Virtual Transportation Manager : A web-based system for transportation optimization in a network of business units
Jean‐François Audy, Sophie D’Amours, Louis-Martin Rousseau, Jean Philippe Favreau · PolyPublie (École Polytechnique de Montréal) · 2007
Summary In this paper, the decision support system VTM, for Virtual Transportation Manager, is presented. The VTM is a web-based system developed to allow collaborative route planning among many transportation managers, from different companies or business units forming a coalition. VTM is supporting the coalition’s administrator, dispatcher as well as its operating members (e.g. forest companies). The role of each of these three VTM users as well as their responsibilities within the system is detailed in the paper. Also, through the description of a complete transportation planning sequence on the VTM, the different modules of the system and their functionalities are introduced. With the support of Groupe Transforet, the VTM was implemented to simulate its utilization over almost one year. Numerical results showing significant savings in terms of cost, fuel consumption and traveling distance are reported.