Israel's largest animal feed producer exceeds efficiency targets and reduces costs with Ortec

The implementation of Ortec's Vehicle Routing and Dispatch solution Ortec Shortrec at Ambar, an animal feed producer based in Israel, has reportedly resulted in numerous transport optimisation benefits and significant cost savings. Ambar selected Ortec Shortrec, based on its unique compartmentalisation features, ORTEC 's proven track record in the animal feed industry, and the experience and reputation of One1 in packaged software implementation and consultancy support.

Amazing improvements in both quality and costs
Ambar's main objective was to optimize feed distribution to its large, geographically dispersed customer base in Israel. In addition, the company wished to improve truck capacity and driver utilization, reduce driving time, distances and costs, and increase customer service levels. Eli Morik, CFO at Ambar, comments on the results: "The average number of kilometers per trip has been reduced from 75 to 68 (a 10% decrease), and the average weight per shipment has increased from 23 to 24 tons. These figures have significantly exceeded our expectations and demonstrate an amazing improvement from a quality and cost perspective."

A cockpit for all our planning activities
Ambar has been producing farm livestock feeds for the last five decades and is the largest and most advanced feed mill Israel. In 2009, the company's dedicated fleet traveled over 10,000 km per day to deliver approximately 820,000 tons of feed on an annual basis. Tali Lichtenstein, project manager at One1: "Calculating the optimal transportation plan, while taking into account compartmentalization and the numerous driver, truck, equipment and customer constraints is a very challenging task. Moreover, the shipping department is often faced with last-minute, unforeseen changes and therefore needs a flexible system that can incorporate these requirements. Shuki Sitner, Dispatch Manager at Ambar adds: "ORTEC Shortrec has visibly helped to deal with all of the above challenges and the solution is an excellent tool which serves as a cockpit for all our planning activities."

Ambar's previous planning tool lacked the accurate route distances, restriction alerts, cost calculations and optimal solution functionality that ORTEC Shortrec offers as standard. ORTEC's advanced planning system now enables Ambar to deliver a higher quality and lower cost distribution plan. Furthermore, each driver receives an SMS message that contains their route schedule for the following day so they no longer need to call the planner for this information. This frees up the planner to concentrate on core activities.