Aptean Routing & Scheduling Case Study: Tesco

Tesco, one of the world’s leading international retailers, and Aptean, a leading provider of delivery route optimization solutions, are working together to ensure optimum transportation efficiency for the Tesco distribution fleet. Aptean’s sophisticated planning solutions have helped make significant savings both in terms of mileage and carbon emissions, supporting Tesco’s sustainable distribution strategy. Tesco’s delivery fleet accounts for almost a sixth of its total carbon footprint and over the next five years the company is working to reduce the CO2 created per case of goods delivered by 50%, demonstrating its commitment to sustainability.

The Challenge

Tesco believes in sustainable growth – it is responsible, it is what their customers want, and it makes good business sense. But with a growing number of deliveries and an ambitious sustainability target to achieve, Tesco faced mounting pressures.

• Processing over 4,000 daily deliveries

• 700+ stores throughout the UK and Ireland

• Fleet of 1400 trucks

• 26 distribution centers

• Increasing CO2 targets driven by corporate strategy

The Solution

As part of its sustainable distribution strategy, Tesco looked to adopt a strategic planning solution that would not only help to optimize transportation operations but that could also support their endeavor to achieve its corporate sustainability goals. The solution they invested in needed to:

• Provide strategic analysis capabilities for their corporate sustainable distribution strategy

• Optimize transportation schedules

• Balance warehouse capacity and daily throughput limits from the distribution center

• Provide a sophisticated planning resource to help reduce food miles and CO2 emissions

The Result

The project has enabled Tesco to make some significant savings and given them the resource needed to repeat the exercise on an ongoing basis as it seeks to achieve its ambitious carbon reduction targets. By reviewing the allocation of stores to distribution center (DC), balancing warehouse capacities and daily throughput limits, then optimizing the detailed transportation schedules, Aptean and Tesco have worked together to reduce the overall food miles and associated carbon emissions.

• 12% improvement in empty running

• 150,000 miles saved each week

• Improved store allocation

• Increased backhauling

• Improved fleet utilization

• Thousands of tons of CO2 saved each year

“We believe in sustainable growth – it is responsible, it is what our customers want, and it makes good business sense. We have used Aptean Routing & Scheduling Paragon Edition for more than a decade for routing and scheduling optimization throughout our business, and the longevity of this relationship is a real testament to Aptean as a reliable solution and the professionalism of the people behind it. Using Aptean Routing & Scheduling for the strategic analysis of our transportation operations is playing an important role in Tesco’s sustainable distribution strategy – a key initiative for us as an organization.”

Alex Laffey, Transportation Operations Director, Tesco