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DiPS
Bridge House
BEWDLEY
Worcestershire
England
DY12 1AB
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As the trading pattern of a
company is constantly changing there comes a need from time to time
to re-deploy the resources required to service customers.
Historically this may lead to overlap of depot areas and in some
cases the need to close or re-locate depots. In many cases
stock-holding depots can be replaced by simple transhipment points.
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suggests, the program looks at the distribution operation over a
period of time - several days, weeks, or even months. Although any
decision to change a company's depot strategy is ultimately a
financial one, a proposed operational plan should be available to
support each decision. Such a plan must show the required fleet at
each depot proposed together with the most likely route patterns. An
estimate of all costs involved is also essential.
These features combine to offer a
total package requiring little or no extra tailoring for individual
requirements. The programming techniques used ensure that
unnecessary computation is eliminated and that execution times are
short - so allowing many alternative strategies to be examined
quickly.
The DiPS Software conducts
optimisation analysis to reallocate demand (and supply) points to
their cheapest depot or supply chain option. Account may be taken of
multiple supply chains with their constituent individual links,
product throughputs, costs and resource limitations at each depot.
Complimentary modules also enable location of ideal "greenfield"
sites and a graphical manual allocation of depot areas.
In DiPS
Vehicle costs are an essential
part of both the supply chain analysis and all the vehicle scheduling
programs.
In the supply
chain process, they play an important role in deciding the allocation of
calls to depots as the cost for each call from each depot are compared
before selecting a depot, whilst in producing route schedules the total
cost values are used to choose the best vehicle, with the cheapest
option chosen from a list of acceptable alternative types.
For more information on
Costing click on this link. |
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Supply
Chain & Depot Location
This module will choose the best method of utilising a given depot
supply-chain network to minimise the operating costs defined, looking at
the a period of time ranging from several days to weeks or even months.
The allocation of accounts is fully integrated with the DiPS Strategic
Route Planning System to allow immediate scheduling.
Complete depot structures may be modelled to reflect different product
"paths" from origin to destination. Any combination of factory, depot,
transshipment point, satellite depot etc. can be represented. It is
possible to define a comprehensive set of cost parameters to cover all
aspects of an operation. Account is also taken of the maximum resources
available on each link of the supply-chain and at each depot. Many
levels of product supply and demand are catered for with the ability to
merge and factor volumes by product type. Even carriage paid supply and
delivery can be included to measure the trade-off between own fleet and
third party operations.
The actual algorithm can be
modified by the use and typically takes any or all the following into
account :-
* Costs - Local, Trunk, Handling and Third Party
* Actual road system in the area
* Fleet size at each proposed depot
* Proximity of calls to depots and marginal costings
* Work standards
* Vehicle size constraints
* Opening times in conjunction with stem times
* Economics of using transhipment points or sub-depots to meet the
following criteria :-
* Minimum cost
* Maximum fleet utilisation
* Minimum travelling for each load
* Obeyance of all restrictions placed upon the system
* Sensible shaped boundaries
* Service levels required.
An advanced feature of this program is its ability to work with
individual product lines. Each store can take each product line from any
of a number of possible supply warehouses. All the warehouses have their
own maximum throughput and cost attributes.
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Vehicle Scheduling
This module provides the means to model the entire distribution
operation of a company at the finest level of detail, minimising
travelling time and maximising vehicle utilisation. It may include one
or more depots in each run thus enabling a combined trunking and
multi-drop operation to be investigated.
Full account is taken of all constraints placed upon the problem ranging
from vehicle capacities, depot and call opening times, travel and work
standards, to legal restrictions on shift and break times. Since no two
distribution problems are the same, a number of control parameters have
been provided to enable users to achieve results appropriate to their
particular problems. These controls not only define the algorithm to be
used but also reflect the decision criteria generally practised within a
company's traffic office. In exploring the effects of changing aspects
of the distribution system the following investigations are commonly
undertaken :-
* Mixing different types of trade on the same fleet
* Interaction of several depot areas
* Changes to fleet composition
* Examine the costs of different service levels over a number of weeks
* Plans for peak/trough operations
* Profitability analysis of each account
The results produced contain detailed information such as travel and
work times, arrival times and departure times and resource summaries
over a period of weeks if required. All reports may be exported to
spreadsheet and database programs.
Once the scheduling run is complete these routes will be saved on the
central database, where the load planner may amend the routes using
"Drag and Drop" facilities to easily transfer Calls, Vehicles and Trips
between any number of routes. All the required checks are made on time
and load constraints using the road network travel times and warning
messages advise the user of anything illegal. Visual displays for Calls
not assigned to Trips by varying priority ensure that nothing is missed
from the plan. Re-optimisation of the calls in a route is provided as an
option.
Over 21 years of working closely with customers has led to enhancements
including: optimising remote garaging and reload points; scheduling
draw-bar demountable body operations which allow access to restricted
delivery points with or without the trailer section; and planning
multiple depots and vehicle fleets where vehicles from one depot may be
further utilised by other depots to collect and deliver product before
returning to their initial starting location.
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For more
information or to arrange a demonstration of DiPS software
please phone 01299 400528 or email
sales@dips.co.uk.
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