Dynamic day-to-day delivery scheduling with the TruckStops routing and scheduling system from MapMechanics is helping logistics group Lloyd Fraser to accommodate rapid growth at AHED, the leading distributor of heating and plumbing supplies.
The first phase of the dynamic scheduling system has now gone live in two distribution areas, “and has already produced improvements in vehicle utilisation and efficiency,” says Melvyn Price, contract manager for the operation at Lloyd Fraser. The rest of the AHED network will be converted from fixed to dynamic scheduling in the coming months.
TruckStops was introduced by Lloyd Fraser when the company won a national distribution contract with AHED early last year, and immediately became a key component in a new centralised distribution network based at Ossett in Yorkshire. This replaced AHED’s previous regional stockholding network, which was being phased out when the new contract began.
All stock is now held centrally at a new 80,000 sq ft AHED warehouse at Ossett, and under the contract is trunked nightly to five satellites depots (at Gatwick, Devizes, Exeter, Bishop Auckland and Nether Heyford), from which it is distributed locally to heating and plumbing merchants the following day. Delivery vehicles based at Ossett itself take care of deliveries in much of northern England and North Wales.
Lloyd Fraser manages the whole transport operation, which includes a shared trunking service and a dedicated fleet of 40 distribution vehicles. The company administers the operation from an office within the AHED distribution centre at Ossett, using TruckStops to calculate the optimum schedule for each route.
Initially Lloyd Fraser used TruckStops to set up a fixed delivery network based on the distribution centre and the satellite depots. “This immediately allowed us to streamline the operation and optimise the time and resources we needed,” says Jane Price, the company’s transport supervisor on the AHED contract (no relation to Melvyn).
This form of fixed-route optimisation is one of two main modes in which TruckStops can work, and is used widely and effectively in operations such as AHED’s that involve deliveries to a relatively settled and predictable customer base. Customers are allocated to depots and routes on a “best-fit” basis, and daily delivery journeys are then scheduled optimally according to these pre-set parameters. The network is re-optimised periodically to ensure that resources are being used as efficiently as possible.
Dynamic scheduling takes a broader view, allocating deliveries on a daily basis to any depots and vehicles that are shown as available with the TruckStops system. “We have identified significant savings from being able to lift the constraint that allocates call points to specific depots,” says Melvyn Price.
Jane Price adds: “It means the work load can be balanced over the whole network, and delivery rounds can be built up much more efficiently, taking full account of daily traffic volumes, vehicle availability and fluctuating levels of demand in different areas.”
AHED saw some of its biggest-ever peaks immediately following the New Year break this year. “Using TruckStops dynamically will help us to absorb this growth, and still keep costs under control,” Jane Price says.
Melvyn Price explains: “The main reason for going dynamic on a phased basis is to ensure that AHED’s stock management and picking system are geared to the demand. With fixed-route scheduling, stock can be picked through the day and sorted immediately into pre-planned delivery routes. With dynamic scheduling, stock is not allocated to routes until the TruckStops optimisation is run, which is usually around 5pm.”
AHED has its own on-site contact centre for receiving telephone orders from customers, and uses the Chess warehouse management system handle order picking. Orders are pulled from the Chess system by Lloyd Fraser’s in-house Microsoft Access-based MIDS system (Management Information and Distribution System), and then passed to TruckStops for scheduling.
MapMechanics has supplied both TruckStops and a special version of GeoConcept, the powerful digital mapping and geographic information system, which works seamlessly in the background to produce vivid and detailed map backdrops for the route plans.
“TruckStops allows us to print out manifests, configurable reports and even detailed route plans for drivers,” says Jane Price. “This feature is likely to be even more useful in a dynamic scheduling environment, where drivers may initially find themselves visiting unfamiliar call points.”
AHED operates a national distribution service for heating materials, delivering to over 1,000 outlets throughout the country. It offers next-day delivery to most locations, except in farther-flung areas, where fixed-day deliveries are the norm. Orders can be placed up to 5pm for delivery the following day, which puts extra pressure on the delivery operation.
All product is palletised, but access constraints and weight limits in many urban areas mean that most of the 40-strong delivery fleet consists of 7.5-tonne vehicles. Vehicles taken over from AHED are being replaced progressively by new ones supplied on contract hire by Fraikin, and by mid-2006 the whole fleet is expected to consist of DAFs, apart from a handful of 3.5-tonne Ford Transits.
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