New Solutions for Vehicle Routing and Scheduling

21 February 2008, 2:12pm

Karlsruhe/Germany, February 21, 2008. PTV AG will be presenting new versions of its vehicle routing and scheduling software for depot-
related break-bulk traffic and full and part load transport. Thanks to a new planning engine it is now possible to handle complex processes with PTV Intertour, which has been a major problem for many vehicle routing and scheduling systems. There are also new features for multimodal planning in the long-distance transport sector. PTV Intertour/Dispatch now considers alternative transport modes during
planning.

The new version of PTV Intertour 5.9 now solves extremely difficult planning processes, such as narrow delivery time slots, vehicles at different locations at the beginning of the vehicle scheduling process or open route structures. The new planning engine MEFISTO (Meta Heuristic Framework for Optimization), which was developed in close cooperation with the University of Karlsruhe, allows additional
optimisation methods for specific planning tasks to be integrated into the process.

PTV Intertour 5.9 is the world's first commercial vehicle routing and scheduling system which uses the state-of-the-art granular tabu search method for post-optimisation. This methods helps planners optimise the route schedule, which is generated with the help of PTV Intertour's fast standard scheduling system. The planner can individually control additional optimisation runs and select the improved planning result.

The current planning status, the optimisation effect and the corresponding trip costs are displayed on the screen during the entire post-optimisation process. The planner can therefore see the impacts of each optimisation run on the costs and easily identify the best scheduling option. This helps dispatchers to make the right choices and decisions.

Additionally, the software includes specific city logistics functions. They assist dispatchers in improving the vehicle's capacity utilisation for the delivery of goods in city centres, despite narrow time slots and vehicle type restrictions.

A new view of the vehicle assignment graphics allows the user to clearly display the trip time graph. Icons and bars visualise all events during the trip (e.g. service hours, driving times, breaks and rest periods, loading/unloading and turning times) on a time graph. Tooltips provide the user with further details about the events, if required.

PTV Intertour/Dispatch is especially designed for continuous assignment planning in long-distance transport. New functions allow the dispatcher to reduce the proportion of empty runs between trips in multi-modal transport. Alternative transport modes, such as rail or inland waterways, are also taken into account during planning. The software supports flexible vehicle and route scheduling with any
number of loading and unloading points.

www.ptv.de

Geo: International