The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Operational decision · 2004–2008
Coca-Cola Enterprises routed 10,000 trucks with ORTEC, saving $45m a year.
The world's largest Coke bottler put 300-plus dispatchers on vehicle-routing optimization for about 10,000 trucks, cutting transport cost and miles.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) · ORTEC
the move
Coca-Cola Enterprises is the world's largest bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola products, with a large, complicated delivery network that was planned by hand and subject to many nonstandard constraints.
In 2004 and 2005 CCE implemented ORTEC's vehicle-routing software; today over 300 dispatchers use it daily to plan the routes of approximately 10,000 trucks, managing constraints and making a deliberate, staged transition from prior practice.
The switch delivered an annual cost saving of $45 million and major customer-service improvements, and it became a 2007 Franz Edelman Award finalist and was extended to other Coca-Cola bottling companies and to beer distributors.
why it works
- A 10,000-truck routing problem is beyond manual planning
- Optimization handles nonstandard business constraints
- A staged rollout made adoption stick rather than disruptive
- Measured: $45m in annual transport cost savings
what transfers
Transport cost responds to the algorithm, not the fleet: routing 10,000 trucks with optimization beats manual tweaks and transfers to the bottler's peers.
what came after
CCE's success led Coca-Cola to adopt the same vehicle-routing approach at other bottlers and at beer distributors, and ORTEC and Tilburg University shared the 2007 Edelman finalist recognition for the work.
references
- Coca-Cola Enterprises Optimizes Vehicle Routes for Efficient Product Delivery (abstract)
- Coca-Cola Enterprises Optimizes Vehicle Routes for Efficient Product Delivery
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