Routing and scheduling software helps food logistics businesses create more accurate and feasible routes
Paragon announces the company has been selected for a FL100+ Award, Food Logistics magazine’s annual list of the leading 100-plus software and technology providers to the food and beverage industry. This is the third consecutive year that Paragon’s routing and scheduling software has appeared on Food Logistics’ prestigious list. Paragon was chosen for helping food and beverage companies create accurate routes based on real-life parameters resulting in improved service reliability that gets food and beverage products on store shelves on time.
“Food and beverage distributors need guaranteed delivery times to stores to ensure products are as fresh as possible, which means transportation planners must incorporate all the variables associated with deliveries for time and cost-sensitive routes,” said William Salter, CEO, Paragon Software Systems. “Paragon’s routing and scheduling software helps food and beverage businesses reduce planning time, cut empty running, lower mileage and optimize routes to meet strict delivery times and requirements.”
“The software and technology sector continues to generate new and exciting opportunities for growers, food manufacturers, grocery retailers and the many logistics providers that support them,” notes Lara L. Sowinski, editorial director at Food Logistics. “Today’s cloud-based solutions and mobile connectivity are helping create tools that are more flexible, affordable and responsive, making software and technology even more valuable to those in the global food supply chain.”
Paragon’s routing and scheduling solutions enable users to plan for a range of constraints at an individual customer (store) level, such as only having the ability to deliver between 6AM and 7AM. The route planning software then produces routes that adhere to these constraints for each and every store however many drops the driver has on his plan. When it comes to arriving on time, the system can factor in variables like average road speed data or roads that have height, weight, length or width restrictions which could all contribute to making the driver late for his delivery.
Paragon’s route planning software holds details of customer addresses, delivery quantities, time windows, vehicle sizes, driver shift details, and other transportation parameters. Using a highly developed algorithm designed specifically for optimizing road-based transportation operations, Paragon’s software uses digital mapping to calculate the most effective delivery and collection sequences with accurate journey times, allocating loads to appropriate vehicles and drivers accordingly. This ensures that the schedules are geographically feasible to meet promised arrival time windows, while improving fleet utilization and productivity through efficient routes with minimal total mileage incurred and empty running reduced.
The FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list serves as a resource guide of software and technology providers whose products and services are critical for companies in the global food and beverage supply chain. Companies on this year’s 2016 FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list will be profiled in the November/December 2016 issue of Food Logistics, as well as online at www.foodlogistics.com.
