DPS International are proud to announce that we have won two prestigious ICT Excellence awards. The ICT Excellence Awards 2007, organised by West Midlands ICT Cluster and sponsored by Accredit UK, were held on 22nd November.

logixcentral, the logistics web-based vehicle routing and scheduling system from DPS International, was the winner not only in the Product Innovation category but also overall winner of the event.

The ICT Excellence Regional Champion Award was won outright by DPS with logixcentral. The award was presented to the organisation selected from all the individual award winners who demonstrated outstanding achievement and who is an exemplar of good practice to the region's ICT business community. In addition to a trophy, the prize for the overall winner included a cheque for £2000.

In the ICT Excellence in Innovation (Product) Award, DPS was a joint winner with the Lanner Group. This award was sponsored by the University of Warwick Science Park. It was awarded for the most innovative product introduced by an ICT business.

The judges citation for DPS was "DPS International is a supplier of vehicle routing and scheduling software, the LogiX suite is based on a wealth of experience in logistics consulting. Now in its 25th year, the West Midlands based company has recently launched a web version of LogiX, called logixcentral. In addition to the usual benefits of LogiX, such as reduction in mileage, fuel, vehicles and hence carbon footprint, logixcentral offers the convenience of web access and its pay-as-you-use pricing system makes it viable for smaller companies."

Paul Palmer, CEO and founder of DPS, said: "These awards are particularly welcome in our silver-jubilee year. They show that DPS is still at the forefront of freight transport planning after a quarter of a century. They also acknowledge that the Internet is the way forward for such applications and this also opens the market for new sectors, particularly in the service sector, and for smaller companies who cannot afford traditional desktop solutions"

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Technorati tags: SaaS, software as a service, LogiX, logixcentral, on demand, logistics, software, transport, scheduling, vehicle scheduling, routing , vehicle routing

The following is a summary of an article that appears on the Evaluation Centre's website under Supply Chain Software & Manufacturing Software news

One of the biggest inhibitors to efficiency and high levels of customer service in the supply chain has always been a lack of real-time relevant knowledge. There is plenty of historical data about what went right and wrong, but it is a huge task to recover and analyse this to gain a real understanding.

What is needed is real-time knowledge of what is happening out there now – but delivered in an affordable way, without the need for major capital expenditure.

Yet companies are wasting money, time and resources in buying traditional software licences for their logistics and transport operations; and they wasting even more money on the capital expenditure needed for the hardware and annual maintenance and upgrades. There are also hidden costs, one of the most significant of which is the disruption to business for installation and regular upgrades.

SaaS (Software as a Service) is now becoming available for supply chain and logistics applications – and you do not need to buy it, nor the hardware infrastructure to run it, and there are no charges for maintenance and upgrades!

The change is being driven by business and consumer customers demanding better service and 24x7 access to information relating to their orders. Because of the web delivery of the software solution, companies of all sizes, from recently created mega-carriers to small regional businesses, are able to access even advanced logistics applications.

Typical SaaS companies charge on an as-you-use basis, which is either payment by transaction or payment based on the number of users in the company. This means customers pay only for what they need, and as their business grows they can increase the features they want to use.

UK providers

A number of UK companies are developing SaaS for logistics.

DPS International of Halesowen (www.dps-int.com) has long provided traditional PC-based vehicle planning software but recently introduced a SaaS version, logixcentral, where payment is on a user basis. This has been further developed by DPS to include a tool which enables users to measure the carbon footprint of their current logistics fleet operation and see the impact that running different vehicles or better routes will bring.

Visibility and collaboration

One customer of DPS, Utility Partnership Ltd of Cardiff (www.up-ltd.co.uk), has tackled the issue of creating efficient work planning, while at the same time achieving significant cost and efficiency benefits.

UPL specialises in smart metering, also known as AMR – automatic meter reading. This shows what and when gas, water and electricity has been used. Its solution to creating efficient and low-energy work plans was to use vehicle routing and scheduling software from DPS.

UPL works with three out of the four major mobile phone companies, fitting and monitoring smart meters at phone masts, and with major retailers checking the energy usage at stores and facilities 365 days a year. "When we first started we were able to use manual route and work scheduling, but now we are fitting 200 sites a week and it is simply not feasible to produce efficient plans manually," the company explained.

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Technorati tags: SaaS, software as a service, LogiX, logixcentral, on demand, logistics, software, transport, scheduling, vehicle scheduling, routing , vehicle routing

Many organisations are taking steps to minimise energy usage and reduce their carbon footprints, but all too often there is a lot of energy used and carbon generated in the setup phase. This is because of the need to visit many sites and install appropriate equipment.

One company, Utility Partnership Limited (UPL) of Cardiff has tackled this problem and taken effective action which has also brought cost and efficiency benefits. UPL specialises in Smart Metering, also known as AMR (Automatic Meter Reading). This shows what and when gas, water and electricity has been used. The solution to creating efficient and low energy work plans was to use vehicle routing and scheduling software from DPS International to plan the routes for the engineers fitting their Smart Meters.

The company works with three out of the four major mobile phone companies, fitting and monitoring Smart Meters at phone masts, and with many major retailers checking the energy usage at stores and facilities 365 days a year.

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Technorati tags: energy, smart metering, smart meters, AMR, Automatic Meter Reading, metering, LogiX, utilities, logistics, software, transport, engineers, service, mobile

Norsk Hydro delivers approximately 1.4 M m3 of fuel across Sweden, which is about the equivalent mileage of 2000 times around the globe each year. Given the amount of mileage the possibilities for cost savings through efficient route planning are huge.

Norsk Hydro signed an agreement with IBS AB to make their whole transport management more efficient. The contract comprises of IBS transport system CockPit Tanker Version, mobile data communication from MobiOne and DPS scheduling system Plan LogiX. The combination of these systems gives support to order handling, route- and load planning, vehicle control, real time positioning, economic control, environmental and quality control, mobile communication and depot management.

During this project DPS developed a multitude of new features in Plan LogiX; most of the features are specific for tanker transport but there are also general features that other transport segments benefits from, such as truck and trailer management, available product per depot and the number of loading bays can be limited to prevent build up of vehicles waiting to load/unload.

The contract gives Norsk Hydro a broad transport optimisation platform which is easily integrated with their other systems.

Technorati tags: fuel, tanker, LogiX, distribution, logistics, software, transport

Technorati tags: LogiX, distribution, logistics, software, transport, operational, building, construction, materials

DPS would like to welcome Wolseley UK as a new customer. Wolseley are using LogiX for strategic analysis, consolidating and re-modelling the transport network across their brands, and optimising depot locations.

Wolseley UK Ltd is the UK operating subsidiary of Wolseley PLC, one of the largest distributors of building products in the world. Wolseley UK's head office is at Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. The company is wholly engaged in the distribution of construction products and materials through a nationwide network of over 1,800 branches.

The company is organised into trading brands, which service distinct customer groups. Many of these brands are market leaders with outstanding reputations for supplying professionals in the construction market. Names such as Plumb Center, Build Center, Parts Center, Pipe Center, Drain Center, Climate Center, Encon, William Wilson and Brandon Hire are widely recognised throughout the industry.

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Technorati tags: LogiX, distribution, logistics, software, strategic analysis, transport, optimisation, depots, building, construction

DPS welcome new customer Mattressman who have chosen our vehicle routing and scheduling software to manage their deliveries throughout the UK.

Mattressman is an online Mattress and Bed shop offering a large range of Mattresses including Memory Foam, Miracoil and Pocket Sprung Mattresses. Mattress Man also offers Divan Beds, Sofa Beds, Kids Beds, Guest Beds, Headboards and Bed Frames. They check their mattress prices daily to ensure that they are the cheapest online mattress and bed shop in the UK. They also offer Free Next Day Delivery on all orders.

DPS International are pleased to welcome Poundland as a new customer. They have chosen DPS scheduling software to manage their fleet of vehicles.

With over 150 stores, Poundland is the UK's largest pound retailer. Poundland is a retailer that has taken advantage of "leading edge" technology, providing management controls which are considered by many to be superior to those employed by other retailers.

DPS UK is pleased to announce that we are now climate neutral! In other words, we have worked with Climate Care to offset the carbon emissions generated from energy used within our offices and from business travel.

Climate Care is a service that helps you to repair the damage your activities do to the climate. It does this by 'offsetting' the greenhouse gas emissions, such as CO2, from your activities by reducing an equivalent amount of CO2 on your behalf. These reductions are made through a range of projects in renewable energy and energy efficiency, which not only fight climate change but bring benefits to communities around the world. You can offset emissions from flying, driving and energy use. To find out more, visit www.climatecare.org.

For over sixty-five years, USA Company Culligan has been a world leader in water treatment technology supplying high quality water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, bathing and manufacturing. The company supplies from single apartments to whole towns, in more than 90 countries worldwide and have had an international presence in the UK since 1960.

However, when it came to a need to reduce costs, improve service and grow market share, the company realised that one key management skill that was missing was logistics. Management skills were in the production of high quality water but there was a need to get to grips with the cost and effectiveness of getting that water to UK customers.

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