Albert Heijn
E-commerce

Another well-known application that is fed by Simacan is Albert Heijn’s track & trace application. Using the online portal or the AH app, consumers can see when the delivery person is at their door – obviously, within the time period that they specified when placing their order. Simacan ensures that the delivery time is continuously updated. This is done based on the actual progress of the trip, the location (via GPS) of the vans, and the current traffic situation.

Albert Heijn uses Simacan to maintain control of planning. The planning and support employees can see exactly how far a delivery person has got on their trip and the exact status of that trip. The planners mainly work with the ‘exceptions’ tab. This overview shows which trips deviate from the schedule, and where things may need to be managed to continue to meet the delivery conditions. Planners can intervene immediately by changing stops or sending out extra vans, for example. Meanwhile, the schedule is continuously updated and revised automatically (continuous planning). These changes are immediately visible to all stakeholders.

Reliability and a high service level to end customers are priorities. But at the same time, Albert Heijn e-commerce also wants to make its transport activities more sustainable, such as by optimising the use of capacity and minimising driver waiting times (for example, avoiding drivers arriving too early at a delivery address). Another issue is whether drivers are allowed enough time for a proper break. Simacan offers support for these business objectives. Planners can continuously improve planning using the data and analysis options in Simacan.

Deviations from the schedule are carefully analysed. Why does the stop time at one logistics hub take much longer than at another hub? Why does it take longer than average to unload the groceries in a particular street? These are just two examples of issues that can be flagged, analysed and improved by AH as the basis for increasing the efficiency of the AH operation.

Albert Heijn has built up a lot of experience with online grocery delivery in the Netherlands. AH was one of the first supermarket chains to do this, and the entire operation is now a well-oiled machine. Parent company Ahold Delhaize would like to roll out the entire home delivery concept, with all underlying tools and systems, in other European countries in the future. Simacan is fully prepared for this: 100% cloud-based means, among other things, that we are able to integrate and process all data flows. This also means that scaling up is simple. We are proud of our many years of collaboration with Ahold Delhaize, and we look forward to taking international steps together.

For more information, read the story of our customer Albert Heijn Transport, the retail division of the Ahold Delhaize group responsible for the transport of goods to all brick-and-mortar Albert Heijn, Gall & Gall, and Etos stores >

Albert Heijn Transport