World's first day-by-day computer scheduling for Schweppes
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ACONTRACT signed between Schweppes and English Electric Leo Marconi will provide for the complete routeing of the 35-vehicle fleet at Schweppes Sidcup branch on a day-to-day basis early next year. It is believed that this will be the first daily on-line vehicle routeing system by computer anywhere in the world.
This fleet of 35 vehicles serves 13,000 customers in Kent, South London and East Surrey and makes between 500 and 700 calls a day.
The cost to Schweppes for planning and setting up the whole operation, including preparation of master file data, special programming and take-on work is £2,000 with a further £2,500 a year for the running of the system. A pilot scheme carried out last year has satisfied Mr. F. R. L. Wentworth, Schweppes Group distribution director, that the potential saving compared with manual routeing far exceeds the cost of using the computer. Savings can be in the form of a reduction in fleet mileage leading to a reduction in fleet strength and preliminary experiments have shown a saving of 10 per cent in the number of vehicles employed. Actual route planning will be done by the English Electric Leo Marconi bureau in London using a KDF 9 computer. Each day Schweppes is to provide data in the form of delivery note numbers and weight of loads (in cwt.) to be delivered. Then, within one hour of receiving the last data EELM guarantee under the terms of the contract to have completed running the routeing programme and to commence transmission of the result in the form of grouped loads. The master file programme will be run weekly to add new customers, delete old ones and accept any amendments asked for by Schweppes.