model delivery patterns for a potential customer, who wants to see results based on actual road networks.
Les Corbett, Lloyd Fraser’s group systems manager, adds: “Neither method of calculation is perfect, but that is the same for any system. The great advantage of TruckStops is that it now offers both.”
There is in fact also a third option, which is for the operator to enter exact times and distances that they want to use for specific journey segments - for instance, to reflect agreements made with drivers, or in the light of data gathered during actual deliveries.
To support the new TruckStops Roads version of the system, Kingswood MapMechanics has supplied Lloyd Fraser with the AA’s 1:200,000 vector road network map dataset of Britain. As standard, TruckStops is supplied in Britain with AA 1:500,000 map data for displaying calculated routes, so the Roads version also gains the benefit of providing more detailed map displays - regardless of the method actually used to calculate the routes.
TruckStops Roads comes with pre-set speeds for different road categories, but Kingswood MapMechanics’ development team is now working with Lloyd Fraser to fine-tune the speeds according to real-world experience.
As part of TruckStops Roads, Lloyd Fraser has taken a brand new facilty called RouteReporter, which has been developed in-house by Kingswood MapMechanics. This takes delivery schedules produced by TruckStops and automatically generates a line of route report for them, showing times and distances to each stop. Again, this has appeal both strategically and in day-to-day operations . Catherine Sharp, central services manager at Lloyd Fraser comments: “Customers are reassured when they can be shown exactly how their deliveries are made in real life and the factors that can influence fleet performance.”
A further attraction of RouteReporter is that it can generate thumbnail maps of the environs of each call point, helping drivers find the exact location without having recourse to separate maps or elaborate in-cab navigation devices. Its output is produced in HTML, the standard markup language for Internet browsers, which makes it compatible with a wide range of modern viewing applications, as well as being easy to transmit over the Internet.
RouteReporter combines the twin technologies of routing and scheduling and geographic information systems. The calculations are made by GeoConcept, the leading GIS product, which Kingswood MapMechanics also supplies and supports in Britain. A runtime version of the product is included as part of RouteReporter. But TruckStops and GeoConcept are integrated seamlessly as far as end users are concerned, since the reports and maps are generated entirely from within the TruckStops desktop environment, and match the style of reports produced directly by TruckStops.
A more comprehensive version of the enhanced package, TruckStops Roads Plus, is also available. This includes the full version of GeoConcept and a postcode sector boundary dataset, and gives users themselves the opportunity to vary speeds in road-network maps. Kingswood MapMechanics also offers training to help users take advantage of other analytical and modelling capabilities of the full GeoConcept system.
Lloyd Fraser acquired its first copy of TruckStops in 1999, and uses it for day-to-day scheduling on a logistics contract with exhaust systems manufacturer Tuberex. The following year it acquired a second copy for handling strategic modelling and bid preparation. Then it chose TruckStops again for its contract with Focus DIY.
According to director Simon Ives: “TruckStops isn’t necessarily the best-known modelling tool available but we’re very happy with the results we’ve managed to achieve with it. We know that we have been able to match or beat the outputs from other much more expensive systems, an attribute that fits well with our company ethos. It works for us.” |
