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The logistics industry is highly competitive for most companies. Beyond any doubt, even large enterprises with long years of experience are exhaustively finding ways to overcome obstacles in this field. Meanwhile, things are getting easier these days for a 3PL company in South East Asia thanks to a fully digitized logistics process.
1. About this 3PL company
Growing into a premiere 3PL company in South East Asia takes a long time with a well-planned strategy. In this article, we will present a case study of a premiere 3PL company in South East Asia of how they digitize their logistics process to set themselves apart from the crowd.
This company provides logistics services, including transportation, warehousing or end-to-end logistics solution for agricultural, pharmaceutical, FMCG companies and other clients throughout South East Asia. By using the latest technology and time-tested quality standards, this company aims at improving logistics management for temperature-sensitive and ambient products. Generally, there are two types of transportation model that this company is implementing:
Distribution Center Model: In this transportation model, goods are moved directly from the company’s warehouse to the outlets where the consumer purchases them. This is the Vehicle Routing Problem that the company needs to find ways to solve.
Pickup and Delivery Model (PDP): In this model, a set of vehicle routes’ starting and ending at a common depot is set to satisfy the order requests. Each order request will specify one/multiple pickup points and one/multiple delivery points. This is the Pickup and Delivery Problem that the company needs to find ways to solve.
2. How this 3PL company digitized its logistics process
It is not an easy path to becoming a successful 3PL company. In addition to various factors ranging from staff, facilities to infrastructure, the company also needs an AI solution to optimize its logistics process:
a. In the Distribution Center model
- Higher productivity for drivers: Traditionally, the route of the driver is divided manually by the dispatcher’s experience. This ineffective practice can cause uneven workload and an increase in operational costs. With the new AI logistics optimization solution, the delivery route is the most optimized in cost and time. The working time of drivers is maximized, and the working KPIs of drivers are automatically recorded for accurate compensation.
- Higher load utilization of vehicles: The load used to take up only 50 - 60% of the vehicle’s capacity. Today, the AI platform can increase the load utilization of vehicles up to 85 - 95%. For the same delivery amount, the number of trucks can be reduced, which in turn reduce delivery cost for the company. The same truck can also be assigned to two drivers in the same shift within 8 hours in case a driver falls sick or become unfit to work unexpectedly.
- Reports generated from system with few clicks: In the old days, it takes such a long time to compile a report due to various input sources and inaccurate data. The quality of the final result is also compromised. Thanks to the AI solution, the process takes less time and the accuracy is significantly improved.
- Automatic route optimization: In Southeast Asia, traffic is a nightmare with busy roads and long lines of cars, motorbikes. Digitizing logistics by applying route optimization technology to suggest the route which costs the least is proven to be an effective solution to this problem. Beside road constraints, the AI solution also considers other factors affecting the shipment such as types of vehicles, types of goods, temperature constraints and so on to automatically suggest the route.
b. In the Pickup and Delivery model
- Multi-day delivery: In the PDP model, factors like distance, location, resting time of drivers can make setting up the final route much more confusing. With a route optimization engine, vital factors affecting the pickup process will be processed efficiently.
- Optimization for Full Truckload and Less than Truckload orders: Unlike the old days, the condition and packing list of orders are created by the company and they have to arrange the shipment by hand. Nowadays, with the support of AI logistics platform, orders are automatically assigned to available trucks which satisfy all conditions, whether they are Full Truckload or Less than Truckload orders.
- Resting time allocation for long-haul drivers: Thanks to technology, the company now can manage its fleet closely by overseeing resting time for long-haul drivers. The AI platform can also automatically allocate resting time for drivers, based on the rules set by the company. For example, the company can set up rules for the resting time of drivers. The resting time may start after 8, 16, or 24 hours of driving.
- Fee, vehicle stops management: Fees like toll, fuel can be recorded by the truck drivers so that the management team can keep track closely. The AI platform is also integrated with telematics devices on the trucks to give notifications whenever the trucks stop unexpectedly.
3. The new logistics process assisted by AI software
This 3PL company begin to expand its business rapidly by implementing Abivin vRoute - an effective AI solution that has been trusted by multinational corporations in South East Asia. Generally, the working process after deploying Abivin vRoute includes 3 phases below:
Phase 1: Customers send the delivery orders to the company.
Phase 2: In the company:
- Data admin: After receiving the orders, data administrators are responsible for uploading the orders on Abivin vRoute.
- Fleet team: Right after the orders are uploaded, all the members of the fleet team will see the orders on the system. They click Optimize on Abivin vRoute to create the route plan with the vehicles and roads that are optimized suitable with different constraints.
- Warehouse operation staff: They are in charge of picking products and loading them on the trucks.
- Driver: Finally, drivers receive the optimized route plan on their mobile app, deliver the assigned products, check-in in real-time and bring back the returned products.
Phase 3: Customer will sign on to the mobile app to confirm the accomplished delivery.
Abivin is proud to be a pioneer who provides logistics solution in ASEAN. Our solution Abivin vRoute is being widely used by customers from multinational corporations to small and mid-sized companies.
You can effectively implement Logistics Optimization Platform Abivin vRoute to cut down on logistics costs.
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