Software · Route optimisation and dispatch

OptaRoute

Fewer kilometres, more jobs per day. OptaRoute sorts the day of every field team by time, distance and priority, and replans when the day changes.

+41%revenue versus “nearest vehicle”

−37%distance versus routes planned by hand

+30%on average, versus the other approaches

Results from our same-day pickup and delivery simulation model. Deliveries, technical services, maintenance or passenger transport: the problem is the same.

01 / Live

Watch a route untangle.

First, the greedy method: always go to the nearest stop. It is fast, but it leaves crossings and useless detours. Then the optimiser reverses and swaps segments thousands of times per second until the route is clean. Add a new job and watch the route re-optimise without starting over.

Loading the map…

Illustrative data: real OpenStreetMap addresses in Porto, Matosinhos and Vila Nova de Gaia; road distances calculated with OSRM. Click the map to add a job at that point, or remove a job from the list to simulate a cancellation.

02 / How it works

From the first draft to the best route.

Greedy

Always goes to the nearest stop. It is calculated in an instant, but it creates crossings and long returns.

2-opt

When two segments cross, it reverses the path between them. Every crossing removed is distance saved.

Simulated annealing

At first it accepts some worse swaps to escape dead ends. As it cools down, it accepts only improvements.

Real time

A new job or a cancellation goes into the current route, which keeps improving. Nothing starts from zero.

03 / Results

Four ways to dispatch a fleet.

Our same-day pickup and delivery simulation model has 7 locations, 5 vehicles that carry 4 parcels each and 320 requests that appear during the day, at €50 each. The maximum possible is €16,000. We ran each method three times.

Nearest vehicleEach request goes to the nearest free vehicle, one at a time.€10,733
Along the wayAlso considers vehicles that are already on their way, but looks only at their current direction.€11,500
Nearest, with groupingEach vehicle collects several parcels at the same place and delivers them by proximity.€13,300
Route optimisation · OptaRouteRe-optimises the whole fleet every time new information comes in.€15,167

04 / Integration

Connects to the systems you already use.

OptaRoute receives the work orders and reads customers and items from the ERP and the position of each vehicle. It returns the day’s schedule to each technician, and sends it again when the plan changes.

InputFacility services platformWork orders, priorities and time windows.
ContextERPCustomers, addresses, items and invoicing.
LiveVehicle trackingPosition of each vehicle in real time.
OutputOptaRouteRoute and schedule of each technician, replanned when the day changes.

05 / Same technology, another floor

Picking in large warehouses.

We use the same route optimisation technology for picking in large warehouses. Each picker carries three totes, one per order, and picks all three in a single tour of the aisles, instead of making one trip per order.

—Metres per line picked

—Lines per hour, per picker

—Distance saved versus one order at a time

Illustrative simulation: 6 pickers, 3 totes each, 14 aisles. The distance of each tour is calculated using the cross-aisles.

Do you have a fleet or a warehouse to optimise?

Tell us how you plan your teams’ day today. We will show you how much you can save, with your own data.