Greggs is using Paragon’s routing and scheduling software to optimise the performance of its distribution operation as part of a £100 million investment programme that is reshaping its supply chain within the UK. Most recently, the UK’s leading bakery food-on-the-go retailer was able to model transport requirements following the consolidation of its Edinburgh and Glasgow bakeries to improve fleet utilisation by over 30% and remove almost 900 miles a week from its local plans.

“Following the decision to develop a centre of excellence that would service all shops in Scotland, we had the opportunity to examine our transport plans to target cost reductions and improve standards,” explains Richard Penna, Group Logistics Manager at Greggs. “The Paragon routing and scheduling software quickly enabled us to identify where improvements could be made and create highly-efficient multi-drop route plans that would better serve our retail network.”

Greggs had previously operated 35 18-tonne rigids, split between the Edinburgh and Glasgow bakeries, that serviced each of the 260 shops twice a day. With the planned expansion of the Glasgow site to cover all Scottish shops , the company used Paragon’s Multi Depot software to undertake a strategic review of the transport operation. As a result, Greggs has been able to resize its fleet to just 24 commercial vehicles by optimising multi-drop route plans, realigning driver shifts and removing a trunking operation. 

Despite the distance of many vehicle journeys increasing since the site consolidation – with 80 Edinburgh stores now being fulfilled direct from Glasgow – Greggs has been able to significantly reduce the overall mileage travelled through improved planning. This has contributed to a fuel saving of more than 2%, equating to reductions of around 35 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

“We are using the Paragon software to regularly review the efficiency of our multi-drop route planning across the UK, as well as remodel specific areas of the operation as part of a larger major change project. We are making record levels of investment in our infrastructure to create a blueprint for logistics that can be applied across the business. This needs to be backed-up by best-practice route planning to achieve optimum performance and support our transformation into the leading food-on-the-go retailer,” concludes Penna.

William Salter, Managing Director of Paragon Software Systems commented: “The food-on-the-go sector is rapidly expanding in the UK, with retailers investing heavily in product and service innovation, often targeting peak demand at different times of the day. Specialists such as Greggs face growing pressure on their supply chains to ensure their customers have the choice and availability they demand. The flexible nature of Paragon’s routing and scheduling software means that Greggs can use it both operationally and strategically to achieve the highest levels of efficiency, utilisation and service performance.”

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About the Author: John Loughran