An advanced solution for demand forecasting,
stock replenishment, and route planning and execution
The challenge
In the dynamic environment of oil, gas and chemicals logistics, punctuality, reliability and customer focus are paramount. Businesses are faced with the ever-increasing challenge of rising customer expectations, while safety regulations are becoming stricter and customer loyalty is more and more difficult to retain. Furthermore, there is a real need to combine forecasting, planning and execution so that customers are delivered in time, transportation costs and drop sizes are balanced, the workload is optimally spread across shifts and smart decisions can be made for disturbances during the day based on real-time data. In order to stay ahead of the game and meet these challenges full on, the use of advanced Transport Management Systems and Advanced Planning and Scheduling applications is essential. It is also extremely important to safeguard the cost effectiveness of your operations given the competitive nature of the industry. Cooperation between business units and within the supply chain and a centralized ICT philosophy are vital in order to remain cost efficient. However, the most crucial factor is to prioritize Return on Investment and to select a proven, fit-for-growth product.
Our solution
ORTEC has years of experience working with a multitude of companies and our commitment to delivering the best forecasting and routing product for the transport and logistics industry is unparalleled. Our client portfolio includes a whole host of logistics companies - retailers, shippers, fourth party logistics providers (4PL) and logistics service providers (LSP). Our solutions are extremely robust and all manner of transportation methods are catered for: bulk/liquid (compartmentalized), packed goods (pallets), containers, network providers, retail and distribution. ORTEC’s demand planning and inventory routing solution is a powerful tool that supports demand forecasting and route planning in a wide range of transport and distribution planning sectors and distribution planning sectors where the number of products is limited and the cost involved for the product or the delivery of the product is high.
‘Our solution delivers a competitive advantage that goes
beyond the capabilities of ERP, TMS or WMS systems’
ORTEC Inventory Routing
Planners and
Dispatchers KPI’s and Plannedvs actual
Planning and optimization
Telemetry Tracking
PDA/MD ERP/TMS/WMS
Unique features
Combine demand forecasting, order generation and planning optimization with real-time execution and dispatch.
Centralized, scalable architecture to support both midsized local distribution companies and large multi-site operations of logistic service providers, 4PL companies, shippers and carriers. Able to deal with requirements from all logistics areas: bulk/liquid (compartmentalized and packed).
Real-time event management with alerts for low inventory levels, violated restrictions, data errors, issue/event messages and KPI monitoring.
A true multi-user, multi-environment,forecasting, real-time planning and dispatch application in a 24/7 environment.
Embedded forecasting and optimization techniques with multiple options for decision support (pick up delivery, distribution rounds, multi-product order generation, resource assignment,
compartment assignment and order adjustments to selected resource and estimated time of arrival and optimal loading location).
Flexible resource planning (i.e. truck, trailer, driver, axle weight, compartment).
Scheduler functionality to consider business variables, keep track of customer status, resource locations and replenishment orders, and to ensure that total multiday planning is responsive, while remaining consistent.
Trip reconciliation: possibility to reconcile finished trip and validate actual trip details and deliveries made.
Combine forecasting and planning optimization with
real-time execution and dispatch
ERP/TMS/WMS Real time feedback
mobile devices Actions Actions Status/ Actual data Invoicing Customer historic transactions Orders Financial completion
ORTEC Inventory Routing
Online tracking application Respin planning/ completion Planning/Dispatch Actuals/Recalculation Adapt to events Reporting Forecasting & order generation
Additional features
Integration facilities: ORTEC Inventory Routing is the dashboard of stock replenishment, trip planning and execution. It combines all required data and is able to integrate with mobile devices, telemetry, point of sales data, ERP systems and and onsite equipment in order to send and receive data relating to: historical and real-time inventory levels, historical and real-time sales info, GPS positions, address data, planned actions and confirmations data.
Congestion pattern data to ensure improved ETAs by taking into account historic and real time traffic information.
Flexible approach to time restrictions (also incorporated in the optimization engine). Driving time regulations.
Axle weight distribution.
Hazardous routes, and length, width, height and weight route restrictions.
The ability to incorporate compartment planning within capacity, ullage and axle restrictions.
Product contamination and compartment flushing. Fleet cleaning and maintenance.
Advanced forecasting algorithms (moving average, seasonal profiles, degree days, exponential smoothing): These methods enable the dispatcher to be more proactive and look beyond the real-time execution data. This leads to more accurate planned delivery times and volumes and a more balanced workload.
In order to facilitate a smooth integration between ORTEC IR and your existing architecture / ICT environment, ORTEC offers a separate integration layer - ORTEC Message Hub.
Interface with several ERP systems
Road network editor: This feature enables you to update the map data with useful information such as temporarily blocked roads; road designation changes (two-way to one-way); and new roads not yet indicated on the current map.
Changes and security levels: System security levels can be set in order to restrict multiple users from viewing and changing certain data or planning information.
Integration of Tactical Route Planning results: A useful feature of our products is the seamless integration in order to share data between solutions. ORTEC Tactical Routing allows you to create territories and/or to evenly distribute delivery routes or “milkruns”. In addition, with ORTEC IR’s forecasting capability it is possible to update fixed day delivery based on customer usage.
The scheduler and optimizers incorporate
numerous business variables
“ORTEC Inventory Routing enables us to deliver greater
customer value and transparency, while reducing overall costs”
ORTEC offers a web client that receives
pushed real-time data
Integration of the results of ORTEC Supply Chain Design: An unique feature is the integration of ORTEC IR with our strategic solution ORTEC SCD. ORTEC SCD can allocate customers to depots in the most efficient way taking into account i.e. depot product stock, third party supply contracts and customer usage. This solution uses the customer and depot information from ORTEC IR and the result of the customer assignment to depots is used during routing in ORTEC IR.
Subcontractor payments using deviation reports: ORTEC IR can store sub-contractor agreements for planned routes as baselines and then use actual execution information to produce reports that highlight any deviations.
GPS-based tracking and ETA recalculation, as well as the comparison of planned routes vs. actual routes driven.
Web client: Remote locations require easy deployment and very limited network usage, although they still rely on the same level of planning functionality. ORTEC offers a web client that receives pushed real-time data to meet these requirements. Furthermore, the web client can also be used to enable client’s customers to access specific information such as order status (planned, due for delivery etc,) or delivery notes from past deliveries etc. Customer Portal: Data from ORTEC IR can be seamlessly
integrated with client’s customer portal to show specific information such as order status (planned, due for delivery etc), entering stock measurements or showing realised deliveries.
Results
+ Enhanced forecasting capabilities lead to improvements in average drop size, an elimination of out-of-stock situations, a reduction in oversized deliveries and product returns, and a reduction in long term distribution costs.
+ Balancing (seasonal) demand, balancing workload and prioritizing of ‘must-go’ / ‘may-go’ orders.
+ Horizontal cooperation increases because business units can share orders and resources.
+ Vertical cooperation increases because customers, dispatchers, customer service and sales all have access to the same information, which can help to increase efficiency.
+ Centralized planning reduces the number of empty miles leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions.
+ Our product approach ensures that clients will be up to date with the latest, innovative IT trends, business features and optimizers.
+ Centralized deployment brings cost savings because only one application is maintained, with a single interface between ERP/TMS applications, in-vehicle devices and onsite equipment.
+ Transport costs decrease as a result of better planned delivery moments and quantities, reduced distances, driving time and vehicle utilization.
+ Reduction in time required to plan and dispatch.
+ Route planning and vehicle costs are more transparent.
+ Quick simulation of alternate planning scenarios and delivery strategies in order to determine the best product mix, which results in lower stocks.
+ Reporting and analytics module based on Microsoft SQL server reporting services.
+ Improved customer service due to automatic inclusion of requests and limitations.
+ Strong ROI cases and references from the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Your benefits
Our software solutions
SAP Integrated:
ORTEC Load Building for SAP ERP
Certified add-on to logistics optimization in SAP ERP with integrated carton, pallet and load space optimization, plus route planning and optimization.
ORTEC Warehouse Execution for SAP WM
Certified add-on to Warehouse Management in SAP ERP for picking planning and control, including paperless picking.
Windows applications:
ORTEC Load BuildingCarton, pallet and load space optimization, plus order picking. ORTEC Routing and Dispatch
Route planning and optimization with a primary focus on real-time route planning and dispatching in a multiuser environment.
ORTEC Route Scheduling
Route planning and optimization for logistics and field services. ORTEC Tactical Routing
Territory and delivery day optimization including individual route sequencing and the creation of trips while optimizing the utilization of resources.
ORTEC Service Planning
Route planning and optimization for field services. ORTEC Inventory Routing
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About ORTEC
ORTEC is one of the largest providers of advanced planning and optimization solutions and services. Our products and services fully optimize fleet routing and dispatch, vehicle and pallet loading, workforce scheduling, delivery forecasting, logistics network planning, and warehouse control. We offer stand-alone, custom-made and SAP® certified and embedded solutions that are supported by strategic partnerships.
Our 750 employees support over 1,800 customers worldwide from offices in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia Pacific.
Want to learn more about our solutions? Contact us at:
ORTEC world wide
Asia Pacific Australia China Singapore Western Europe Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands UK Nordics Denmark Central and Eastern Europe Greece Poland Romania North America USA South America Brazil
