 Since introducing TruckStops from MapMechanics, which it considers the “industry standard” routing and scheduling system for bulk milk collection and delivery, Wincanton Logistics’ industrial division says it has achieved significant improvements in operational efficiency, as well as gaining insights that help the company in planning for new business.
As part of a programme to streamline and enhance its milk collection operation, Wincanton has replaced another routing and scheduling system with TruckStops, and has appointed a routing analyst to oversee the entire operation. He is Kevin Crockford, who brings to the role a lifetime’s operational experience of the milk business.
“TruckStops is seen in our world as the milk industry standard routing and scheduling package,” he says. “We were aware that other companies in our market were using it, and wanted to be sure we had the benefit of having the most appropriate tool for the purpose.”
TruckStops, the world’s most widely-deployed routing and scheduling system, has numerous features that suit it well to this type of operation. For instance, it can plan for collections and deliveries by the same vehicle on the same trip. It can also handle “reload” operations that are often a feature of the bulk milk business. This is where product is picked up within a distant area, transhipped to a larger trailer waiting at a convenient point in the locality, then trunked back to base or onward to the delivery point.
Wincanton faces the added complexity of having to differentiate speciality milks from standard product, ensuring they are carried in tankers that have been cleaned prior to changing milk types. TruckStops is ideal for this requirement, since it allows users to set up route order codes – specifying for instance that vehicles can only be reloaded if each consignment is compatible with the previous one. Judicious use of this feature can reduce the need for keeping dedicated vehicles for this type of business.
TruckStops is now being used periodically to re-plan the routing and scheduling of vehicles at each of Wincanton’s 14 depots in southern England and Wales. “In some cases we’ve saved a couple of shifts, gaining more capacity to take on extra business,” Kevin Crockford says. “In other cases we’ve achieved striking reductions in the kilometres run by the vehicles.”
Kevin Crockford usually visits depots in person to handle the route revision process. “Calculated routes work best if they reflect local information, and take account of factors that you wouldn’t necessarily know if you were sitting in an office somewhere else.” Typically a full depot review takes two or three days, although once all the parameters have been entered in TruckStops, the actual optimisation process is extremely fast.
Part of the appeal of TruckStops, he says, is the backup and training resources offered by MapMechanics. “Their experience sometimes helps us pinpoint issues far more quickly than we could on our own. They nudge us in the right direction.”
He says the company has been particularly impressed with MapMechanics’ use of online computer link-ups to talk users through difficulties remotely. Staff at MapMechanics’ headquarters demonstrate procedures on screen while users in their own offices watch in real time on their own computers. MapMechanics can also see the software that is resident on users’ own computers, and help or advise them over the telephone while the users actually interact with the software. “Not many suppliers offer this,” Kevin Crockford says.
Having proved the effectiveness of TruckStops use, Wincanton is now also adopting other products from MapMechanics, including GeoConcept, the mapping and geographic information system. By applying this in conjunction with TruckStops, it is able to identify suitable reload points for future operations. By overlaying a grid on the map, the company can see all the milk producers in a given area, and highlight the most logical area for a collection point.
Wincanton is also using the OptiSite network planning system from MapMechanics to help define depot coverage boundaries more efficiently. The first area to benefit from this approach is South Wales, where the object has been to streamline the operations of four depots with overlapping coverage.
Wincanton’s bulk milk operations cover a large swathe of southern and south-west England and South Wales. Depots operate a variety of vehicle types ranging from 26 tonnes to 44 tonnes gross, including rigids, drawbar outfits and articulated outfits. Maximum capacity on the largest ex-farm vehicles is around 27,000 litres. Currently the company is also introducing 32-tonne rigids with rear-steer axles to enhance capacity on rigid vehicles while maintaining manoeuvrability.
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