OPSI Systems Announces Major New Release of FLO
Johannesburg, South Arica, June 26, 2006:
OPSI Systems today announced the long-awaited next major release of its Fleet Logistics Optimizer (FLO) software. The latest version of FLO takes vehicle scheduling, routing and tracking to the next level - pushing technological barriers that OPSI competitors have yet to ponder.
FLO has been in the market place for 8 years and is a mature product with an extensive market coverage and penetration. It has been saving millions of dollars for our customers for many years and is a remarkable achievement. However in the life cycle of a technological product, there comes a time when certain designs become dated and need overhauling in order to keep the product world class. For the past 6+ months OPSI has had a team of up to 5 dedicated software developers working tirelessly on producing this grand new release.
Here are some of the new features that are included in this release:
1. GPS Module
The FLO-GPS integration has been rewritten and is comprised of two components - the GPS Service, and the integrated analysis in FLO. The GPS service is a centralized service which runs continuously gathering GPS data from various GPS data providers. This data is downloaded, filtered and analysed into stops and trips and stored in a centralized database. Inside FLO a higher level of analysis is done on the GPS data. The stops are identified, and compared with the allocated schedules. Red flags are generated and driver efficiencies are calculated. The detail of planned vs. actual are readily available and visible, and statistical data is obtained and prepared for learning of stop times. The FLO-GPS integration is now a smooth reliable experience.
2. New road network calculation method
The road network distance and time calculation method has been rewritten. A lot of emphasis has been placed on the algorithms for loading, calculating and for their flexibility. Massive improvements were made in all respects. The new road network calculation is now faster, and works on more detailed data than before, and is thus more accurate. All required roads are loaded - therefore there is no longer a need to select the specific regions.
3. New map data
There have been major improvements in the map data provided for roads. OPSI has recently changed map data providers, and now has the best available map and road network data possible.
4. XML Import / Export integration support
FLO can now import and export XML. When using XML you get improved flexibility, structure and control in the middleware. The logging and visibility of the data is also improved. XML data can be sent to FLO via COM, file or and Adaptor database.
5. SQL Server support
FLO now runs on SQL Server, supporting three database servers (not only the two existing servers - Interbase and Firebird).
We can now create a FLO database on SQL Server and will soon be running FLO on SQL Server. Many of our customers already run on SQL Server, so the organisation of existing applications and FLO, on their systems, will be that much easier.
6. Gantt chart
A schedule gantt chart has been added to the scheduled summary grid. This gives a high level summary of the entire day’s plan.
7. Online help
Not all users are aware of the full FLO potential, as some of these functions are new, or weren’t initially applicable. In an attempt to help our users increase their FLO potential, we have incorporated an online F1 help facility.
8. Horse-trailer support
Horse-trailer support has been added to FLO. FLO now differentiates between horses (tractors), vehicles (rigid/fixed) and trailers. The number of trailers is restricted by the total number of horses that are made available. Tracking is now linked to horses and vehicles.
9. General
There have been some general changes to FLO that improve the speed and usability of the software:
- A comprehensive multi-user refresh tracking model has been implemented in FLO.
- New style grids have been implemented - allowing for sorting and filtering on all columns.
- Customizable statistics (from an extended list of stats) is now available on the Jobs, Resources and Schedule screens.
- A new install set with improved flexibility - allowing for complex installation architectures.
For more information, please contact:
OPSI Systems
David Lubinsky
Tel: +27 11 8807951
Email: david.lubinsky@opsi.co.za
About OPSI Systems
OPSI Systems is a software development and consulting house based in Johannesburg, South Africa. We focus exclusively on tools and services related to the supply chain, with a specific focus on vehicle logistics and demand prediction. We supply off-the-shelf routing and scheduling tools but also welcome work on custom projects for individual clients.
Key customers:
Barloworld Logistics, ABI (Coca Cola), Unitrans, UPS Logistics, Value Logistics, Tibbet and Britten, SAB Miller, Clover and Reckitt Benkeiser.
About FLO™ (Fleet Logistics Optimiser)
The flagship of our product line is FLO (Fleet Logistics Optimizer). FLO is a multi-drop fleet routing and scheduling tool with many unique features. These include the ability to model a rich set of real world constraints including delivery windows, vehicle exclusions, product exclusions, multiple shifts, individual working hours by vehicle, multiple-container vehicles, trailer and associated constraints, as well as many others. FLO also features deep integration with GPS tracking to learns travel and stop times, to give updated ETA’s, and to detect unauthorized stops. On the accounting side, FLO has strong stop cost calculations and a complete delivery de-brief module this means that complete delivery contracts can be run using only FLO to handle all aspects of the planning and execution of the delivery .
OPSI Systems® and FLO ™ are trademarks of OPSI Systems CC. All other trademarks and registered trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners.
