Stewart’s Shops, a chain of convenience stores headquartered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., turned to Paragon Software Systems, Inc. to deploy a single depot solution to automate the planning of daily and seasonal deliveries.

The Frisco, Texas-based manufacturer of vehicle routing and scheduling optimization software offers a solution that automates the manual process of planning and scheduling deliveries to the retail outlets, thus lowering mileage, reducing fuel usage and improving truckload efficiencies.

“We have a tremendous amount of variables that affect delivery to each shop, such as time windows, delivery door restrictions and vehicle restrictions that go into planning,” says Ryan Faville, transportation manager at Stewart’s Shops. “With the Paragon software, we get a holistic look at our operations, and have been able to make significant improvements in vehicle utilization. Optimizing routes with Paragon has helped us to considerably reduce miles driven.”

“Paragon Single Depot optimizes truck routes to cut transportation costs, provides a more reliable delivery service reduces planning time and lowers fuel costs,” says William Salter, CEO and President of Paragon Software Systems. “The number of parameters that go into planning the routes for Stewart’s Shops is huge. Entering all the different store variables for daily delivery of gas and other products, along with seasonal delivery requirements, and then calculating the most efficient route, could not be done on a manual basis. Automating this process saves time, improves scheduling and reduces overall mileage.”

Stewart’s Shops operates more than 300 stores located across upstate New York and southern Vermont, with two thirds of the shops selling gas. The company has a 50-truck fleet that hauls gas, dry goods, milk and grocery items to the stores on a daily basis. Orders are filled in Stewart’s Shops’ distribution center, and then placed on trucks for delivery. The Paragon software stores information about store delivery requirements, required delivery windows, truck capacities, driver shift information and other transportation parameters. Using up-to-date digital maps, the software calculates optimized routes and schedules to minimize overall transportation costs.

“We have found Paragon’s software to be a very useful tool, especially when it comes to improving utilization of our vehicles and increasing efficiencies on deliveries,” adds Faville.