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The location of Bakker Logistics

in Zeewolde gives the

appearance of warehousing

being the core task of this

logistics service provider. Large

buildings dominate the

property. Yet Dirk-Jan de Ruiter

and Frank Smith refute that this

is the primary focus. Both are

involved in the APS project, De

Ruiter as strategy manager and

Smith as project manager.

“Transport continues to be

extremely important. We take

care of 95 percent of all

transport with a fleet of around

650 vehicles.” According to De

Ruiter and Smith, the two most

important advantages of fleet

ownership and management are

greater control and less pressure

on the available capacity of

vehicles. The investment in APS

became a necessity due to

increasing fragmentation in

terms of IT at the company. This

resulted in insufficient

monitoring of transport

activities. “Obviously, we are

fully aware that we operate in a

market with high price pressure.

Our systems and working

method were effective, all things

considered, but insufficiently

standardized. The time had

come to look ahead, to invest in

a good system. Naturally, we want to outperform the

competition - preferably with as

short lead times as possible at

favorable prices,” says De Ruiter.

TakeoversBakker Logistics recently

acquired Gebr. Huybregts

(February 2012) and Ploeger

Tilburg (November 2012). In

May 2013, the company decided

to participate in European Food

Transport and, no less than a

year later, took over this Belgian

company. As a result of these

acquisitions, there were four

different planning systems in

use, in the form of a TMS at

three locations. This logistics

service provider aims to make

the planning process more

standardized. The software has

been in operation at Bakker

Logistics for several months

now. The further roll-out is

scheduled to take place in

phases. The full name of the

software is ORTEC Routing and

Dispatch (ORTEC RD).

Umbrella system According to De Ruiter and

Smith, an APS was chosen due

to the complexity and scope of

transport planning andscheduling. “We deliberately

chose an ‘umbrella system’ to

replace the planning tools at the

various locations. This APS will

enable us to make considerable

strides in terms of planning,

tracing and monitoring the

progress of shipments being

transported. We schedule

hundreds of routes daily in

Zeewolde alone.

We want to be able to inform

customers quickly about when

we expect to arrive. A standard

TMS was insufficient for this.”

The predecessor to the APS at

Bakker Logistics was PTV

Intertour.

Open heart surgeryThe roll-out of the APS is taking

place in steps and is partly

completed. Operations at the

various locations must not be

disrupted, making the

replacement of software for

planning and following up on

transport equivalent to open

heart surgery. “An important

reason for the gradual

implementation is also that ORD

can only work effectively with

pure data.

To be honest, it turned out to be

quite a challenge to provide the

data at the desired level,” explains

Smith. Both managers were

forced to face facts. He continues,

“Basic data combined with the

knowledge of our planners was

sufficient for many years, but

unacceptable for the future. The

complexity of the data will only

increase and what happens when

a planner gets sick?” The ultimate

solution for ensuring pure data

was found in constructing a new

database, linked to a new order

management system.

This order management system

was purchased from MP Objects

and the first implementation

phase will take place in early

2017. In order to take advantage

of all the possibilities of the APS

in the meantime,

Bakker Logistics is currently in the process of implementing an advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) from Ortec. This system will enable the company to coordinate back office data and standardize planning activities as much as possible.

PRACTICES by Ferdi den Bakker

BAKKER LOGISTICS INTRODUCES ADVANCED TRANSPORT IT

“The complexity of the data will only increase”

Better data and a new IT system should lead to efficiency gains of between 5 and 8 percent. “The expected gains are primarily the result of optimizing existing networks and comparing them to current trips”

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a number of changes have been

made within the IT landscape.

These are aimed at purifying the

source data and achieving the

desired data level for ORD. Smith

explains, “Once the order

management system has gone

live, we plan to simplify this. We

will know exactly what kind of

information we have on each

customer and can then use that

information to improve our

service.”

From four planning systems to oneThe order of ORTEC RD

implementation has been

decided. The first phase of the

roll-out is the transport activities

in Zeewolde. The refrigerated,

conditioned and ambient

activities switched to ORTEC RD

in May. This roll-out is now also

scheduled for Tilburg, Willebroek

and Bakker Logistics’

international activities. Once

implementation is complete, the

number of planning systems will

be reduced to one. Working with

better structured data and using

a more sophisticated routing tool

will lead to efficiency gains of

between 5 and 8 percent, claims

De Ruiter. “The expected gains

are primarily the result of

optimizing existing networks and

comparing them to current trips.”

In these calculations, the

software also considers which

distribution centre has which

service area, the delivery time

windows and the loading or

unloading criteria that apply to

each shipment. “These

considerations are currently

based on past experiences.” De

Ruiter and Smith also expect

benefits in the form of time

savings thanks to a smarter

follow-up to trips and more

efficient response to exceptions.

De Ruiter adds, “We aim to

automate 80 percent of

schedules. Provided the data is

pure, Ortec can have a schedule

ready in twenty minutes and

our planners can then

manually check the schedule

and devote their efforts to the

exceptions.”

Dedicated transport networkOnce the roll-out of the

sophisticated planning tool is

complete, the logistics service

provider will have more time

and energy to focus on the

further growth of the company.

A dedicated transport network

has already been implemented

for Coop Supermarkets

(Deventer/Gieten) and Arla

(Nijkerk). This collaboration

has proven to be fruitful. De

Ruiter adds, “These are

strategic partnerships in which

working together more closely

enables you to work more

smartly and efficiently. We

definitely see a future in this.”

With the current large-scale IT

adaptations, Bakker Logistics is

preparing for the future on both

the organizational and planning

levels. According to De Ruiter

and Smith, further growth is only

possible if the internal

organizational processes are in

working order and standardized.

“Our processes are complex

enough. But we are absolutely

moving in the right direction.

The positive effects of these

investments are already visible

and we are convinced that the

efficiency gains will be even

greater than the savings we

achieve by removing the servers

and simplifying the IT

landscape.”

TRANSPORT / AUTOMATISERING

Dirk-Jan de Ruiter (l) and Frank Smith: “Our systems and working method were effective, all things considered, but insufficiently standardized.

The time had come to look ahead. We want to outperform the competition.”