Paragon Software Systems is set to help transport and logistics firms cut carbon emissions following the development of a new innovation. The new Carbon Minimiser will be added to Paragon’s popular routing and scheduling optimisation software, benefiting the thousands of vehicles worldwide that rely on the system for efficient planning. The Carbon Minimiser enables users to further reduce the carbon and fuel content of their planned schedules, cutting both carbon footprint and operating costs.
“The introduction of the Carbon Minimiser functionality reflects our commitment to providing customers with software solutions that meet the needs of the ever changing logistics industry,” says William Salter, Paragon’s Managing Director. “We have been helping improve environmental efficiency within the industry for over 25 years by building efficient route combinations that reduce empty running, cut mileage and reduce fuel. We’ve now taken this a step further by adding a new Carbon Minimiser tool which enables transport operators to look at the environmental impact of their vehicle routes as part of the planning process.”
Built on proven technology, the new functionality optimises route efficiency in terms of fuel used and associated carbon emissions. “The Paragon algorithm has been extended to include vehicle weight and speed variations and the impact that these factors have on fuel consumption and carbon emissions,” says Richard Street, Paragon’s Software Development Director. “As a result users can review and monitor the carbon and fuel-related KPIs of their operations, and can apply an additional optimisation step to further reduce emissions and fuel used.”
The software estimates and reports the total CO2 and fuel content of all the routes and schedules, including distances, speeds, weight and vehicle fuel efficiency. The Carbon Minimiser is then used as a final optimisation step to adjust the schedules – changing call sequences and swapping calls between routes – to further reduce the total CO2 and fuel figures.
The software takes account of slower urban journeys incurring more fuel/CO2 per mile than faster motorway journeys. Similarly, heavily loaded vehicles use more fuel/CO2 per mile than empty ones. The Carbon Minimiser incorporates these factors to generate carbon-friendly schedules.
“Fuel consumption also depends on other factors, such as driving style, vehicle age, weather conditions and so on,” adds Richard Street. “But regardless of these, vehicles will use more fuel per mile if they are heavily laden or travelling at slow speeds – so by including these two key factors, Paragon is able to generate fuel-efficient and carbon-friendly routes and schedules.”
As a result of these enhancements, all Paragon users can benefit from explicit reporting of carbon and fuel factors. Companies using Paragon strategically to analyse distribution scenarios will be able to make decisions based on expected carbon footprint, as well as cost criteria. Equally, companies using Paragon every day to calculate dynamic routes and schedules will be able to monitor their carbon KPIs, such as expected CO2 per drop or per tonne. And in all cases, the Carbon Minimiser can be applied to refine the calculated schedules and further reduce the carbon and fuel content.
“The Carbon Minimiser is something that our dedicated in-house development team has been working on for some time and is built on our established optimisation technology which is proven to deliver benefits across a wide range of industry sectors,” adds Salter. “In these times of increasing emphasis on both fuel costs and the environment we are very pleased to have been able to provide additional functionality that helps users address both of these key issues.”
