Specialist food company uses Paragon route optimization tools to remove human error in route planning, allow for growth plans.
Paragon Software Systems’ routing and scheduling software is optimizing the dedicated truck delivery of V&V Supremo’s products in multiple states. It is also helping the premium Mexican food company prepare for growth in other geographies, according to Director of Information Technology, Kyle Ivany.
Chicago-based V&V Supremo operates ten dedicated trucks that make upward of 400 deliveries of authentic Mexican dairy, meat and corn products every week in the Chicago area, as well as to retail customers throughout the US.
Ivany joined V&V Supremo in September 2016, determined to reduce the number of software systems the company was using overall. However, he decided to keep and fully activate the existing Paragon system, after determining it had the best capabilities for optimizing delivery routes, compared with the functionality of a legacy business management system.
Paragon’s route optimization tools removed the human error factor. “Paragon enabled us to introduce much-needed logic into the system, and to take different elements of data and synthesize them to optimize the output,” explained Ivany. “Previously, the routing specialist was struggling every day to fill the trucks and send them out on routes they thought were optimized, but it was challenging for one person to handle with the tools they had.”
One immediate improvement is that V&V Supremo can simply put out more orders with fewer trucks. Another is that the company has combined Monday and Tuesday deliveries into a single day while maintaining customer satisfaction.
The benefits don’t stop there. “Users can now figure out and trust the data they’re getting, either for reporting or just day-to-day operations,” said Ivany. He also cited advantages to installing GPS in V&V Supremo’s trucks, which pairs with the Paragon system’s capabilities, allowing the food supplier to track the trucks in real time and verify that they are going exactly where the Paragon software says they should.
Paragon uses a continuous feedback loop to achieve increasingly accurate and achievable plans by constantly feeding back into the system updated data about specific delivery locations, as well as road restrictions, time windows and everything else that impacts deliveries. “Because we can update Paragon information, every little thing is going to continuously add up over time to improvements,” said Ivany.
V&V Supremo’s new agility in truck routing and scheduling facilitates strategic decisions and helps V&V Supremo play out what-if scenarios. “We have aggressive growth plans in the future, and we want to maximize what we’re getting out of Paragon – not just operationally, but strategically,” he said. “For me, it’s all about continuous improvement.”
Ivany particularly praised the proactive support and training given by Paragon’s local support consultant. “He’s reliable, responsive, and really knows the tool,” said Ivany. “To me, your vendors are as important as your customers, so a good relationship is very valuable.”
