Those Nasty Daily Headaches
Tackle those complicated routing, scheduling and replenishment problems with a customized Opti-NetTM implementation
Solving short term operational problems such as routing, scheduling and continuous replenishment is, in the best of cases, a complicated challenge.
Although we find an wide variety of topics and industries under this grouping of short-term problems, they all share three key features:
- They are very detailed (they have to be, since they are modeling day-to-day operations)
- They are data-intensive (more detail=more data!)
- They lack the ‘elegant’ modeling approaches that work well for strategic and tactical planning problems
This is why it is extremely difficult to model and solve them effectively and consistently, and why there is no group of problems in supply chain modeling and optimization that benefits from customized solutions more than this one.
The Technologix team has implemented numerous solutions covering different types of short-term scheduling, routing and replenishment problems, from the detailed scheduling of pipe manufacturing to the routing and sequencing of cargo vessels. A customized Opti-NetTM implementation will offer you a number of features that are critical to the success of these projects and that you will not find in an out-of-the-box solution:
- Accurately reflect your operational and business realities
- Incorporate logic, models and features that have been scoped and tailored to your specific needs
- Allow itself to be modified and adjusted as your reality evolves and changes
A few examples of day-to-day problems we have modeled and solved
Optimizing the continuous replenishment operations @ Danone de México
A fully integrated version of Opti-NetTM was developed to support the national continuous replenishment operations of Danone de México. The network consisted on two plants, over 30 warehouse locations and over 100 individual dairy products. The objective was to improve the efficiency of the process by forecasting better, maintaining the right levels of stock in each location and building the daily loads and routes to ensure service, lower overall inventory levels and minimize product losses due to expiry dates.
The system was implemented in three phases: Forecasting/inventory planning, continuous replenishment and plant scheduling synchronization. As is usually the case with these type of planning tools, the scope and models had to be adjusted and finetuned as the project progressed. The most challenging aspect of the algorithms we developed was to balance requirements with available supply, and then adjusting quantities to reflect operational rules and constraints.
The key deliverable of the application was a detailed daily shipping schedule including the exact composition of each load.
Optimizing Production Scheduling @ WL Plastics
WLP Plastics was using multiple spreadsheets in different plants to schedule production, requiring much manual input and human intervention. Technologix developed an application completely customized to their operational requirements to assist schedulers in setting up items to be produced, while allowing the scheduler to override recommendations in order to meet special circumstances.
The app is user-friendly, intuitive and almost completely reduces manual errors as well as highlighting inconsistencies by drawing on all the detailed information originating in WLP’s SAP corporate platform. It relies on drag and drop functionality to facilitate scheduling. By linking all this information together, the scheduler is able to quickly and easily determine what can and should be scheduled on which line.
This system is currently in use in all plants.
Optimizing routes and costs @ US Cold Storage
US Cold Storage, a subsidiary of the Swire Group, is one of the key US third party logistics providers in temperature controlled warehousing and transportation. Its current network includes 37 warehouse locations in 13 states.
As is the case with most of our models and solutions that focus on day-to-day operations its scope was unique and very specific to US Cold: A a planning tool that could predict the financial impact of a potential new account on existing routes and operations.
Technologix developed the original version of the US Cold model back in the late 90's, and the application has been used extensively ever since. From its start, the application was implemented in a SaaS format where our team builds, runs and analyzes new projects and scenarios continuously. On average, between one and two new business opportunities are evaluated every month.
Optimizing services and fleet deployment at The China Navigation Company
Swire Shipping is the brand name for all liner shipping services operated by The China Navigation Company Pte Ltd (CNCo). From its traditional core trading area, the Asia - South Pacific region, Swire Shipping offers shipping links between over 130 ports in Asia, the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Indian Sub Continent.
A few years ago we were commissioned to develop an optimization model to reconfigure Swire Shipping's four main services and the deployment of of the available fleet of 14 vessels to them. The model considered all relevant financial and operational parameters and restrictions, as well as key business considerations such as average transit times and call frequencies.
This was, by far, the most challenging (and interesting!) modeling effort in our 25 years history. The project and its proprietary technology developed for the joint optimization of routes and fleet deployment in the liner shipping industry was spearheaded by Dr. Fernando Alvarez, one of the leading researchers and model developers in this field. Results from this and other similar projects point to total cost reductions in the 3 to 5% range. has shown to date .