Safeway will save millions of pounds in distribution costs with a nationwide scheduling system due to launch in seven weeks’ time, according to supply director Mark Aylwin.
The new computerised scheduling system, which integrates existing mapping and ordering packages, would “dramatically” reduce empty running of delivery vehicles.
Safeway would be the first supermarket to join up its systems in this way nationwide, he said: “Lorries will be able to go from depot to supplier to store to supplier to store, without returning to depot. The vehicle will be full all the way.”
Trials of the integrated transport system from the Northampton depot have proved very successful, he said.
The new software will use data from Safeway’s central Paragon system, which takes store orders and creates pallets and assigns them to vehicles, taking into account what supplier pick ups and deliveries are scheduled for the day.
It will feed into global satellite positioning technology, which guides delivery drivers and warns stores when the delivery is 20 minutes away.
Routing technology will track every trailer to ensure peak efficiency on distribution.
The system would cut the amount of kilometres a lorry travels, and allow Safeway to further reduce its fleet of lorries, said Aylwin. It has already reduced its tractor fleet 7% to 723, and its trailer fleet 10% to 1,460 in the last year, and cut kilometres travelled back 4%.
Aylwin said: “These projects give us an immediate benefit and so they are worth investing in, even with Safeway in the situation it is in at the moment. A buyer is also likely to value them.”
The new computerised scheduling system, which integrates existing mapping and ordering packages, would “dramatically” reduce empty running of delivery vehicles.
Safeway would be the first supermarket to join up its systems in this way nationwide, he said: “Lorries will be able to go from depot to supplier to store to supplier to store, without returning to depot. The vehicle will be full all the way.”
Trials of the integrated transport system from the Northampton depot have proved very successful, he said.
The new software will use data from Safeway’s central Paragon system, which takes store orders and creates pallets and assigns them to vehicles, taking into account what supplier pick ups and deliveries are scheduled for the day.
It will feed into global satellite positioning technology, which guides delivery drivers and warns stores when the delivery is 20 minutes away.
Routing technology will track every trailer to ensure peak efficiency on distribution.
The system would cut the amount of kilometres a lorry travels, and allow Safeway to further reduce its fleet of lorries, said Aylwin. It has already reduced its tractor fleet 7% to 723, and its trailer fleet 10% to 1,460 in the last year, and cut kilometres travelled back 4%.
Aylwin said: “These projects give us an immediate benefit and so they are worth investing in, even with Safeway in the situation it is in at the moment. A buyer is also likely to value them.”
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