Studies have shown that running a tight fleet is the best way to maintain a long-term sustainability strategy in the logistics sector, and green transportation planning and reporting is one of the features found in an upgraded logistics system being shipped by i2 Technologies Inc.
As well as building in the support for green planning and reporting, the latest versions of i2 Transportation Manager, Transportation Planner and Transportation Modeler include systems that will allow for inventory-constrained shipment planning, load building and containerisation, and better fleet asset planning and carrier allocation.
Hal Feuchtwanger, of i2 said, “Each of these enhancements represents an opportunity to drive efficiencies and the key theme is operational integration; through upstream inventory processes as well as optimal fleet and carrier coordination, including factors related to sustainability.”
With companies like DHL focused on reducing its carbon footprint by 30% by 2020, and other logistics businesses like UPS and FedEx having plans to cut CO2 emissions, demand is on the rise for software that aids transportation network optimisation and minimises the number of miles driven/flown.
In a separate but related announcement, SAP AG said yesterday that it would be acquiring niche supply-chain software maker SAF Simulation, Analysis and Forecasting AG, for the forecasting and replenishment programmes it sells to the retail and wholesale industries.
The Swiss company, which opened its doors in 1996 has around 100 on its payroll, who develop and sell three related supply chain planning products. These are SAF SuperStore and SAF SuperWarehouse for automated goods replenishment in the retail sector, and SAF SuperForecast which is used for cross industry forecast-based planning.
