EP1716523A1 - Procede d'optimisation du fret de marchandises - Google Patents

Procede d'optimisation du fret de marchandises

Info

Publication number
EP1716523A1
EP1716523A1 EP04710470A EP04710470A EP1716523A1 EP 1716523 A1 EP1716523 A1 EP 1716523A1 EP 04710470 A EP04710470 A EP 04710470A EP 04710470 A EP04710470 A EP 04710470A EP 1716523 A1 EP1716523 A1 EP 1716523A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
user
information
information system
freight
carrier
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP04710470A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Franco Iacono
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Unex Srl
Original Assignee
Unex Srl
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Unex Srl filed Critical Unex Srl
Publication of EP1716523A1 publication Critical patent/EP1716523A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
    • G06Q10/08—Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Definitions

  • the present invention is about a method of optimizing price parameters, delivery time and freight of goods reliability using conventional delivery means like international couriers, express couriers, ships, aircrafts, etc. Every enterprise, even of medium or small size, is nowadays in relationship with two or more forwarding agents, drawing up with them a supply contract for goods freight in the territory and to different destinations in the world.
  • the supply contract of the service generally defines one or more specific kinds of goods destined to a certain location, the delivery and transportation conditions and the related delivery times.
  • the firms supplying freight services offer to the companies determined goods pick up services and establish certain prices according to certain conditions and certain delivery times, said services being offered on the market with different parameters based on the customer's importance and thus on the programmable freight volume.
  • stipulated conditions do not remain the same in the course of the year but they can change according to the main interests of the service firm which can modify, usually depending on the served area, prices and delivery times according to the global market in which it operates.
  • the main object of the invention is to solve the aforesaid inconveniences.
  • the main purpose intended by the present invention is to give to the user of freight services a tool which, for each programmed freight, is able to send an automatic offer request and to receive likewise automatically and in real time the consequent offers by different service firms (carriers) already operating with the company by having an agreement with the same company.
  • the method of the invention can enable the user who has chosen one or more carriers for his freight to automatically prepare all the required documents for the freight with a determined carrier, such as the shipment bill and the labels to be attached on the goods, according to his own requirements and parameters and those of the chosen carrier.
  • an object is to obtain a software system has to be obtained, able to continuously supply information about the status of the executed freights, also with different carriers, and to arrange said information according to determined rules chosen by the user.
  • a further object of the device according to the invention is to detect and to signal possible delays or problems concerning the goods delivery by single carriers.
  • the device according to the invention provides for up-to-date statistics on the executed freights, the prices, the respect and the safe receipt of the deliveries.
  • Another object of the invention is to provide for a freight management system which allows the user to interact, in addition to carriers having an arrangement with said user, also with carriers not having any arrangement, concerning for instance unusual freights like overload or out of standard size special goods, or freights which need special handling means like ships, aircrafts or other means of transportation.
  • the object of the invention is substantially to provide for a freights optimizing global tool especially, but not exclusively, designed for small and medium size enterprises, able to minimize the delivery costs according to decisions to be taken at any time at the best price, keeping at best th ⁇ . quality of the service.
  • a further and not secondary object of the invention is to provide for an information system inside the company which allows the different company departments like the warehouse, the administration, Ine commercial office, the purchase office to be constantly informed about the evolution either of the goods delivery situation or the related costs.
  • Another object of the invention is to enable the device for generating all the required information supports for performing the freight and for controlling said freight so that each office of the company can have he information of its own interest and eventually retrieve and print the required documents without transferring such documents from an office to anothei .
  • a method of optimizing freight of goods for one or more users, each of them in relationship with two or more carriers comprising the following steps: a) the user is connected through a telecommunication device to an information system of a service provider; b) the user sends one or more goods delivery requests to said information system, specifying for each freight at least the destination, the quantity, the physical characteristics of said goods and the desired delivery time; c) said information system transmits through a te ecommunication network said one or more requests to each carrier in relationship with said user; d) said information system receives from said carrie rs,, processes, compares, organizes and sends to the user, by a telecor .munication network, the delivery offers; e) the user chooses an offer for each delivery raquest and confirms the freight of each request to the chosen carrier; f) the information system connects the user to each chosen carrier, so that the user can prepare the required documents
  • the invention also concerns the device carrying out - aid method. More specifically, according to an embodiment of the invention the software system of the method needed by the device according to the invention is installed on a server belonging to a service provider, connected to the user through a telecommunication network, such as internet. According to another embodiment of the invention, the software system used by the method and needed by the device according to the invention is installed on the computer of said user.
  • every time that the user sends a request of offer for one or more freights he is able to receive from each carrier in relationship with him a specific offer.
  • the user can choose and evaluate either the most convenient price or, alternatively, the delivery time corresponding to his needs, or both. Substantially, every time that a freight is requested, the user is able to optimize his freight because he can choose the best conditions, whether they are a lower price or a faster delivery, for performing said freight.
  • the software system carrying out the method of the invention allows the user to create all the required documents for the freight, such as the shipment bill, the labels to be attached on the goods and any invoices, simplifies a lot the freight procedure. It is another advantage of the invention the fact that the information created by the software program of the invention can be accessible through different computers so that, for example, the delivery office is able to directly print by itself the labels, the shipment bill and everything needed to handle the freight without transferring these paper documents from a company department to another with clear saving of time and labour.
  • Another advantage offered by the invention is to have constantly at disposal information either about the progress status of the goods delivery or a statistical history relating to the expenses made, the quality of the services or any inefficiencies of each carrier as well. Further characteristics and features of the invention will be better highlighted in the description of the method and an embodiment of the device according to the invention, given in an explanatory but not limiting way, described with reference to the figures of the annexed drawings, wherein: - Figure 1 shows a flow chart of a device to carry out the method of the invention; - Figure 2 shows in sequence the logical operations performed by the system according to the invention;
  • FIG. 3 shows the monitoring operations of the system according to the invention
  • FIG. 4 shows an example of statistics provided by the system according to the invention
  • FIG. 6 shows a different embodiment of the flow chart of Figure 1.
  • the user indicated with numeral 1
  • the user 1 has previously started a number of contracts with both national and international carriers, for instance with the carrier A for freights to Italy and Europe, with the carrier B for freights to the United States, with the carrier C for freights to Middle and Far East.
  • the user 1 is provided with an information means, such as a computer or his own server 10 suitable for being connected telematically, for instance through the internet or a local network, to a server 100 of a service provider.
  • the service provider is in turn telematically connected to a plurality of carriers A, B, C.
  • the user's 1 access to the server 100 is allowed by authentication through username and password.
  • the server 100 after the identification of the user, allows him to use a reserved memory area indicated with numeral 20.
  • said memory area all the already performed freights are stored, comprising all the information about the procedures, price, carrier, required and obtained delivery time.
  • the user 1 thus compiles a new list of delivery requests for certain destination and certain goods quantities, indicating the quantity, the size, the desired delivery time and any carrying modes, such as normal, express, priority.
  • the list of said requests is sent by a telematic connection 101 , like internet, to the memory area 20 which, after storing it, send it through the channel 21 to the carriers interface 34 and from the latter, through the channel 22 to the different carriers A, B, C indicated with numerals 41 , 42, 43.
  • the carriers interface 34 is a first information means of the information system 30 which consists in a language adapter software able to interact with the software of the various carriers to whom the information ha s been transmitted.
  • the transmission channel 22 will be advantageously a telematic connection, such as internet or another interconnecting network.
  • Each of said carriers answers each of the received requests of delivery offer, producing an offer for each delivery requested, giving information about the relating price and confirming the delivery for the requested date or an alternative date.
  • the comparator 31 is a software tool for comparing -and organizing the received answers.
  • the comparator dialoguing with the software interface 34, compares the received offers by sorting them according to a logical sequence and sends them to the reserved memory area 20 of the user 1 through the channel 310.
  • the user is able to evaluate what is the best op portunity offered for each requested freight and he can confirm, always through the channel 21 , the interface 34 and the channel 22, the delivery request to the carrier A, the carrier B and/or the carrier C according to his convenience -evaluation.
  • Each of the carriers A, B and C confirms the engagement of delivery, always through the channel 22, so that the user 1 is able to prepare the required documents for each freight according the requirements of each carrier.
  • Said documents can be advantageously printed using a third informative means consisting in a software area 35 which manage--- and prepares the documents printing according to the requirements of each chosen carrier.
  • the print can be advantageously performed by the delivery office which should then hand over the goods to the carrier for the withdrawal.
  • the -user 1 which is for instance a manufacturing company, can be connected to the server 100, as previously explained, through his own server indicated with numeral 10.
  • Said server 10 is thus able to grant the access to the information coming from the server 100 to different information supports belo nging to different departments.
  • the server 10 is connected to the warehouse, indicated with numeral 11 , the delivery office, indicated with numeral 12, the purchase office, indicated with numeral 13, the commercial office, indicated with numeral 14, and the administration office, indicated with numeral 15.
  • Each of said departments belonging to the same company is thus able to manage the information received by the server 10 according to its competence.
  • the warehouse 11 has the information about the goods ready to be delivered, the recipients of the same goods and the date by which the goods must be delivered.
  • the warehouse receives the offers of the carrier and from its computer 11 the freights and the carrier choice are confirmed.
  • the delivery office 12 could then accede to the information related to the goods to be prepared for the freight and to the carrier entrusted of the withdrawal.
  • said office 12 is able to create and to print the delivery documents connecting through the service provider to each of the different carriers entrusted to withdraw the goods, using the memory 20, the carriers interface software 34 and the documents printing software 35.
  • This information is continuously exchanged between the server 100 of the service provider and the single carriers 41 , 42 and 43.
  • the information through the communication channel 22 and the carrier interface 34, reaches the fourth information means consisting of the monitoring area 32 shown in Figure 1.
  • the information stored in the monitoring area 32 is sent to the memory area 20 through the channel 320, so that the user 1 , and more specifically each of the interested departments, can check in real time all the modifications of the information and follow the freights and the deliveries in a continuous way.
  • the server 100 maintains in the user's memory area 20 all the data transmitted by the monitoring area 32.
  • each of the departments, commercial, delivery, purchase, administration can control all the freights performed and to be performed by connecting to the monitoring area 32, with up to date information about the situation in real time.
  • the carrier If the goods have been taken by the carrier it is possible to know, connecting to the interface 34 and to the channel 22 and thus permanently to each carrier involved in the freight, where are the goods in transit, if they have been delivered and, the delivery time and the signature of the receiver.
  • the server 100 of the service provider also comprises a fifth information means consisting in an area 33 dedicated to process the statistics concerning the freights of the user 1.
  • the purchase office 13 or the administration 15 can control the effective expense related to the freights, for a determined carrier or determined goods.
  • the statistics could be organized by the user 1 according to his needs, for instance searching the number of freights delivered in a determined period, or the number of freights correctly delivered with a certain carrier, or else the number of freights delayed or not delivered to have the percentage of inefficiencies related to a certain carrier.
  • figure 5 is shown another kind of statistic in which are displayed and compared the carriers used for a certain geographic area, for instance the
  • the user 1 requests freight of goods outside the standards accepted by the carriers A, B, C, for example for excess weight or out of ordinary overall dimensions.
  • the system When the user 1 sends the offer requests to the carriers and the software system of the server 100 recognizes that said requests performed by the user 1 are not within the standards of the carriers A, B, C, the system then sends an out of standard request of offer to the special carriers 51 , 52 and 53 which can be able to satisfy the user's request.
  • the server 100 is connected to n different users and thus to a plurality of companies which can request at the same time the above described service and optimize their delivery costs.
  • Each user will have a reserved memory area 20 and he will use the software 30, having the comparing function 31 , the monitoring function 32, the statistic function 33 and the interface function 34 able to dialogue with the different software of each carrier in relationship with the user.
  • the aforesaid functions are programmable in the server 100 using the common programming knowledge, which is the common skill of any information technician, and thus are not described in particular. It is also evident that the information system obtained by the connection of the user 1 with the server 100 of the service provider allows the different departments of a company to independently dialogue with the server 100 which manages the freights and to have all the information needed to each of said offices.
  • a single office only will have the possibility to send the offer requests for the freights, to receive them and to confirm them with the chosen carrier, for clear organizational reasons.
  • this office is the warehouse 11 , which is connected to the server 100 through the server 10.
  • Figure 6 shows a different embodiment of the device to carry out the method of the invention.
  • all the software of the information system 30 is resident in the user's 1 server 10. Also in this embodiment all the previously described functions and each of the information means 31 , 35 will be present in the information system 30 without any change.
  • the server 10 of the user 1 rather than being connected through a communication network, as internet, to the server 100 of a service provider, uses a software 30 provided by said service provider and directly installed on the information means 10.
  • connection to the telematic network only involves the link with the carriers 41 , 42, 43 or the carriers 51 , 52, 53. All the other operations, that is comparing, monitoring, making statistics and documents printing, are provided with the aid of the software installed on the information system 30, properly installed on the user's 1 server 10 too.
  • the user is able to choose the more advantageous offer available on the market in that moment for each freight to be planned, and thus to optimize his resources. It is also evident that the control of each freight is made easier, although the freights are assigned to different couriers.
  • the storage of statistic information inside the server 100 allows the competent departments, like the purchase office, to obtain data concerning the convenience and the reliability of the carriers, the choice of the freights methods and thus to optimize said freights.

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  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Economics (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
  • Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • Operations Research (AREA)
  • Development Economics (AREA)
  • Strategic Management (AREA)
  • Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un procédé d'optimisation du fret de marchandises pour utilisateurs, chaque fois en relation avec les transporteurs, selon les étapes suivantes: l'utilisateur (1) est relié via un ordinateur (10) à un système d'information (30) de fournisseur de services; il (1) envoie des demandes de livraison de marchandises au système (30), spécifiant la destination, la quantité de marchandises et les caractéristiques physiques des marchandises, ainsi que le délai de livraison souhaité; le système (30) transmet via un réseau de télécommunications les demandes à chaque transporteur (41, 42, 43; 51, 52, 53) en relation avec l'utilisateur. Le procédé comprend aussi les étapes suivantes: le système (30) reçoit les offres de livraison depuis les transporteurs, traite, compare, organise et transmet ces offres à l'utilisateur; celui-ci (1) choisit une offre pour chaque demande et confirme le fret de chaque demande auprès du transporteur choisi; le système (30) relie l'utilisateur (1) à chaque transporteur choisi, de sorte que l'utilisateur puisse préparer les documents requis pour le fret; et le système (30) fournit une base de données de fret programmé et pris accompli dans une zone de mémoire réservée (20).
EP04710470A 2004-02-12 2004-02-12 Procede d'optimisation du fret de marchandises Withdrawn EP1716523A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
PCT/IT2004/000055 WO2005088499A1 (fr) 2004-02-12 2004-02-12 Procede d'optimisation du fret de marchandises

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1716523A1 true EP1716523A1 (fr) 2006-11-02

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ID=34957273

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP04710470A Withdrawn EP1716523A1 (fr) 2004-02-12 2004-02-12 Procede d'optimisation du fret de marchandises

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1716523A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2005088499A1 (fr)

Family Cites Families (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20010025268A1 (en) * 2000-01-11 2001-09-27 Hnat Jeffrey W. Method for brokering freight transportation routes and warehousing space
US20020019759A1 (en) * 2000-06-16 2002-02-14 Sundararajan Arunapuram Transportation planning, execution, and freight payments managers and related methods
EP1280079A1 (fr) * 2001-07-26 2003-01-29 Papierfabrik Schoeller & Hoesch Gmbh & Co. Kg Système et procédé informatique pour la commercialisation de biens tangibles dans un système de communication électronique

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See references of WO2005088499A1 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2005088499A1 (fr) 2005-09-22

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