Fuchs makes 'best investment' in the Optrak vehicle routing package

Fuchs Lubricants (UK) PLC is live on the latest version of Optrak. Richard Halhead, Fuchs' Managing Director said, "We carried out a detailed evaluation and Optrak had the greatest experience in solving the complicated problems that we face. In addition to reducing the time spent planning by over 85%, we have improved all of our KPIs. Fuchs has also achieved major efficiencies in vehicle preparation and compartment washing."

Specific benefits have been benchmarked:

• Tanker capacity utilisation has increased by 6%.
• The number of "no actions" has gone up by 4%. This is where Optrak allocates an order to a specific tanker/compartment so that the grade can be pumped into the compartment with no pre-preparation.
• Drain only actions have risen by 7%.
• Drain and flush actions are down by over 4%.
• Costly actions such as where the compartment needs to be washed out, cleaned and dried are down by 13%.

Darren Bourne, Fuchs Distribution Manager said, "The lubricants market poses special challenges for a vehicle routing system. Within 3 months of installation we have been able to significantly reduce the time between when an order is placed and delivered. We are now achieving our best delivery performance ever for the company and its customers."

The entire route and load planning process has now been automated using Optrak. It interfaces with SAP and orders are downloaded directly to Optrak. The scheduler uses Optrak to build the most efficient set of routes that meet customer service requirements. Optrak automatically uses the available drivers and vehicles in the most efficient way and maintains checks on the grades and pumping order thus eliminating any possibly of cross grade contamination.

The main objective for Fuchs was to improve customer service levels and reduce the delivery cost measured in pence per litre (PPL). "We have reduced our costs including PPL by more than we originally envisaged. This is down to the quality of the routes that Optrak calculates and the greater efficiencies that we have introduced. We have also managed to build on our successful 'On Time' delivery performance targets and we are now at the highest level since the introduction of Optrak," said Mr. Bourne.

Mr. Halhead concludes, "Fuchs is committed to continually developing and evolving our logistics capability. Without doubt the Optrak project has been one of the best investments we have made. We have seen a definite payback in short timescales."