Greenplan, the intelligent algorithm for route calculation and route planning, has been awarded the coveted "Best Product LogiMAT 2023" prize in the "Software, Communication & IT" category at the opening ceremony of LogiMAT 2023. As the latest solution within the EPG ONE Supply Chain Execution Suite from EPG (Ehrhardt Partner Group), Greenplan impresses with its performance and innovative power in the area of route calculation and route planning. Greenplan helps companies from a wide range of industries meet typical challenges of distribution logistics, such as high costs, missed time windows and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Among other things, the algorithm works according to the concept of overlapping districts – a unique combination of fixed delivery areas and fully dynamic planning. Compared to traditional route calculation solutions, Greenplan also includes time-of-day-dependent traffic flow speeds in the calculation, so that compliance with agreed delivery times (ETA) increases to over 97%.

With Greenplan, companies are already realizing sustainable and efficient route and tour planning. Customers are saving kilometers, vehicles and tours using the intelligent algorithm and have achieved efficiency gains of up to 20% compared to their previous route planning solution. Following the dynamic planning model, the algorithm takes into account the flow speeds of traffic at different times of the day, including the actual conditions in the delivery area. If these factors are not considered, this often leads to poor route planning - and as a result, frustrated drivers waste valuable time in traffic jams or parcels are either delivered too late or not at all. The Greenplan algorithm considers historical data on traffic density, time-of-day traffic flow speeds and supplementary factors such as vehicle size for individual route sections. This mapping of actual journey times enables precise time statements on arrival times and time windows and thus significantly increases the reliability of the planning. On average, customers report adherence to the agreed delivery time (ETA) of over 97%.

Unique concept: route planning with overlapping districts

In addition to the possibility of planning routes fully dynamically, Greenplan offers another unique concept: the algorithm uses planning with overlapping districts - the optimal combination of planning in fixed delivery districts and fully dynamic planning. This concept dissolves the fixed routes that arise, for example, from fixed delivery districts (e.g. postcode areas). This means that the delivery areas overlap at their borders by a few kilometers. This means that drivers can also drive to addresses that actually belong to the delivery area of another employee, if this is more efficient for the tour as a whole. The decisive advantage: according to the concept, more than 80% of the known addresses are still approached, which significantly reduces handling times. Compared to planning with fixed delivery areas, the delivery vehicles are optimally utilised through dynamisation at the peripheral areas and the duration of the tours is reduced. As a result, this saves costs and vehicles - and leads to fewer CO2 emissions as well as less stress for the drivers.

"Receiving the ‘Best Product LogiMAT 2023’ award is further proof of the enormous performance of our routing algorithm," says Florian Merget, Managing Director of Greenplan. "Route planning is a complex task with many variables. The more factors there are to consider, the more difficult it becomes. With Greenplan, we have developed a solution that meets this challenge."