Pets at Home is benefiting from the latest Paragon transport optimisation software with unique low bridge avoidance mapping for its delivery service.
The UK’s largest pet shop chain with more than 347 stores in operation has been using Paragon’s transport optimisation software for more than a decade to ensure reliable and cost-effective fixed route scheduling. This year, the Pets at Home HGV fleet will make more than 42,500 store deliveries using Paragon. This is equal to about 1,118 store deliveries over 328 routes a week, excluding trunking movements.
The company uses the latest Paragon Multi Depot software for managing deliveries from its large distribution centres (DC) in Stoke-on-Trent and Northampton and outbases in Lockerbie, Gloucester and Dunstable. The transport optimisation software plans its regular night-time store replenishment deliveries and also schedules special consignments for Christmas and Easter separately so that they do not conflict with the normal store delivery service.
“Paragon enables us to provide our stores with a very efficient service. We have used the software from the early years of the business, right from the time we opened our national DC in Stoke-on-Trent in 2002. The transport optimisation software has proven to be reliable and flexible, which enables its further development to meet our changing business needs. It is proving to be a future proof investment for us and our expanding business has benefited from its use,” says Mike Cox, Distribution Manager.
The company uses the software strategically to plan deliveries and then rerun the schedules to account for any changes to the plan. This also enables Pets at Home to compare actual miles travelled by its transport providers with those calculated in the original plan. The software is also used for routing and scheduling its trunking operations.
Paragon has provided several standard enhancements to Pets at Home, including the Low Bridge Avoidance mapping option as the fleet mainly uses 15-ft, 10-in high double-decker trailers. Additional configuration of the software supports the company’s unique approach to night-time deliveries where a designated member of the retail team will receive the load for a specific store and then accompany the driver to other stores to assist with unloading and receiving before being returned to the host store.
With an aggressive expansion programme that adds around 30 stores a year, Pets at Home also uses Paragon’s transport optimisation software to integrate new retail outlets into the plan and model the best routes to service those stores.
