February 2018 – Heavy-cargo disposition optimized by students

“Yes” or “No” or “Agree” or “Disagree” – within a computer program, these decisions will destine the way you are carrying on. And often faster than a human ever could. But he is in demand when it comes to the development of new approaches to put the previously programmed processes to the test, with the aim to improve them.

With this ambition, Universal Transport works closely with educational institutions in the region, such as the Campus Paderborn of the University of Applied Sciences and the departments of Business and Information Systems of the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld.Out of this cooperation, five aspiring business informatics scientists from the Bielefeld FH under the direction of Prof. Dr. med. Achim Schmidtmann, a project emerged, which analyzed the operational processes of heavy cargo disposition. For this purpose, the processes in the Universal Transport branches in Paderborn and Prague were examined.

With three so-called milestone reports, the students provided the first results of their survey, which already aroused a lot of interest on the part of Universal Transport and left the impression that in terms of more IT support for the dispatchers its going in the right direction.The general question was to structure the complex work in the disposition by computer tools so that the disposition of trucks, semi-trailers and professional drivers is much easier.

In the final presentation at the end of 2017, the project team headed by Prof. Dr. med. Achim Schmidtmann presented their solution proposals to those responsible at Universal Transport.Some approaches to process optimization were so practicable that they could be implemented immediately in the disposition.In-depth alterations, which were also suggested, require a longer preparation phase. In unison, however, both sides affirmed that this project has a desire for more, when it comes to the application of theoretically acquired knowledge in practice.