MapMechanics includes more features in latest version of scheduling system.
MapMechanics’ TruckStops VRS, one of the UK’s leading vehicle routing and scheduling systems, is now more intuitive in the way it displays routes on screen maps, more convenient to use for multi-solution modelling, more precise in the way it finds call points and more attractively priced. A more flexible training programme has also been introduced.
TruckStops, one of the world’s best-established routing and scheduling optimisation systems, has been supplied in Britain by MapMechanics for nearly twenty years, and following a recent change in distribution arrangements, is now delivered to UK users in a version that reflects their specific requirements even more closely than before.
Among its key advances, TruckStops VRS version 10 includes new “line of route” functionality, which enables users to choose all or any part of the route and display the actual roads and streets along which the vehicle has been routed. This feature supplements the traditional “crow-fly” view.
Previously offered as an add-on, enhanced postcode geocoding is now included in every UK copy of TruckStops. The new UK postcode file can position each call point to within 1 metre of the centre of its postcode, and includes both current and historic postcodes.
The more precise postcode file means that stops are much more likely to be placed on the correct side of the street, and so is particularly helpful for those undertaking doorstep collections and deliveries.
TruckStops Batch is another function that is newly available to all users. This enables TruckStops to perform a series of optimisation “runs” without user intervention. Now available to all users, this functionality is also advantageous to strategic users, who can set TruckStops to run a batch of fixed-route revisions for different depots or different scenarios – using a range of fleet configurations, for example.
Simplified pricing has been applied by MapMechanics across the TruckStops range. Users now no longer need to choose between enterprise or individual desktop licensing terms, or worry about whether batch mode is included. A single, comprehensive version takes account of all these possible requirements.
Finally, a more flexible arrangement for TruckStops training has been introduced. Training has always been one of MapMechanics’ strongest points, and now the company has launched a system that combines the best of hands-on person-to-person training with online “webinar”-style training.
The new version 10 of TruckStops VRS will be launched in a webinar hosted by MapMechanics on 14 September at 2pm BST. Both existing and potential TruckStops users are warmly invited to attend the session, which is scheduled to run for between 15 and 20 minutes. For details, please see www.mapmechanics.com/events.
TruckStops is used widely both for fixed-route planning, where delivery runs are the same from week to week, and for ad hoc daily scheduling – for instance, on parcels or home delivery work, where orders and call points vary constantly. It is also used for strategic modelling of possible delivery patterns; for fleet configurations; and to help determine the shape of proposed delivery networks.
MapMechanics
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