OR/MS Today, February 2012
Vehicle Routing Software Survey
Table 16
| Product | What is the largest change in the industry over the last two years? | What do you expect to be the biggest change in the next two years? |
| ArcLogistics | ||
| Descartes Routing, Mobile & Telematics Suite | application integration capability is becoming more and more a key feature for optimization software | route optimization as a service is becoming more and more relevant with cloud computing |
| DISC | application integration capabilities of flexible and adoptable optimization algorithms have become more an more important as many companies are developing their own domain specific resource and route planning software instead of using out of the box solutions. | optimization as a service will gain more importance with cloud computing |
| IBM ILOG Transportation Analyst | On board electronic driver information and tracking. | Continued integration of onboard realtime functionality with planning; integration of fleet routing with 3rd party selection. |
| JOpt.AAS | More push towards TL shipping and away from LTL due to fuel price increases. | Shippers will move more to SaaS based TMS and Vehicle routing systems. |
| JOpt.SDK | The requested bundling of back-office route planning with on-board tracking, navigation, work order management - all working wirelessly. Therefore, we've built our systems to excel at all these requirements. | Interconnected cloud-based systems will become the norm. Such systems will need to connect and empower dispatchers, management and drivers. Each work role will require their own powerful productivity tools for handling tasks such as work order management, route planning, navigation and fulfillment, etc. |
| Optrak vehicle routing software | The requested bundling of back-office route planning with on-board tracking, navigation, work order management - all working wirelessly. Therefore, we've built our systems to excel at all these requirements. | Interconnected cloud-based systems will become the norm. Such systems will need to connect and empower dispatchers, management and drivers. Each work role will require their own powerful productivity tools for handling tasks such as work order management, route planning, navigation and fulfillment, etc. |
| Paragon Routing and Scheduling Optimizer | The requested bundling of back-office route planning with on-board tracking, navigation, work order management - all working wirelessly. Therefore, we've built our systems to excel at all these requirements. | Interconnected cloud-based systems will become the norm. Such systems will need to connect and empower dispatchers, management and drivers. Each work role will require their own powerful productivity tools for handling tasks such as work order management, route planning, navigation and fulfillment, etc. |
| Roadnet Transportation Suite | In the current economic climate many more companies are looking at ways to improve fleet efficiency and make transportation savings. Tighter resource management ÀÜ specifically driver DOT (Department of Transportation) hours tied to planning enables companies to achieve this. As well as routing and scheduling optimization solutions, Paragon provides software to help companies manage individual transportation resources. Paragon’Äös resource management software enables key transportation resources such as drivers and trucks to be managed effectively. This is a useful tool for transportation managers in charge of making deployment decisions about drivers, trucks and trailers to meet the scheduled routes. This software can help users: manage private fleets and carrier resources effectively; set up and manage forward resource availability; ensure that optimized delivery routes and schedules match fleet resources and planned drivers’Äö shifts. As well as defining driver shift arrangements, including planned vacations, users can also set up available tractors, trailers, and straight-trucks along with a calendar of their maintenance schedules. The Paragon routing and scheduling system can then utilize this data as part of its optimization process when allocating resources to each load. It can prioritize regular drivers over more costly carriers and take account of historic work patterns to level driver workloads. | More central deployment of Paragon software across an organisation. Increased use of Paragon and the software's output across an entire operation including the gatehouse, warehouse, management and customer service teams. Increased use of telematics, linking truck routing and tracking technology for real time performance reporting. The integration of resource allocation into the routing and scheduling process for a plan that takes account of driver, tractor and trailer availability. Increased focus on route optimization as a means of cutting costs. |
| StreetSync Basic | While tracking systems are well established and proof-of-delivery (POD) systems are becoming so, there is an increasing desire on the part of distribution companies to integrate the routing software that does the planning with the real-time tracking and POD systems. A fully integrated approach offers many advantages not least optimisation of the vehicles and minimised transport costs, increased operational flexibility, improved customer service, lower administration costs and faster billing cycles. | The availability of feedback from integrated command and control systems will lead to a general increase in the expectation of accuracy on the part of the user. This will permeate all aspects of the routing model – accurate historically-based road speeds, more accurate prediction of time at stops and better modelling of vehicle fill. The latter point in particular is an area where routing software suppliers will need to respond by providing proper loading models rather than simplistic weight and volume calculations. This has been proved to take the guesswork out of planning, improve vehicle utilisation and lower transport costs. |
| StreetSync Desktop | SaaS Services | SaaS and integration with Mobile technology, Global routing & scheduling |
| StreetSync Pro | Increased centralisation and integration of business systems eg. ERP with transport functions including web based information. | Increased integration with business systems and web services to continue and make best use of a company's investment in a number of complementary technologies. |
| TMW Appian Direct Route | Clearer vision around the processes supporting the entire routing life cycle including how vehicle are driven via telematics. Customers want to have one place in order to view all of the information related to vehicles and drivers as well as have it integrated and related to each other. | Continued openness of systems to integrate data and more hosted applications to reduce the IT burden and create more powerful applications |
| TruckStops VRS | Customer demand for integrated route planning, mobile and telematics in a single real-time solution. | The number of vendors will decrease because of the capital required to deliver advanced real-time solutions that combine route planning, mobile and telematics. |
| WebSTARS 5.4 | Cloud computing makes services available without needing to install software or data. | More integration with mobile devices |
Vehicle Routing Software Survey Pages:
Introduction | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Vendor List
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