Best Tour: accurate vehicles fleet scheduling   • Transportation costs minimization • Planning span cutback • Multi-depot management control • Gain real-time guidance with professional maps • Vehicles load optimization • Rack up service levels • Master traffic congestion

Part of ACT Solutions suite, this powerful proprietary product is one the most complete transportation optimization systems including service scheduling (pick-up and delivery) and optimal mission allocation drivers/vehicles.
Best Tour combines math optimization with multi-year vertical markets experience and skills. With this unique application you can minimize costs, environmental impacts and planning times while improving service levels and process control.

Usage Model
Whether your warehouses should serve or be served from geographical spred service points through different third-party or owned vehicles, Best Tour can beat the most time and logistics constrained conditions.
When it comes to everyday's pick-ups and deliveries scheduling BT helps to leverage operational excellence. Advanced what-if functionality make easy strategic decision-making (e.g. fleet dimensioning, transportation budgeting).
You can boost your business performance further by coupling BEST Tour with other ACT Solutions' products such as OPT Loading (loading optimization), OPT Shipping (distribution planning), BEFORE (demand forecasting) and with advanced simulation tools as ARENA e SIMIO.

Main functionalities

Drivers

• spend less (e.g. cost tables vs contracts)
  
• keep miles traveled short
  
• reduce vehicles' work and number
  
• faster delivery
  
• balance vehicles operations and fleet mix
  
• BT built-in models can be customized to meet the most hard constraints.

On constraints (examples):

• time windows
  
• conflicting heterogeneous goods
  
• special vehicles per carried good
  
• special vehicles per served customer
  
• drivers shift hours
  
• fleet vehicles traveling (e.g. hours per day, bank holidays, miles)
  
• vehicles waiting time for unloads
  

Differentiators

• multi-depots management
  
• forcing pre-estimated calculations
  
• single and multi-routing (e.g. re-using the same vehicle)
  
• pick&drop mixed routes
  
• bounding drivers work to a specific area
  
• multi compartment loads
  
• traffic per time range
  
• loosening constraints in special circumstances (e.g. profit margin lift opportunities).
  

Main features and add-on components

BEST Tour is coupled with BEST Way, the intelligent street level network technology integrating a powerful engine estimating miles/time routes by building on real-time geo-database.

• Multi-purpose: shortest/fastest route including traffic delays estimation
  
• Speed per vehicle (e.g. van, truck), time range (e.g. morning, afternoon), street (e.g. secondary road, motorway, highway)
  
• Dropping steep slopes, sharp bends, regulation-constrained roads (e.g. limited traffic zones)
  
• Forcing the route schedule to include particular areas/points of interest
  
• Geo-database compatible (e.g. Navteq, Teleatlas)

Intuitive and Web-based Graphical User Interface

• Geo-mapped delivery routing through e.g., Ubiest, GoogleMaps while on GPS
  
• Manually forcing automated routes whithin constraints

Vertical markets

• Retail distribution (e.g., stores' daily delivery)
  
• Transportation (e.g. parcels express delivery, postal services, door-to-door pick&drop, on-demand mini-bus, school bus)
  
• Energy services (e.g. metering reading)
  
• Environmental services (e.g. urban waste collection, snow plough, trees pruning).

ACT Solutions technology integration and scalability

• developed through Java technology
  
• integrates with any SQL database compliant
  
• integrates with ERP, TMS, WMS
  
• a very powerful engine designed for parallel calculus
  
• scalable for a number of CPUs.

Contact us @ for more informations on BEST TOUR