News 2009

Shipping Company Flinter deploys Quintiq planning solution

's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, May 18, 2009

Shipping Company Flinter, one of the largest sea freight companies in the Netherlands, has deployed Quintiq’s crew planning solution. Quintiq-partner The Logic Factory implemented the solution, which is based on standard Quintiq technology.

Flinter uses the solution to plan 500 employees. Currently, the company operates 45 vessels, of which two thirds is owned by Flinter itself. For one third of the vessels Flinter is responsible for the commercial, technical and nautical management. The company also offers services to captain-owners and private sea freighters. These services include supervision of construction, nautical and technical management, crew management, financing and assistance in buying and selling. Flinter also mediates between goods (industries) and service providers (freighters). The shipping company relies on its own vessels as well as on its extensive network.

To optimize all these processes and to deliver on its growth ambitions, Flinter started an orientation on an integrated planning solution for its crew department in 2008. It selected Quintiq’s technology and The Logic Factory’s services. Important reasons for this choice were the flexibility, the decision-support functionality and the open standards, provided by the Quintiq software. This enables for easy integration of the system with other applications.

Planning a crew is a complex puzzle. Not only because the right people have to be planned at the right time and be at the right location on time, but also because initial planning changes constantly which can lead to increased costs. Also, regulations, certifications, individual expertise and skills, as well as availability and daily disruptions play an important role. This requires an intelligent system that supports the planner in a visual manner with alerts and suggestions, when making optimum planning decisions.

Bart Otto, CEO at Flinter: “We are very enthusiastic about this strategic project. Our cooperation with Quintiq implementation partner The Logic Factory went exceptionally well. The collaboration resulted in a quick acceptance of the system, which takes into account all our unique and special demands.”

The Quintiq solution offers Flinter full transparency across its planning. Planners at the crew department have more control, which results in a more detailed tuning of the planning. Practical benefits of the new system include improved work and off duty cycles, which prevent employees from building up a large number of days off. The system helps the planner to match crew, regulations, freight specifications and ship requirements. Flinter is also able to create a long term plan, based on working periods of its crew. In this way the company can offer its employees more job security, resulting in less staff turnover.

The system always takes employee skills into account. In case of disruptions or staff changes it will provide an adjusted planning immediately. The Quintiq system also takes care of all administrative activities, which further improves the efficiency at Flinter.

Arjen Heeres, COO at Quintiq: “Flinter is a leading company in its industry. We are very happy to have worked together with the Logic Factory in creating this unique system within six months, enabling Flinter to now reap the business benefits.”

About Flinter
Flinter is a reliable and dedicated logistical service-provider in the industrial market segment. We have many years of experience in the successful commercial operation of maritime ships. To both captain-owners and shipping companies, we offer a wide range of maritime services. To industries, we are a leading chartering- and freight-forwarding agent. Investors can become co-owners of our ships and make attractive profits.

About The Logic Factory
The Logic Factory specializes in developing advanced software solutions for customers in various industries such as Logistics, Aviation, Manufacturing, and Government. One of our strong beliefs is that the best solutions can only be provided by the best people. Therefore we guarantee to have well trained, exceptionally talented and highly experienced professionals available to provide customers the complex software solutions that gives them a truly competitive advantage The Logic Factory is the software partner for solving your planning, optimization and complex software issues.

About Quintiq
Quintiq provides advanced planning, scheduling and supply chain optimization solutions. The fast-growing company, established in 1997, offers software for planning and optimizing complex business processes throughout the enterprise. The company's headquarters is located in the Netherlands and it has subsidiaries in Australia, China, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, UK, and the USA. For more information: www.quintiq.com