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In today's fast-paced world, convenience and efficiency are paramount in the realm of e-commerce. For e-tailers, delivering goods in a timely manner is crucial to maintaining customer satisfaction and gaining a competitive edge. This is where Time Slot Booking - also known as Time Slotting - comes into play. By providing customers with the option to book specific time slots for deliveries or services, businesses can optimize their operations and improve the overall user experience.

By George Ninikas, Industry Director Retail & Wholesale at ORTEC

Read further or download this article as a free E-Guide "The Ultimate Guide to Boosting E-Grocery Efficiency with Time Slot Booking," in PDF.

“We were already using data science for commercial purposes,” says Daniel van Gool, vice president of Fulfillment Strategy & Services at Peapod Digital Labs (part of Ahold Delhaize USA), and the company has now also started using data science to improve its operations. “We’ve started exploring ways to optimize cubing of totes and bags, for instance, to minimize empty space, as well as ways of reducing steps when picking orders in stores. Exploring new applications and ways to harness novel technologies to solve everyday puzzles is a lot of fun.”

An interview with Daniël van Gool, Vice President of Fulfillment Strategy & Solutions at Peapod Digital Labs

This article was originally written under the name of Peapod Digital Labs (PDL). As of April 5, 2024, the company formerly known as Peapod Digital Labs (PDL) changed its name to Ahold Delhaize USA. Further information can be found in this news article: "Ahold Delhaize says a final goodbye to the Peapod brand" (April 5, 2024). The grocer is sunsetting the storied e-commerce name as it merges its Peapod Digital Labs and Retail Business Services into a unified support group for its U.S. banners.

In this special issue, we’re taking a deep dive into the dynamics of the energy transition. It’s a multi-faceted challenge, encompassing everything from international policy to finding the optimal location for offshore wind turbines and anticipating how the emergence of hydrogen will shake things up. Each facet is its own microcosm, and while not all interests overlap, there is one common goal: a green future. Math serves as our compass, our guide to navigate uncertainties. As Karin Griffioen, Global Industry Director Energy at ORTEC, puts it: “The energy transition is incredibly complex and requires us to rely on thorough analyses and models - because intuition does not always hold the answers. You can only make the right decisions with a calculated approach.”

In the past decades the supply chain has mainly been concerned with globalization and cost efficiency, but things have changed considerably, and supply chains have drawn the attention of the boardroom. Geo-political developments are very different from five years ago, demographics are shifting, the energy crisis and sustainability are matters of growing concern, and consumer demand is more unpredictable than ever. On the other hand, technology, data science and artificial intelligence (AI) offer more solutions than ever before to make supply chains more resilient, and more flexible.

November 2023

We have all seen the tremendous value of data analytics on the success of commercial organizations. Now, how about humanitarian and societal challenges? As one of the founders of the Analytics for a Better World Institute, ORTEC believes that analytics can also contribute to solving major challenges facing humanity – from hunger to deforestation and the extinction of flora and fauna, among others. For this edition from our ‘Jointly for Social Impact’ series, we sat down with our partner Force For Nature, to hear from them how the development and implementation of an app for rangers helps to protect our planet.

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Jointly for Social Impact

This article is part of the ‘Jointly for social impact’ series. Every article highlights another impact story based on collaborations and partnerships with Analytics for a Better World – an institute co-founded by ORTEC.

The energy transition is a multi-faceted challenge, encompassing everything from international policy to finding the optimal location for offshore wind turbines and anticipating how the emergence of hydrogen will shake things up. Each facet is its own microcosm, and while not all interests overlap, there is one common goal: a green future. Math serves as our compass, our guide to navigate uncertainties. As Karin Griffioen, Global Industry Director Energy at ORTEC, puts it: “The energy transition is incredibly complex and requires us to rely on thorough analyses and models - because intuition does not always hold the answers. You can only make the right decisions with a calculated approach.”

This article is an Executive Summary of our dedicated magazine about the energy transition. Get your free copy in the download section at the bottom of this page.

In recent years, logistics and supply chains have grabbed more and more attention, according to Prof. Goos Kant (Tilburg University and ORTEC), including the boardroom. Geopolitical changes – developments in China, the war in Ukraine – have made it increasingly important to know where things come from, figure out who supplies your suppliers, and get a grip on availability. “Companies have stepped up their efforts to figure out their supply chain, and it’s just as well that they have.”

An interview with Goos Kant | Global Industry Director Manufacturing at ORTEC

COLUMN | THE INNOVATION SIDE OF THINGS
Text: Lotte van Hezewijk

"Every second, approximately 4877 packages are delivered worldwide. That’s immense, isn’t it? Meanwhile, customers are more demanding. They want to decide where, when and how a package is delivered to them — and expect this to be done quickly and sustainably. The burning question is: is it possible to deliver both sustainably and flexibly? Let’s dive into two examples: retail versus aviation."

In an era marked by rapid urbanization and a digital shift, Dr. Georgios Ninikas of ORTEC takes us through the “six plus one insights” that are shaping the retail industry. Ninikas highlights the industry’s most pressing concerns, from understanding the effect urbanization has on the retail landscape to the need to embrace the environmentally conscious and digital consumer. He also points out the transformative power of artificial intelligence, emphasizing its role in ensuring adaptability, resilience, and continuous improvement in the modern retail market. Ninikas would be the first to stress that his list is not exhaustive: “It’s a selection of the most related and pressing insights.”

Wilko Sierksma is Director of Global Planning at HEINEKEN Global Supply Chain. Together with his team, he tackles everything from opening and closing breweries, deciding whether to expand capacity at certain sites, distribution and footprint optimization and much more. Their biggest challenge? Safeguarding local entrepreneurship while standardizing global processes: “We’re a decentralized company, but we still want to leverage our economies of scale, which you can only do with harmonized, standardized, automated data and systems.”

A conversation with Wilko Sierksma, Director of Global Planning at HEINEKEN Global Supply Chain