Gist increase fleet utilisation and reduce transportation costs and carbon footprint using Magenta’s Dynamic Scheduling System
London, May 2010 – Gist (www.gistworld.com), one of the UK’s largest supply chain logistics specialists has used Magenta Technology’s order management and real time scheduling software for a year now to allocate orders to routes and optimise its primary network operation. Since the introduction of the new system, more than 80% of all orders transported between 350+ locations for Gist’s large store operations are scheduled automatically, considerably improving fleet utilisation and customer service levels, and reducing the workload on the existing operational team.
Gist’s main aim was to introduce a centralised ‘control tower’ solution to automate routine manual decisions and provide a collaboration platform from which information could be shared across the supply chain with its customers, suppliers and depot network, The introduction of Magenta’s real-time scheduling system ensured market leading optimisation, visibility and control across the Gist supporting an On Time to Depot KPI of 85% against a 15 minute window. Tracking hundreds of KPIs, Magenta’s solution drastically improved the transparency of the live, multi-nodal transport network, making sure that all orders are accounted for and delivered on time. The new tool has enabled Gist to build more efficient journey patterns to ensure reduced mileage, increased utilisation of the existing fleet of own vehicles and more efficient use of subcontractors – all resulting in considerable savings on operational costs. The system also allowed a reduction in the amount of manual planning and streamlined the process of Gist’s depot schedule creation – embracing the complexity of crossdocking, compatibility constraints of goods, vehicles and locations and trailer changeovers.
Mike Flynn, Business Solutions Director for Gist, said “Using Magenta’s scheduling solution we are bringing our customers even better levels of service and efficiency. The dynamics of our business environment result in very complex scheduling requirements and Magenta was the only company we found in the market place that could “solve the unsolvable”. The solution gives us a clear competitive advantage in more efficient scheduling and better utilisation of our own and subcontractor’s vehicles through a multi nodal network enabling us to grow the business and increase our market share without a significant increase in assets or team indeed. Our objective now is to achieve 95% of orders to be scheduled automatically. We do look forward to using Magenta’s advanced technologies to help us realise the full potential of our business in the coming years.”
Richard Puddephatt, COO of Magenta Technology, added “The experience of working with Gist on this project and the project’s results were extremely exciting. We are very proud that we had this opportunity to assist this innovative company in their ambitious business plans. Magenta looks forwards to building this partnership and working with Gist to take the benefits already seen even further in 2010.”
About Magenta Technology
Mgenta Technology was founded in 1999. It specialises in developing multi-agent technology able to solve complex problems. The company used market forcesand micro-economics instead of mathematicaland rule-based algorithms in order to develop practical solution, which could help in real life. This approach was very powerful and then was used to solve problems in different sectors.
In 2006 the company started to deliver dynamic scheduling solutions to a number of industries, getting quite a number of blue-chip clients. Magenta’s Routing and Scheduling Software allows the customers to enjoy all the benefits of efficient utilisation and deliver high-level customer service at a lower cost.The customers get competitive advantage and higher margins, which help them manage their business in a rapidly changing world.
Due to the combination of complex project work and easy implementation of products on SaaS model, Magenta maximises its potential.
Magenta is a privately held company headquartered in London with operations in Russia, aimed to create efficient dynamic scheduling solutions. Over 100 man-years of development have been spent on establishing world leadership in this niche. Magenta has been consistently backed by the same Venture Capitalists for the past 8 years and forms part of the Eurovestech (EVT) portfolio of companies (www.eurovestech.co.uk).
About Gist
Gist combines leading edge experience and expertise to transform supply chains. With industry-specific understanding, know-how and excellence, Gist’s solutions bring end-to-end visibility and implementation, from concept to delivery.
Gist’s 5,000 employees operate out of 35 locations, providing a full range of intellectual and asset-based business offerings in the UK and continental Europe.
Gist is the largest importer of flowers into the UK and is the 6th largest contracts logistics company in the country. Gist’s customers (including British Airways, Marks & Spencer, Carlsberg UK, and Dutch Flower Group) operate in a wide range of commercial and industrial sectors, including grocery, electronics and gas.
As part of The Linde Group, with around 50,000 employees working in 100 countries worldwide, Gist also benefits from Linde’s global capability, synergy and scale.