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Come and meet us at this year's Logistics Link South
18th January 2008
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Come and meets us at this year's Logistics Link South, which takes place on the 5th and 6th February at Sandown Park.
If you haven't yet registered to attend, simply visit www.logisticslink.co.uk and register for free.
At our Stand 2 you can find out how your company can benefit from our award-winning web-based vehicle scheduling software, logixcentral. Additionally, on Wednesday 6th, you can attend our free seminar at 12.00 in the Seminar Theatre.
You will also be able to meet our partner, Codegate, on our stand who we are working closely with to provide you with in-cab PDA Proof of Delivery/Collection solutions.
We look forward to meeting you at the exhibition. |
DPS wins two major ICT Excellence awards for logixcentral!
26th November 2007
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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.
Paul Palmer, CEO of DPS, receives the Regional Champion Award, presented by
Scott Dodds
(General Manager,
Small Business Division, Microsoft) and
Richard Leary (COG Chair, West Midlands ICT Cluster)
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.
Earlier this year logixcentral was named Web Based vehicle scheduling solution of 2007 by the Institute of Transport Management. 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."
Some of the DPS team celebrating our double win at the ICT Awards!
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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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.
This is no longer necessary, thanks to a revolution in software use over the internet, known as Software as a Service (SaaS) or ‘on-demand’. This is a true sea-change in the way applications software is delivered and accessed. SaaS 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!
Read more
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Press release
Smart transport planning with LogiX for smart energy metering
30th August 2007 |
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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.
Read more...
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Norsk Hydro fuel benefit from new tanker features in LogiX
22nd June 2007 |
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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 PlanLogiX; 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.
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Skånska Byggvaror AB choose LogiX
20th June 2007 |
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DPS welcomes Skånska Byggvaror AB as a new customer. Skånska Byggvaror AB is located in Sweden and they are using LogiX on an operational level to plan their daily distribution. Skånska Byggvaror AB supplies the market with quality construction materials for home improvements, such as windows, garden sheds, green houses, bathroom interiors etc. Recently Skånska Byggvaror AB inaugurated a new top modern distribution facility in Ängelholm to expand even further.
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DPS welcome new customer Wolseley
12th June 2007 |
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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.
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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. |
Read more...
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Mattressman choose logixcentral to manage their fleet
8th June 2007 |
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DPS welcome new customer Mattressman who have chosen logixcentral, our innovative online 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.
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Poundland choose logixcentral
30th May 2007 |
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DPS International are pleased to welcome Poundland as a new logixcentral customer. Poundland recently chose logixcentral to manage their fleet of vehicles.
With over 150 stores, Poundland is the UK's largest £1 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.
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Press Release
Silver Jubilee logistics company offers green logistics solution
4th April 2007 |
DPS International has marked its silver jubilee in the best possible way – by winning the prestigious award from the Institute of Transport Management (ITM) for the 'Best Vehicle Routing System 2007' ITM Award. The award was made for the excellence of the desktop solution Logix and the Software as a Service web-based solution, logixcentral. To mark his silver jubilee, Paul Palmer is now incorporating Green features in all of his systems to enable companies to measure the carbon footprint of their fleet and the impact of any fleet changes.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul Palmer left the logistics division of the Unilever Group to set up his own business helping companies become more efficient in running their freight transport operations. From that one-man consulting business has grown a business that developed to be one of the most advanced vehicle routing and scheduling systems providers in the world.
DPS International led the way in the development of state-of-the-art desktop solutions (LogiX) and recently introduced the only web based pay-as-you-go routing and scheduling system, logixcentral. Because Paul Palmer is always looking to provide his clients with fleet efficiency, he has now developed a module to let them measure their fleet’s carbon emissions and the impact of introducing different vehicle types, and reducing mileage and numbers of vehicles.
Read full article
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Press article
Software as a service: developments in supply chain IT
The following article appears in this month's Logistics and Transport Focus (the flagship magazine of CILT UK). |
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3rd April 2007 |
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Most companies are still lagging behind in the use of information technology to manage their supply chains and logistics. But now a major development is changing the way companies use their software.
Denis O’Sullivan explores the concept of software as a service.
Left: Denis O'Sullivan |
The leaders in IT are usually the very big companies who have spent millions to buy or to develop major customised systems. However, this is not always as beneficial as intended. Upgrades and enhancements are expensive and changing systems can cause major business disruption. But, changing market requirements and customer demands mean that regular changes and upgrades are essential. This in-house approach is no longer economical for even the largest of companies, and certainly not for smaller companies. It is the software equivalent of painting the Forth Bridge. However, even this analogy is no longer valid; technology means that this once symbol of never-ending work is now only painted once every 20 years!
Major changes in applications incur major investments beyond the cost of development or licences. New software usually brings with it the need for updated hardware, or at least some additional expensive hardware. Then there is the need for maintenance contracts or in-house maintenance costs and often additional support staff. But, without leading-edge logistics solutions, companies cannot meet customer and consumer expectations. Therefore, the opportunity to grow and win business, by adding value through advanced use and sharing of information, is often based on the commodity concept of low-priced transport. In-house operators will often outsource rather than face up to the need for huge investment in IT.This may not solve the IT problem – if their logistics partner also does not have the best possible computer systems – but at least it moves the IT investment problem off the balance sheet.
Software as a service
A major development in IT is changing the way companies use software. It is a new approach to how we access and pay for the applications and is known as software as a service (SAAS).
SAAS – also referred to as on demand – has been talked about for several years and was originally fanfared as the end of the desktop PC. As is often the case, it took a breakthrough by one company to start the ball rolling. In this case that company was SalesForce, a traditional PC-based applications provider. When it changed to SAAS, it turned the customer relationship and sales force management market on its head. Now other software companies, including supply chain and logistics applications providers around the world, have followed this course. In fact, in several cases the UK SAAS providers are absolute world leaders.
These solutions provide access to business functionality remotely as a service, with costs that are aligned with usage, minimal upfront expense, rapid implementation, and time to value. The investment to get up and running is often very low and very quick, and the return on this investment (ROI) is almost instant. However, even better, the service is usually charged on a transaction basis. This means that companies do not have to pay for tomorrow’s needs today, but can wait until the business expands and more capacity or additional features are needed: in other words, not just a case of pay-as-you-go, but you also pay-as-you-grow.
Read full software as a service article
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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.
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Press Release
Bottled water delivery costs evaporate!
9th February 2007
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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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Bottled water of the type we are all used to in our offices, represents 40% of Culligan’s UK business. They supply in addition salt for water softeners and the servicing and sanitizing of officers water coolers. One of the issues the company faced was that these three services were not integrated and were treated quite differently in logistics terms.
A range of vehicles including transit type vans, 7.5 tonne vans and 7.5 tonne flatbeds for sale deliveries were used. The sanitization was outsourced at a cost of £7.80 for each call.
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Jon Wilkinson was appointed UK CEO in 2006 and he quickly spotted the difficulties. His background was in senior management with Parcelforce, DHL and Deutsche Post Global Mail UK.
Mr Wilkinson introduced the concept of logistics metrics to Culligan and was fortunate in being able to take advantage of nine months distribution data collected but not used. Although Culligan did not regard itself as a large fleet operator, they obviously had either too many vehicles or the ones they had were too big. They were in fact operating a fleet mix of 40 x 7.5 tonnes and 11 x transit type vehicles. All drivers were qualified to drive 7.5 tonne vehicles – even those who only drove transits.
Not surprisingly, the water business is highly seasonal and over an eight-week period in July and August volumes increase by an average of 50%. At peak times volumes increase by 64%.
His previous logistics management experience allowed him to harvest low hanging fruit very quickly and he reduced fleet size by 12 vehicles. However, it was also obvious that there were many benefits to be gained by Culligan needed more sophisticated analysis. The changes Culligan needed to introduce were fundamental to running a modern business.
The business had to improve profitability by a significant change to the way they approached logistics. To achieve this Mr Wilkinson approached three companies to help him with this project. This was a competitive approach involving the three companies. "Only DPS using their Logix routing and scheduling software were able to model the existing operations and costs of the business, the other two could not get close," Mr Wilkinson said. "If they could not model the existing business, there was no way I could have faith in any results from a study. DPS got within 2% of the current situation – a remarkable achievement."
The scope of the study conducted by DPS was very wide, according to DPS Chief Executive Paul Palmer. In looking to improve profitability the options included reducing the number of stops in total, while increasing the number of drops per route and vehicles in order to improve fleet utilisation. There also seemed to be a case for downsizing the vehicles.
"We also looked at the opportunities for integrating the three current logistics operations, water and salt deliveries and sanitisation and reducing or eliminating outsourcing," Mr Palmer said. This had to be achieved by creating in parallel both improved customer service and establishing a new relationship with customers.
From the drivers' point of view, there was the need to make the job more interesting and financially more rewarding; they needed to introduce more customer care and improve service. They were the key to the need for improved customer relationships.
The study conducted by Mr Palmer for Culligan achieved all of the main objectives set by Culligan. Out-sourcing was eliminated completely, water and salt delivery as well as sanitisation service calls were fully integrated. The flat bed vehicles were not required and the fleet balance was signifacntly changed in favour of vans away from 7.5 tonne trucks.
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The cost of sanitisation calls fell by 60% to £3 - while the service level to customers was improved. All small customers agreed to receive calls on either a monthly or even quarterly basis, making this market segment profitable for the first time. The workload was more evenly balanced between the depots, with a reduction in management costs
"The full year savings to us will be more than £300,000 and the DPS study has brought us considerable improvements in service and in the conditions and job satisfaction to our drivers. We and they now regard them as primarily carrying out a customer service function," Mr Wilkinson told us. "We are now using DPS's Logix routing and scheduling software and we have reached utilisation rates as high as 92% for our fleet – we now only hire in capacity to meet absolute peak demand".
"Most importantly we now know what our deliveries are costing us. The cost for each bottle delivered has fallen by 30% and we have much happier customers. As an added benefit to the staff, we are now employing more people because we have eliminated the outsourced operation".
Of the work done by DPS and subsequently the deployment of the software, Mr Wilkonson commented: "The approach was a thoroughly professional, no-nonsense one which is exactly what we were looking for. The analysis was delivered on time and produced a very plausible and practical set of recommendations". |
DPS to exhibit at waste transport conference on 7th February
2nd February 2007
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Following our success in the Waste Sector, DPS will be exhibiting at the forthcoming waste transport conference "Payloads or Pay Less: Sustainable Transport for the Recovery Economy", which is a collaboration between the University of Southampton, Project Integra and the Resources Recovery Forum. The conference will be held on Wednesday, February 7th at Intech Science Centre, Winchester.
The rapid expansion of local authority and related recycling services, coupled with escalating fuel costs and tighter legislation is creating pressure for organisations involved in resource management. As the UK moves toward a recovery economy, flows of material previously regarded as 'waste' will become more complex and present new challenges. This conference will explore the application of fleet logistics for the resource recovery industry. The programme will cover best practice examples from local authority and commercial operators and showcase the tools available to optimise efficiency.
Topics will include efficient routing and round design for collections systems, cross boundary working, reverse logistics, transfer fleets and opportunities to identify optimal sites for locating hubs such as transfer stations or resource parks.
This one day conference will be of interest to municipal waste collection and disposal authorities and their contractors, other municipal fleet managers, commercial hauliers, waste strategy officers and portfolio holders, strategic planners and consultants.
Speakers at the conference include DPS customers Tom Cherrett from the Transportation Research Group (TRG) at the University of Southampton and James Bennett from Hippo Waste; as well as representatives from Biffa, Faber Maunsell, Cranfield University, SLR Consulting, Entec and White Young Green Environmental.
For more information, please see the conference programme. Delegates can also register online. |
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Following extensive research and customer recommendations, the UK Institute of Transport Management has awarded DPS International the title of "Best Vehicle Routing System 2007" for its vehicle routing software, LogiX.
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Given the complexity of managing all modes of transport today, with increasing time and scheduling limitations, vehicle routing and scheduling is critical in successful logistics execution. The emergence of technologies and information systems allowing for seamless mobile and wireless connectivity between delivery vehicles and distribution facilities is paving the way for innovative approaches to real-time vehicle routing and distribution management.
Fleet managers have discovered how essential it is, in effective fleet management, to have a system which provides real-time control and scheduling systems that determine the vehicle routing plan based on the current status of the system. As a result of the in-depth research conducted in this area, the Institute has found that DPS's vehicle routing software, LogiX, does just this.
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Visit us at Logistics Link South: 6th & 7th February 2007
13th January 2007
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DPS will be at this year's Logistics Link South along with our Logistics Showcase partners Deltion and Fleetwood on 6th & 7th February at Sandown park. |
| Come and talk to us on Stand 2 and find out how you could make our web-based vehicle scheduling software, logixcentral, part of your complete end-to-end supply chain solution. We will also be having presentations on the stand at 11.30, 13.30 and 15.30 each day. |
A ground-breaking logistics project in Sweden has increased the amount of time nurses spend with home-care patients by 40% while achieving a dramatic reduction of costs by cutting the distance covered by 25%. This was all achieved using a UK logistics routing and scheduling solution, LogiX, from DPS International, without an increase in the total working time of the staff.
Paul Palmer, CEO of DPS International believes that the NHS could improve efficiency of nurses and healthcare workers in many areas in the UK if they were to learn from the experience and expertise applied by leading logistics companies and now in Sweden. “Experience from other businesses, who work within the logistics field, shows that the results achieved with vehicle routing software are not always taken seriously as they seem too impressive. However, now that the new planning system has been successfully integrated into the daily work, and they’ve actually seen the benefits, they don’t want to go back to the old way of planning”, Mr Palmer said.
Read more...
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Axfood Närlivs AB choose Plan LogiX
8th January 2007
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Axfood Närlivs is Sweden’s market-leading wholesaler. Axfood Närlivs is a complete open wholesale trading system which offers customers a wide range of merchandise with reasonable prices, using national, efficient logistics.
"By concentrating on the service market, Axfood Närlivs combines local customer focus with efficient logistics," says Daniel Johansson, the head of transport at Axfood Närlivs. |
During 2006 Axfood Närlivs has gradually implemented the route optimisation system Plan LogiX into their transport scheduling. The point is to get system support for very complicated transport planning. The goal has been using Plan LogiX as an operative planning tool for daily route scheduling, meaning building new routes every day with regards to the total volume of sales.
"The implementation has taken some time but has still gone very well and we have managed to find routines for an operative daily route planning," says Daniel Johansson. Currently Plan LogiX is used for transport planning in the Linköping and Stockholm regions. Örebro region will be included in the route planning in the first part of 2007 and later on the Tyringe region located in the south of Sweden will also be added.
"The results that we've accomplished so far speak for themselves. First off, our transport leaders find themselves having a much better overview over the total volumes of transport. We have also had a better control of our routes and we have managed to reduce our transport costs," said Daniel Johansson.
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IBS integrate Route LogiX to improve their CockPit software
29th November 2006
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IBS AB is a Swedish stock company founded in 1978 with 2000 employees in 40 countries and has a turnover of roughly 2400 million Swedish crowns. IBS transport has been in business since the early '80s and is today the market leader in the transport and information system field.
Today the IBS transport system CockPit and DPS's routing software Route LogiX Professional are integrated together in different ways to make the work in the transport industry more efficient. The users of the transport system CockPit can, when placing an order, directly calculate distance and view road descriptions with the help of coordinated supply and demand lists. The results from the calculations in Route LogiX are automatically imported and presented in CockPit. It is also possible to distribute the information from CockPit to Route LogiX.
When planning an order using the order summary and/or an integrated map in CockPit, options are available to plan a route which can be sent to Route LogiX for optimisation and other calculations, which will then automatically update the order summary and/or the integrated map in CockPit. It is also possible to printing and processing other calculations from Route LogiX. |
DPS welcomes new Danish integration partner
25th September 2006
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DPS International is pleased to announce a new Danish partner: PHD. The Danish IT company have already integrated with the DPS route scheduling software Plan LogiX at Corus in Denmark.
They have also developed an application connecting mobile telephones with route scheduling systems for the transport industry.
The application, Cargoroute, enables drivers to update current route scheduling systems by a simple text message from their mobile phones.
Cargoroute has been integrated with DPS International's online route scheduling system, logixcentral. |
55% increase in bus passengers, thanks to LogiX IE
6th September 2006
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Swedish Radio P4 Kalmar reports that:"the new system with local bus transit in Kalmar has been a success. 55% more passengers are riding the new buses compared to the previous flex buses. This information comes from statistics over the last six weeks in operation.
Since the start of the year, anyone can order the bus service, without ordering in advance or being registered as eligible for 'transport service for the disabled'. Also, if you live within the defined area, you can get picked up right on your doorstep. In the future the number of buses and routes will increase if the interest for this service keeps on growing."
Aspea Mobile Systems was hired to do a job for the Kalmar region order central (KLB), to create a technical platform for increased atomisation and optimisation of vehicle resources. KLB plans community paid transport in the Kalmar region and around 1700 routes are jointly planned on a daily basis.
The requirements were being able to combine linear-steered public transport, call-steered public transport and random taxi routes to find the cheapest solution for every journey. Aspea chose to implement the DPS route optimisation engine LogiX IE, mainly because it's easy to control from external applications. Another requirement was being able to work with several concurrent calculations as it is imperative to calculate all queries several times to come up with the most cost efficient route. |
Sign up for logixcentral live web demo
30th May 2006
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See a live web demonstration of our innovative online vehicle scheduling software, logixcentral, from the comfort of your own desk! All you need is a web browser and a telephone.
The next web demo is on Wednesday, 21st June at 3pm. As places are limited, please register your interest here.
For more information about logixcentral, visit the dedicated website: logixcentral.com
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Register now for free Logistics Showcase seminar in the Midlands or Dublin
3rd April 2006
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| Following the success of our free Logistics Showcase seminars in Manchester and London last year, we are bringing the seminar to the Midlands and Ireland:
- Wednesday, 26th April: Heritage Motor Museum, Midlands. 10am to 2.30pm includes lunch and a tour.
- Thursday, 11th May: Stillorgan Park Hotel, Dublin. Breakfast seminar from 7.30am to 9.30am includes breakfast.
To register and find out more, please visit the Logistics Showcase website.
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Logistics Showcase solution proves a hit at Softworld
30th March 2006
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The Logistics Showcase team revealed to Softworld delegates how our modular web-based, best-of-breed solution could offer a much better alternative to traditional ERP systems. The team spoke to visitors on the stand and also presented seminars throughout the show.
Our stand was very busy at times, so if you didn't get chance to talk to us, please don't hesitate to contact us. If you would like to find out more about Logistics Showcase, visit logisticsshowcase.co.uk.
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Meet us at Softworld Supply Chain and Logistics
8th March 2006
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DPS would like to invite you to come and meet us and our Logistics Showcase partners at this year's Softworld Supply Chain and Logistics, taking place on 29th & 30th March 2006 at The NEC, Birmingham.
At our stand 117, you can find out how you could make our web-based vehicle scheduling software, logixcentral, part of your complete end-to-end supply chain solution.
Click below to register for free:
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EDM Introduces New Vehicle Routing Solution
The following article appears in Manufacturing and Logistics IT Magazine
7th March 2006
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Internet Vehicle Routing Improves Electronic Data Management Service.
The EDM Group, the UK market leader in electronic document management, has introduced logixcentral online vehicle scheduling from DPS International in a move that will provide improved supply chain performance tailored to the needs of its individual customers. |
Transport and distribution services at EDM's Wolverhampton site were previously planned on a manual basis with a manually optimised approach to the planning of daily collections. logixcentral provided EDM with significant cost improvements made through the efficient management of the transport resource via reduced number of routes, times, distances and improved vehicle fill. Savings will come from reductions in both the fixed costs and variable running costs.
Steve Massey is Logistics Manager with EDM: "Software-enabled scheduling completely maximises the efficiency of our vehicles, ensuring that daily collection cycles are achieved effectively. As a result we have to make fewer journeys, which means improved lead times for our customers."
"Our business is all about providing compliant and secure document management solutions for UK businesses that enable them to improve operating efficiencies and reduce costs by using web-enabled solutions to speed up the process without the need to invest in additional IT infrastructure. Introducing web-based routing and scheduling with a similar philosophy was therefore an obvious step for us.”
EDM vehicles collect confidential documents in a secure, reliable and timely manner from companies throughout the mainland UK. Customers include hospitals, banks, building societies, solicitors, hotels, insurance and estate agents, all of which benefit from EDM’s solutions to risk reduction, business continuity, compliant information management processes, security and protection.
Paul Palmer, CEO of DPS International, believes that the EDM Group’s use of logixcentral is a classic case for web-based vehicle routing and scheduling. "EDM Group is offering a service to provide greater efficiencies and cost reduction with web services. It makes sense that they should apply the same reasoning to their own business – and logixcentral offers exactly the same web service benefits."
EDM Group is already seeing the benefits of using logixcentral. "We are now able to build in customers' collection requests or let them have a realistic estimated time for collection," said Mr Massey. "Our service provides for having electronic documents accessible on the web within very tight lead times. More effective scheduling, greater flexibility and better management of resources allow us not just to meet, but improve upon order lead times. It is now much easier to plan for this."
"Because we are able to offer this level of reliability in our service, we are gaining new business. But the benefits go further – not only are we getting service and cost improvements with our current fleet, it is obvious we can get even more benefits by eventually changing the size and composition of the fleet," Mr Massey added.
The next stages for EDM include rolling the service out across the company’s other sites in Bristol, Poynton and Gamlingay.
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