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Through optimization, global ground transportation provider BostonCoach meets demand while improving utilization
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Business impact Increased sedan and driver utilization and lowered operating costs due to fewer affiliate fulfillments of rides and less 'deadheading' of drivers.
Issue BostonCoach, a worldwide provider of executive sedan, limousine and event transportation services, needed to increase fleet utilization, reduce service refusals, increase same-day/ASAP business, ramp capacity up or down rapidly to meet demand, and quickly bring in affiliates when necessary.
Executive summary The client wanted to improve fleet utilization while maintaining its 99% on time pickup record. A dispatch optimization system was developed that optimizes drivers' schedules and is responsive to changing conditions.
What IBM did BostonCoach is one of the largest ground transportation businesses in the U.S. Its previous fleet control process relied on a variety of different systems and fleet controllers, who were experts at their jobs, but unable to visualize the many variables required to improve utilization without sacrificing customer satisfaction. IBM was hired to develop a dispatch optimization system that would improve vehicle and driver utilization and reduce the reservation refusal rate while helping to maintain its 99 percent on-time record.
Using data supplied by the client, IBM Research and the IBM Center for e-business Innovation developed the rules and algorithms for an automated dispatch optimization system. IBM implemented the system and integrated it with the client’s other existing systems. The system provides real-time utilization data on drivers and coaches. It also capitalizes on global positioning satellite (GPS) technology for location tracking of sedans, geographic information systems and mapping software from company ESRI and custom applications developed by IBM.
The heart of the system is the optimization engine developed by IBM Research, which takes various data – including BostonCoach’s business rules, reservation and driver information, travel times and even FAA information feeds – and sends them to the optimizer. The optimizer produces a staffing plan a day in advance to set staffing levels. This plan is sent to the dispatch system in the form of driver suggestions for each ride. From there, fleet controllers use a continual optimizer to reallocate vehicle and driver resources to respond to changing conditions. If there’s an unexpected event, such as an ASAP reservation or a breakdown, a rapid response optimizer makes adjustments.
The optimization engine has made the complex calculations needed to react quickly and efficiently to the many factors that affect scheduling transparent to both the fleet controllers and the customer. The system has been launched in all of the U.S. cities in which BostonCoach operates.
Capabilities applied IBM Research’s Optimization Center has years of experience in theory advancement, software development and client engagements, which allowed it to produce a result that would have been impossible using standard optimization routines. Combined with the integration and application development experience of the IBM Center for e-business Innovation, this fleet optimization system delivers business results.
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More on research | IBM Research: Continual Optimization Optimizing across multiple factors in a dynamic environment is known as Continual Optimization. |
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