African Explosives Limited (AEL)
A key component of the Unitrans distribution contract at AEL (African Explosives Limited - a wholly owned subsidiary of AECI Limited) is OPSI's implementation of FLO at Modderfontein late in 2003.
FLO is used to schedule the distribution of explosives and accessories, to mines and other customers, from distribution points at Mankwe, Zommerveldt, Modderfontein and Klerksdorp. All scheduling is performed centrally at the Modderfontein site for a fleet of approximately 50 vehicles.
SLA Report
A key aspect of the implementation is the customized SLA (Service Level Agreement) report that is generated daily to indicate service levels for each customer. The report analyses the tracking data to identify which scheduled drops occurred outside the agreed delivery window. Milk runs, typically to a number of shafts on the same mine, are also taken into account, with compliance being measured for the first shaft arrival only.
Nico Richter, AEL Contract manger for Unitrans, says “FLO … can simulate even a very complex operation… I will recommend it to any company”.
Customized Access Roads
Since most of AEL's customers are mines in remote areas, a number of access roads were added to the FLO network to ensure accurate predicted travel times and routes.
Dangerous Goods
Due to the dangerous nature of the goods being transported, the routes followed by the vehicles must obey the following constraints:
1. No-go areas. A number of city, town and urban areas as well as civil structures (e.g. dam walls) were removed from FLO's road network to ensure that vehicles are not routed through these restricted zones.
2. Product-product constraint. Accessories (including detonators) may not be transported on the same vehicle as explosives. This regulation is enforced by FLO's scheduling engine.
