KPI benchmark for minimizing unproductive driving times in service

The customer

Lavazza Professional is a well-known manufacturer and operator of vending machines. Although cold beverage and snack vending machines are also part of the portfolio, the company is primarily known for its strong market position in hot beverage vending machines. - especially coffee. The customers come from a wide variety of sectors, with medium-sizedThe majority of these companies come from the manufacturing and logistics sectors. Service is particularly important. Not only because the customer companies expect the machines to be available to all employees at all times, but also because Lavazza Professional generates its revenue from consumables - If one of the machines is defective, no turnover is generated.

Goals at a glance

Mathematically calculated optimum for productivity measurement

Strategic decision-making with what-if scenarios

Transparency and overview of structures and dependencies

Basis for improvements in other national companies

The project in detail

The challenge

Lavazza Professional employs a team of service technicians to ensure the smooth operation of all installed machines. They are each responsible for clearly defined areas. The scope of the service includes regular maintenance work and assignments to rectify faults. While the former can be planned with long lead times, the planning cycles for rectifying faults are very short. The latter make up a significantly larger proportion of all assignments and therefore represent a major challenge when scheduling orders. Here, it is not only important to rectify the fault as quickly as possible, but also to keep the proportion of unproductive driving times as low as possible. The aim of this project is a study to investigate whether the use of software-supported route allocation would lead to a significant reduction in the proportion of driving time.

The solution

In a first step, historical order data from the last three years was analyzed in detail. In addition to many other factors, the location and urgency of the order played a role. On this basis, OPTANO developed a simulation model that accurately depicts all relevant order scheduling processes at Lavazza Professional. In addition, detailed geo-information was used to implement optimal route planning with the aim of minimizing the proportion of travel time. On this basis, various scenarios could now be calculated in order to answer the question of how high the productivity uplift would have been by using optimized route planning.

The result

Transparency and openness of results are essential prerequisites for a relevant result, especially in feasibility studies. This is the only way for studies to deliver results and findings that were not expected in this form in advance. It is precisely the task of a study to investigate whether mathematical optimization can lead to (sufficiently large) savings - or not. The study at Lavazza has shown how important this approach to such problems is.

The simulation in various scenarios has shown that the introduction of theIf an optimized route assignment were implemented, only a marginal uplift would be achieved. The intelligently tailored area allocation and the high level of experience and organization of the employees, many of whom have been with the company for many years, lead to productivity close to the mathematically optimal result. There is also another decisive factor: the good cooperation within the team. This means that tasks can be distributed quickly and unbureaucratically among the team when circumstances require it - For example, unplanned new ordersThe results of the processes are highly dynamic. This creates a high level of dynamism in the processes, which is a key factor in the good performance compared to the mathematically calculated optimum.

The intensive study of the available data led to a deeper understanding of the processes and cross-dependencies within the company. As a result, Lavazza was able to identify many measures that should continue to ensure and promote the excellent work of the team. The focus is now on improving knowledge transfer, autonomy and team-building aspects among the technicians. The results of the German study have aroused great interest in the other national companies and also serve as a possible basis for tactical and strategic process improvements there.

Uwe Steinhardt

Finance Director Lavazza Professional

How did you come across OPTANO?

Due to my previous experience in the field of operations research, I specifically searched the Internet for potential providers. It was important to me that the company not only had the mathematical know-how, but also a high level of consulting expertise.

In your opinion, what was the biggest challenge in implementing the solution?

The model for the scenario calculation should reflect reality as accurately as possible without becoming overly complex. In my experience, there is always a latent risk of over-engineering in such projects. At the same time, it was important to me that the model delivers explainable and plausible results at all times. As you can imagine, it's a fine line. But we managed it together.

Do you have a favorite feature of the OPTANO solution and if so, what is it?

What-if scenarios are fascinating. It is extremely exciting to simply change parameters and be able to look at their effects on all areas that are directly or indirectly affected. It's a bit like being able to look into the future.

What do you appreciate about working with OPTANO?

You can tell that the colleagues at OPTANO are eager to find optimal solutions for every problem. There is real passion at play. Added to this is their extensive project experience, but also their agility and methodological expertise.

Do you have any questions? Please contact us!

Denise Lelle

Business Development Manager