Transportation and green logistics issues to be explored on September 23-24

Optrak Distribution Software Ltd today announced that it has partnered with the LANCS Initiative, an academic collaboration between Lancaster, Nottingham, Cardiff and Southampton universities.  Together Optrak and LANCS are running a two day workshop on Vehicle Routing and Scheduling to be held on September 23 and 24 at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

The workshop aims to bring together academics working in vehicle routing and scheduling and professionals working in the transport and logistics industry.  A keynote address will be provided by Daniele Vigo from the University of Bologna with contributions from other academics and practitioners including Tim Pigden, Managing Director of Optrak who will look at the variety and complexity of problems encountered in implementations of Optrak across different industries.

Workshop details:

• Date:  23-24 September, 2010
• Start time:  registration at 10.30 on Thursday 23^rd September
• End time:  the event will finish around 16.00 on Friday 24^th September
• Venue: Birmingham Conservatoire
• Pre-registration fee:  £30 (pre-registration is required)

There will be ample opportunity for discussion of key issues during the workshop, with a view to defining potential research projects and forming collaborative teams for tackling these projects.

Chris Potts, Professor of Operational Research at the University of Southampton and Joint Coordinator of the Transport and Logistics cluster of the LANCS Initiative, added: “The LANCS Initiative has as one of its main goals the building of theory for practice.  The UK has made significant contributions to the development of algorithms for classical vehicle and scheduling problems.  However, the impact of this work would be much greater if more aspects that are present in real-world applications were included in these algorithms.  The workshop will provide academics with increased awareness of the needs of industry with a view to refocusing their research into problems that better address these needs.”

Tim Pigden, Managing Director of Optrak stated, “Transport is one of the largest costs for many businesses. In order to drive efficiency, distribution companies are developing ever-more sophisticated logistics solutions. Like most commercial vehicle routing and scheduling solutions, our optimisation techniques have their origins in academic work. As we deal with the complexities of modern distribution practice across different industries we find we are frequently breaking new ground where there is little or no relevant research – but at the same time paying too little attention to what is going on in the universities. We see this workshop as an excellent opportunity to bring the communities closer together to address the real problems our industry is facing.”

To obtain a booking form visit http://www.lancs-initiative.ac.uk/index.php/Transport-and-Logistics-Events/.  You can also obtain more information on booking from Rosemary Hindley, R.Hindley@lancaster.ac.uk, or telephone +44 (0) 1524 592937.

To receive updates about this event, join the Optrak Linked In Group at  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?homeNewMember=&gid=3311659&trk=.