Solvares Group on the Application of ChatGPT in Logistics

ChatGPT is currently a hot topic in many areas. The Solvares Group sheds light on the subject from the perspective of transport and logistics and demonstrates in two application examples what it can bring. In a recently published survey on the progress of digitalization in the economy in Germany, the transport and logistics sector ranked significantly at the bottom. ChatGPT could provide new momentum.

(Heikendorf) ChatGPT is currently on everyone’s lips. True wonders are being reported. It impressively shows what artificial intelligence is capable of. Once again, it seems that the most exciting technological innovations are coming from the USA. But there is also a lot happening here in Europe, and there are already established smart solutions. They help, among other things, in customer service, sales, and logistics.

It is not very often that the Tagesschau reports on software. ChatGPT made it into Germany’s number one news format yesterday. It was discussed in the context of education. After all, the question arises: How do we deal with software that can answer almost all questions from students and write essays or homework?

As a research and text generation tool, ChatGPT provides extraordinary services. Many application scenarios are conceivable in business, from chatbots to virtual assistants to software programming. ChatGPT combines a sophisticated language model with the general advantages of artificial intelligence:

• Automation and acceleration of processes
• Rapid processing and evaluation of large amounts of data
• Minimization of errors in repetitive processes

These advantages are also offered by those solutions that are already in use in the economy today. Additionally, they can represent and optimize the specific and complex processes that prevail in many industries. Thus, companies from various sectors find smart algorithms and artificial intelligence for field service, field sales, and logistics at the Solvares Group.

INTELLIGENT PLANNING OF PEOPLE AND VEHICLES

Two examples of the use of intelligent software:

Example 1: In the field – whether technical service, customer service, or sales – smart scheduling and route planning are crucial

In the field, daily questions arise such as: Which technician takes on which service orders? Which customers does the sales team need to visit at what intervals? What is the best driving route? How can customer service process as many orders as possible – cost-efficiently and without overloading employees?

Once the number of appointments or employees to be scheduled exceeds a certain size, it becomes impossible for a human to determine the optimal solution. Even when planning 10 orders for a single field service employee, there are over 3.6 million possible sequences of processing. In practice, hundreds of parameters are involved in the calculation.

The algorithms developed by the Solvares Group manage to keep all of this in view and perform the calculation of optimal routes in fractions of a second. This drastically reduces the time required for scheduling, and the optimization of routes leads to a significant reduction in travel times, kilometers, fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, and costs in field service and service.

Example 2: In transport management, every minute counts – AI-based forecasting allows a glimpse into the future.

In logistics, the problem is similar: What needs to be where and when? And then, above all: What does it cost me? For example, in truck dispatching, precise and error-free route planning and optimization or the determination of the (cost-)optimal carrier is crucial.

Here, the transported goods or vehicle type also play a significant role. A concrete mixer for the construction site must be planned differently than a food transporter. Some companies transport gas and oil in tank trucks, while others transport art from Picasso from one museum to another in their specialized vehicles. And in all cases, it is important to keep an eye on transport costs. The transport management systems of the Solvares Group are built on decades of experience in the logistics business across various industries, combined with the power of smart algorithms.

The software solutions automate many tasks of dispatchers and adhere to a precise set of rules for transport planning. Special optimizers use their evolutionary algorithms to ensure that the routes are optimized for the respective type of goods or vehicles. And thanks to an award-winning forecasting algorithm, dispatchers know what will happen in the next few hours and can respond in time to potential bottlenecks and disruptions.

AI FOR FIELD SERVICE, SALES, AND LOGISTICS

Developments in the field of artificial intelligence remain extremely exciting. For the user companies, in addition to the degree of innovation, it is important that the solutions prove themselves in practice and deliver concrete results. The Solvares Group combines research spirit with years of project and industry experience for its customers. The goal is to continuously develop the established best-of-breed solutions and make the advantages of new technologies accessible to companies in field service, field sales, and logistics.

If you want to know how art logistics or concrete deliveries work or how service companies save up to 95% of scheduling time with the help of automatic route planning, contact us.

Photo: © Solvares Group