ORTEC already has more than three decades of experience optimizing planning processes for companies with the help of mathematical algorithms. “With OLO in the current version 2.0 for the cloud, we have further improved the performance of our algorithms to achieve even faster results and even higher solution quality,” explains Stefan Althoff, senior product manager at ORTEC. “At the same time, we have expanded the range of applications already available for companies and industries.”
The OLO product family now ranges from use in purchasing, sales, replenishment and warehousing, where it optimizes the flow of goods from the cartonizing of products to palletizing and subsequent loading in swap bodies, containers, semi-trailers or delivery trucks. All shipping units are clearly displayed in lists and 3D graphics.
OLO is therefore particularly interesting for companies that are being “overrun” by the e-commerce boom and the accompanying flood of shipments – and this in times of extreme increases to freight costs and disrupted supply chains: “With OLO and the unlimited performance from the cloud, tens of thousands of parcel shipments per day can easily be optimized in a matter of seconds, and without additional investment in your own IT hardware,” Althoff continues.
Especially for this target group, ORTEC has developed the packing of parcels into cartons (“Cartonization”) as an additional functionality, so that even the detailed picking of smaller items and the subsequent shipping can be optimized holistically. In concrete terms, this means that OLO immediately provides users with cost-effective packaging suggestions and also avoids labour-intensive and therefore expensive repackaging. Warehouse staff receive clear and coherent instructions as to which items belong in which carton and how these cartons are then to be stowed in the selected means of transport.
For the food and beverage industry, there is now the option of “layer-oriented” packing of pallets. This not only maximizes pallet utilization but also improves picking performance in the warehouse. Customers on the receiving side also benefit from more efficient goods receiving.
Stefan Althoff emphasizes that with OLO all individual customer requirements and restrictions can be taken into account in the optimization process, such as specifications for product stackability. “This means we can say with a clear conscience: We are Best in Class.”
Bremen, June 2022 - Logistics software specialist ORTEC now also offers its load optimization as “Software as a Service”. This means: Manufacturers, retailers, but also logistics service providers, can now design their shipping and transport processes better and more efficiently by using the application directly from the cloud – and thus do without a comprehensive, in-house IT infrastructure.