Keystone Distribution UK – the logistics partner of McDonalds – has implemented a road speed data functionality to its Paragon routeing and scheduling software, to improve the accuracy of its daily transport planning.
The new feature, which is ITIS-based (ITIS is a supplier of traffic and travel information) is designed to automatically calibrate routes and help reduce time-consuming data set-up.
The company uses Paragon to produce core schedules and daily plans, and for strategic planning of new routes for the 200,000 annual deliveries to the McDonalds chain.
Keystone has said that the incorporation of ITIS road speeds has “improved results” and removed the need to manually manage road adjustment regions within the plan.
Keystone’s head of scheduling Peter Holdsworth, said: “We were delighted when Paragon approached us to test its new ITIS road speed map functionality.
“This has removed discrepancies between plans and what was actually happening out on the road.
“The ITIS information is incredibly accurate whether for long haul or city driving and we have seen a huge improvement in our delivery performance by using it to automatically calibrate our plans.
“This in turn has improved our service levels and made our drivers happier as we can now give them true timings for each leg of their journey.”
Holdsworth said that using ITIS data ensures that plans will always be accurate as the information is regularly updated.
This will help Keystone to further develop the system to incorporate dynamic scheduling, with variable plans that allow for more flexibility of the delivery fleet.
