Johannesburg, 28 Sep 2009
Opsi, a provider of logistics software, today announced that Parmalat, one of the major players worldwide in the production and distribution of milk products, has selected Opsi's PLATO software to optimise its milk collection planning in South Africa.
The agreement was finalised and the project awarded to Opsi after a successful pilot study and specification workshop. The ongoing daily four-phase project embraces Opsi's PLATO software, which is primarily utilised for planning milk collections from the nearly 400 dairies of Parmalat to its various plants, using more than 80 vehicles.
During the first phase of the project, historical data is gathered and a prediction study of appropriate quantities to collect from the dairies is performed. In the second phase, Parmalat's extensive dairy product line is dynamically allocated to appropriate plants based on demand, location and milk type (export milk, Jersey milk, etc).
PLATO handles the planning and scheduling during the third phase of the project, during which Parmalat also takes advantage of PLATO's powerful Track and Trace module. PLATO handles multiple resource types, including vehicles with trailers and drawbars, as well as the planning of these vehicles while taking into consideration:
* Vehicle restrictions (not all farms can handle all vehicle types);
* Loading bays (there are multiple tanks at the dairies);
* Movement between plants (certain plants prepare milk for other plants to use);
* Delivery windows at dairies and plants;
* Maintenance scheduling for appropriate servicing of vehicles;
* Ad hoc loads of cream; and
* Return loads with other products from Johannesburg back to the coast.
In the final phase of the project, PLATO handles the staff planning for Parmalat, which includes such activities as the scheduling of duty breaks, sleep-outs and overtime balancing.
“We are delighted that Parmalat South Africa has chosen PLATO to help streamline its primary distribution operations,” commented David Lubinsky, Managing Director of Opsi. “This project further extends our footprint within the dairy distribution sector such that we now include all of South Africa's major dairy companies among our client list.”
The PLATO (Planning Logistics and Transport Optimiser) suite of next-generation logistics software is Opsi's enterprise solution for transport planning. It is a central management system that makes the transportation process more efficient and cost-effective. PLATO manages and enables the visualisation of the entire transportation process from order inception to financial administration and complements existing order-management, forecasting, warehouse-management and financial-administration systems. Regardless of the business process, PLATO is robust enough to create accurate and optimal planning models and flexible enough to allow for estimations and re-optimisations during execution. This versatility translates to ease-of-use for the planning process that is powered by a sophisticated engine that seamlessly handles complex logistics issues.
For further information, please contact David Lubinsky: telephone 011 880 7951, fax 011 880 2424, e-mail david@opsi.co.za
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