Arctic Glacier, a Philadelphia-based provider of ice products and services, recently enhanced its distribution efficiency, fleet performance, and customer experience with Descartes System Group’s route planning, which optimized its network of over 100 facilities and 1,000 vehicles that serve 75,000 customer locations in North America.
“To minimize our operating costs, we need to reset our network multiple times annually because of large demand fluctuations and our aggressive, acquisition-driven growth strategy,” Elizabeth DiFazio, Arctic Glacier director of routing and order scheduling, said in a news release. “The Descartes solution allows us to quickly execute network reroutes, which helps us capture fuel, labor, and equipment savings, cost-effectively fold acquisitions into our network, and increase delivery productivity in the peak summer season.
“Descartes’ advanced optimization is very efficient and, as a result, we now get more reroutes completed with less planning resources.”
Part of its routing, mobile, and telematics portfolio, Descartes’ strategic route planning solution is designed to improve distribution networks by determining the best combination of resources, including distribution centers, fleet size, and drivers, to meet customer service and financial targets while considering service policies and operational practices, Descartes said. With strategic route planning, fleet operators can understand and optimize delivery and customer service policy changes, acquisition consolidation strategies, introduction of new vehicle types, and other distribution network business decisions before executing them.
The solution’s single-pass optimization technology streamlines the route planning process to produce faster and better results than conventional sales and territory planning solutions.
“We’re pleased to help Arctic Glacier optimally flex its distribution network to address large demand swings and incorporate acquisitions,” said James Wee, Descartes general manager for routing, mobile, and telematics. “Our advanced strategic route planning solution allows distribution companies to quickly execute network reroutes while producing superior results to legacy planning solutions.
“Descartes’ strategic route planning solution is a powerful tool for distributors given the accelerating pace of change that distribution businesses are experiencing.”
