April/May 2007

Another new collaboration aims to help large fleets improve efficiency.

Transport management specialist Isotrak and scheduling experts Paragon have teamed up to offer an integrated fleet tracking and scheduling system called Total Transport System.

TTS combines Paragon's scheduling and resource optimisation application with Isotrak's real-time vehicle tracking and transport execution solutions. The chief differentiator is that live data captured from the on-board Isotrak hardware is relayed back to a central server (hosted by Isotrak) where it is automatically fed back into the routing software.

The software reschedules routes, taking into account loads, drivers and vehicles, to make the best of the available resource. Outstanding parts of the schedule will be adjusted automatically in real time to accommodate unforeseen events such as delays in the supply chain, congestion and weather - freeing managers to concentrate on hot-spots in the schedule.

 

'With current real-time schedule monitoring, execution is not tied to plan re-optimisation,' says William Salter, managing director of Paragon Systems. 'Existing systems may allow users to compare the planned versus actual schedule, but don't usually offer any suggestions as to how the schedule might be recovered and brought back to optimum. Transport staff have to take those decisions, but do not necessarily have all the data to hand.'

Paragon and Isotrak aim to put that omission right.