Route & location optimization for Westfalen AG

Route and location optimization in liquid gas trading: Thanks to our optimization algorithms, Westfalen AG benefits from holistically optimized supply chain processes.

CHALLENGE

Westfalen AG, headquartered in Münster, is a liquid gas dealer. Numerous large and small customers are supplied daily from factories throughout Germany. The allocation of customers to the filling locations is carried out on a static basis. Different, partly seasonal, consumption profiles complicate planning and lead to high costs in production as well as distribution.

APPROACH

By evaluating the capacity utilization of the filling sites and reassigning customers to the filling locations, the utilization of filling capacities is to be optimized in addition to reducing delivery costs. To tackle the problem various internal company data sources were used. In addition to the geographic data, tour data as well as filling and material information of the products are included in the optimization problem. Thereby the optimization approaches are based on state-of-the-art algorithms in the field of operations research.

RESULT

The holistic and overall optimization from filling up to delivery to the end customer enables the capacities of the filling sites to be used optimally and, in conjunction with an optimized logistics concept, significantly reduces filling and logistics costs.

“With Westphalia DataLab we have found a partner who supports us in the analytical evaluation of our entire supply chain and who is able to provide us with a customized solution. The results speak for themselves.” – Dirk Bücker, Head of Marketing and Head of the optimization project

THE PROJECT AT A GLANCE

Author Details
Nadiya El-Sourani - Nadiya ist promovierte Neurowissenschaftlerin & Psychologin und arbeitet seit Anfang 2020 im Westphalia DataLab. Ihr Tätigkeitsfeld im Westphalia DataLab ist sehr vielseitig, worunter unter anderem auch das Schreiben von Artikeln und die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit generell fällt.