IVU.rail at SBB Cargo

Initial situation

SBB Cargo, the freight transport division of Swiss Federal Railways, handles almost a quarter of all freight transport service in Switzerland. In the highly cost-sensitive logistics sector, optimum planning and utilisation of resources deliver crucial competitive advantages. Extremely volatile planning conditions (such as changes to customer orders or train path availability at short notice, adverse weather conditions etc.) make planning more difficult. Changes can occur until just before the actual day of production – with impacts on vehicle and staff deployment that have to be communicated reliably and promptly. SBB Cargo previously used several different systems for this highly complex task.

Objectives

In launching an invitation to tender for a new system for planning and dispatching of its resources, SBB Cargo pursued four main objectives: the existing diverse planning and dispatching systems were to be replaced by an integrated standard system. At the same time, SBB Cargo targeted a substantial decrease in maintenance expenditure and IT operating costs.

In addition, in-house planning processes were to be simplified and adapted to the standard product to be used. Process automation and the use of optimisation components were to accelerate planning and improve the quality of planning outcomes. One particular focal point here was the reduced use of resources through optimum planning and utilisation of vehicle and staff.

The integrated employee portal IVU.pad.employee also facilitates communication between dispatchers and staff.

Due to the high flexibility and scalability, SBB Cargo is also relying on hosting IVU.rail in the IVU.cloud. This enables all the relevant employees to work simultaneously on the highly available servers via a secure connection. IVU is also taking over the entire technical management of operations in close cooperation with SBB Cargo.

Outcome

The introduction of IVU.rail has enabled SBB Cargo to plan and dispatch vehicles and staff in a fully integrated process from a long-term and short-term perspective. IVU.rail helps to ensure optimum utilisation of resources and to adapt planning to changed transportation.

With the employee portal, all relevant information is available and up to date, even when changes are made at short notice. Printouts and notices are no longer required. Because of the IVU.cloud, SBB Cargo receives regular updates and new releases.

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