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supply chain

Ahold Delhaize

Using Simacan Control Tower, Ahold Delhaize tracks the goods transported to its supermarkets by external carriers. Ahold Delhaize supplies its Albert Heijn stores efficiently by giving insight in exact location of trucks.

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supply chain

Ahold-Delhaize at a glance

  • Daily positions of 3000+ truck journeys in the Netherlands and Belgium visualized on map.
  • 25 Carriers, each connected via its own TMS.
  • 1000+ Stores see ETAs of incoming deliveries.
  • ETAs are calculated 1/min, based on real-time traffic information.
Knowing the expected delivery time in advance

The need for Ahold Delhaize was a Track & Trace system. A real-time overview of all the various carriers’ trucks would help inform the stores effectively.
All deliveries to the Albert Heijn supermarkets of Ahold Delhaize are part of a streamlined process. In the supermarkets, new stocks are immediately unpacked and placed on the shelves. By knowing the expected delivery time in advance, the store managers can more efficiently activate the shelf stockers. They can quickly start unloading the products to place them in the store.
Before Ahold Delhaize was using Simacan Control Tower, the store manager had to call the colleagues from the planning office for clarifications on any occurring truck delays. Ahold Delhaize Transport evaluated that the stores could work more effectively if the arrival times of the trucks would be proactively communicated.

When will the next truck arrive?

Attending to the daily needs of the store managers represented a complex task, since Ahold Delhaize works with 25 different carriers. On the market, there is quite a variety of Transport Management Systems of on-board computers and planning software available. Ahold Delhaize Transport wanted to see the data from all the different TMS systems in one single view. To make this integration, Ahold Delhaize chose Simacan Control Tower.
Simacan proposed to use resources that were already available. The simplicity as well as the pragmatism of such a solution immediately caught Ahold Delhaize’s interest.
The solution of Simacan seamlessly interfaces with the different existing Transport Management Systems, and enriches them with additional real-time traffic information.

A combination of existing public and commercial data

A Transport Management System consists of on-board computers supplying data with the current position of the trucks. By connecting the truck positions to the store locations and the planning, Simacan Control Tower shows the trucks’ status on the map. Also, for each truck, the estimated time of arrival is calculated, taking in account detailed real-time traffic data.
When looking at Simacan Control Tower, Albert Heijn planners see an overview of all the trucks and their estimated arrival times. Such information is shared by Albert Heijn with its store personnel as well as the carriers.

The result of Simacan Control Tower is the overview of the operational planning. Ahold Delhaize is using the emerging insight to increase its efficiency.

“A solution brilliant in its simplicity.”

“Rob Schuurbiers of Simacan told us: ‘You should combine public and commercial data’ and he showed us an example with trains. Brilliant in its simplicity.”
“So we asked: ‘Can you unlock information from a carrier as quickly?’ One week later, Rob showed us that he fully integrated the operation of one of the carriers, Peter Appel Transport, in Simacan Control Tower.”

Senior Director Ahold Delhaize Transport

“Focus on cooperation.”

“The live overview enables management by exception. This is useful. For example in Belgium, where drivers are not allowed to unload after closing time. Nowadays, if a store manager sees that another supermarket is planned after them in the schedule, she will make sure that enough personnel is available. They will help unloading the goods, so that the next supermarket can also be supplied in time.”

Janneke Nijsing, Consultant at Ahold Delhaize Transport
Simacan Control Tower

Simacan Control Tower has provided Ahold Delhaize Transport with a working platform. The pragmatic nature of the solution created by Simacan has immediately excited anyone seeing it. Not only colleagues from within Albert Heijn, but also professionals from other companies and organizations, among which the government, have been excited about Simacan Control Tower.

Applied Data Visualization

For fuel-saving solutions such as platooning, Simacan Control Tower provides insight into the use of the infrastructure. The data on the movements of multiple carriers can easily be visualized on a map. Thus, one can see at a glance which highway trajectories are potentially interesting for combining trucks into platooning convoys.

Efficiency through cooperation within the supply chain

According to Ahold Delhaize, benefits can be achieved in cooperation with several parties in the logistics and transport sectors. The more shippers and carriers use Simacan Control Tower, the more knowledge is accumulated, and the more efficiency can be improved. Ahold Delhaize – on track with its ambitions, and thanks to the cooperation between all the parties involved – uses Simacan Control Tower to take daily steps in making the transportation to the stores more efficient.

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