Route optimisation can make a major difference to cold chain logistics, says Tim Pidgen of Optrak Distribution Software.Speaking during a recent online event, Pidgen said the uptake of route optimisation as a solution had traditionally been low due to people not always being able to match plans to rea lit y. “Producing solutions that work out on the road has been where the difficulty lies, as has making sure that the proposed plan is solving the right problem.”He said in earlier versions of route optimisation, the software had been unable to deal with the wide range of issues required in sectors such as the cold chain that had complex loading and routing requirements.Software, however, had come a long way in recent years, making route optimisation far more viable as a solution.“Right up until 2005 and possibly even later, the speeds of the systems we’re using were averages of all roads. So, according to the system, the time to get from A to B was not necessarily correct once in a vehicle on the road.”Calculating times and distances based on average speed was easy, but it did not work for modern road networks. “You need to incorporate every road section. The UK has six million road sections and in the US there are 60 million. If you add time-of-day road speeds into the equation, it becomes even more dif f icult.”Extensive research to solve the problem has resulted in modern, competent route optimisation software nowadays being able to give good and accurate approximations to rush hour and other time-of-day travel times, while maintaining reasonable optimisation run-times.Considering that cold chain logistics requires a very high level of organisation, tracking this type of software can make a significant difference in ensuring that the cold chain is not broken and that transport time is used efficiently. According to Pidgen, the software also offers significant improvements in resource utility and driver requirements.However, he said, deploying a successful solution in an organisation requires mapping of customer operations to a detailed model that adheres to real-world requirements and maximises vehicle fill in a compliant manner (meeting driving hours and shift structures).
