AMR Research: Quintiq Reduces the Risk of Carrier Failure

Selling product or service is one thing, getting the product or passenger to a destination on time is another. Given the inefficiencies of rail transportation networks and how important airworthiness of aircraft is, it is daunting to consider how much failure can affect the smooth operation of a supply chain and indeed how frequently it can occur. Worse still, such failures are not always clearly identified and can often be perceived as the fault of the supply chain planning operation, or of the company that sold the service, rather than the intermediary. Conscious of this issue, Netherlands-based supply chain and scheduling vendor Quintiq chose to attack the problem at the source by targeting rail and air contractors with its planning products. It is proving a profitable venture, as the company's 2002 year-end figures testify: privately owned Quintiq reportedly increased its profits and revenue by more than 100% last year.

Quintiq's products are very flexible, designed to attack each planning need from a single functional core, letting users look at a supply chain in terms of the total process and satisfy each planning requirement as it arises. Users include Transavia, KLM Catering Services and Railion. Transavia is a small passenger airline serving 70 holiday destinations with a fleet of 27 aircraft. Due to the low margins experienced in the market, aircraft up time, or the time available for usage, makes the difference between profit and loss in a short season. Transavia will initially use Quintiq's product for aircraft maintenance planning and scheduling, but the company is already looking at other uses for Quintiq's planning engine, such as workforce planning. KLM Catering Services, on the other hand, had a problem with delays and inaccuracies in its scheduling of passenger meals. Again, fast rescheduling was a key requirement, whilst the application was very different to that required for engine maintenance. The third, Railion, is a Benelux company providing the rolling stock and services for the transportation of a vast range of products, such as steel, coal, ore, paper, timber, cars, washing machines, computers, and a whole gamut of petrochemical products. Railion had two major problems: planning and scheduling maintenance of the rolling stock, similar to that of Transavia, which was exacerbated by the heavy use of the stock, causing unpredictable failures, and secondly, it required fast response and scheduling of the running times of the stock itself. Railion has now increased train punctuality by 15% to more than 95%.

Quintiq is small compared to many in the market, but its product's configuration flexibility and its eye for planning needs up and down the supply chain are certain to help it grow fast. One of its endearing features is the product's ability to be used in so many different planning scenarios, aiding faster return on the original investment in the product.

Source: 2003, AMR Research, Nigel Montgomery

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