Why Optrak?

Optrak4 combines the specific dimension/element aspects of every order, as well as intermediate containers, with a detailed mapping of customer vehicles. This allows the optimiser to fill the space and arrange goods on the vehicle to load the vehicle for maximum capacity.

The vehicle load requirements are then mapped to a layout that corresponds to the trip sequence – as an integrated part of the optimisation process. This ensures that at each customer site, orders are accessible, whether they are being loaded or unloaded, speeding up time at client site.

As a result, customers get greater vehicle utility and virtually eliminate the need for safety margins – leading to greater volume utilisation across the whole fleet.

Optrak4’s integrated loading modules are customised to the specific requirements of your business; tailored both down to the vehicle types and capacity within your fleet and the nature of the products you are delivering.

Existing specialisations include:

• Bulk loading for fuel oil, lubricants or chemicals.
• Multi-temperature vehicles for food and drink distribution
• 3D load modelling for large/’ugly’ item transportation
• Pipes and other cylinders.
• Packing to roll-cages and pallets, including floor-space optimisation of different shaped containers.

In Optrak4 you can set priorities on individual orders to ensure you meet delivery times on specific customers, letting you provide a higher level of guarantees to key/vulnerable customers. Priorities can be set automatically on the basis of customer characteristics, or set manually on the day.

Optrak4 also takes into account the due date of your orders. Must-go orders are prioritised but you can also take into account close-by orders with longer lead-times. If you are hard-pressed to deliver all due orders then some can be given a lower priority – but if you have the time and capacity you can make an “early” delivery to save revisiting the area one or two days later. This not only gives greater routing efficiency but also allows you to reduce overall lead time for most orders without compromising high priority deliveries.

With Optrak4 you can build in the different carrier rates and factor these into your operational optimisation to determine the most cost efficient options for your needs. The optimiser takes carrier rates into account – routing orders on your trips where you can do them more cost-effectively, or leaving them if the carrier rate is competitive.

To give you full control you can manually assign the orders to the chosen carrier and upload the results back to your order processing system or WMS so that they can be picked early and put aside for carrier collection.

In Optrak4 you can plan your outbase deliveries as if for a stocked depot by trunking your orders. Optrak4 can generate one or more trunking orders to transfer the goods from the central warehouse to the outbase for onward delivery. Trunking orders are linked to their component orders – so if those change or are cancelled the trunking order is automatically updated.

The trunking orders can then be routed – either as an outbound order from the warehouse or a collection order from the outbase.

If you are using an Optrak4 integrated loading module, the trunking order can be configured to implement similar rules to your normal deliveries – allowing goods for particular customers or sites to be kept together on pallets or roll-cages, to eliminate re-packing. The containers are then placed on the trunking vehicle grouped according to final trip and delivery sequence, to facilitate transfer.