Planning transport channels more efficiently with smart apps

Logistics networks are becoming increasingly complex. There are so many options for getting production parts from point A to point B or for shipping goods to customers. But many businesses still lack smart technology to optimize route planning, so they often fall back on the old familiar options—even if they’re not necessarily the most efficient or cost-effective. What’s lacking is the ability to compare options: how transports can be bundled to cut costs, how hubs can be used to consolidate shipments, etc.

What transport capacities are needed for procurement or distribution? What effect do departure or arrival times have on transports and the associated costs? What opportunities are available to mitigate the cost impact of fluctuations in volume and avoid the expense of extra trips? All these questions must be considered when optimizing routes.

Routes are optimized using analysis and simulation tools that enable a wide range of use cases:

• Compare simulation studies for how transport costs rise or warehousing costs fall when delivery intervals are shortened
• Simulate delivery channels for various scenarios in new carrier RFPs
• Analyze legacy shipping data to identify suppliers capable of handling milk runs
• Evaluate consolidation strategies and existing transshipment points
• Optimize transport segmentation in procurement and distribution
• Review the potential for alternative modes of transport in multimodal planning
• Consolidate shipping volumes by changing transport flows (hub, main leg transport)
• Calculate the required transport capacity for a known procurement volume based on the existing network and transport structure

Transport routes are optimized by planning internal and external transshipment points. This makes better use of transport capacities and drives down freight costs. Uniform distribution across transport capacities balances out spikes in demand, minimizing the need for costly extra trips. The software tools accurately estimate the potential savings associated with service modifications. They automatically assign jobs to service providers, ensuring efficient and reliable transport management even when changes become necessary.

Smart apps also enhance the quality of future decisions: By automatically logging transport decisions, the system generates a dataset that can be used to issue new RFPs or evaluate existing transport volumes. This makes it possible to keep tweaking and optimizing routes and costs as conditions change and easily identify system-irrelevant customers.