How Vistula Components absorbed a forty percent peak with the same fleet

Company Overview

Vistula Components sees volume rise around 40 percent in the ten weeks before Christmas. Peak had always been covered by hiring vehicles and drivers at short notice and at premium rates.

Challenge

• Peak capacity was bought at short notice at close to double the normal rate
• Manual planning could not keep pace with peak volume, so vehicles ran below capacity
• Over hiring was the only way to feel safe, and it cost around 90,000 euros a season
• Service levels still dipped in the two busiest weeks despite the extra spend

Solution

• FerroRoute plans peak weeks against actual forecast volume rather than last year's assumptions
• Vehicle fill is optimised per run, which found capacity nobody knew existed
• Hired capacity is planned in advance where genuinely needed instead of booked in panic
• Daily replanning absorbs volume swings without a planner rebuilding the whole schedule

Results

• The full 40 percent peak uplift was carried on the existing 22 vehicles
• Hired vehicle spend fell from around 90,000 euros a season to 12,000
• Average vehicle fill in peak rose from 71 percent to 89 percent
• On time delivery in the two busiest weeks held above 95 percent for the first time

Customer Testimonial

"For years we treated peak as something you survive by throwing money at it. It turned out we had the capacity all along, we just could not see how to arrange it fast enough by hand. The hire bill going from ninety thousand to twelve is the number my finance director quotes."

Jan Kowalski, Warehouse Director, Vistula Components

Key Benefits

• Peak planned against real forecast volume
• Vehicle fill optimised on every run
• Hired capacity booked deliberately, not in panic
• Daily replanning that absorbs volume swings

Ferro & Sons Logistics found the capacity Vistula Components already owned, carrying a forty percent peak without the vehicles it used to hire.