7 October, 2021

Portakabin deploys Zetes’ product tracking solution

Posted on 7 October, 2021 by Keith McKinley

Portakabin, the market leading manufacturer of modular buildings, has invested in a state-of-the-art tracking solution from Zetes to enable complete visibility of its modular products through their entire lifecycle.

Portakabin is the UK’s market leader in modular construction, operating across the UK, Ireland and Europe. The building modules are manufactured at a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in York and assembled on-site with final configuration undertaken to the customer’s precise specification.

With the introduction of ZetesMedea, Portakabin will now have an automated solution to track the movement of modules across various stages of their lifecycle, from manufacture through to installation and eventual refurbishment. In addition, it will be able to easily demonstrate compliance with relevant building regulations and provide live reporting of module status.

During the manufacturing process the modules are tagged with a unique identifier in the form of a QR code which will be scanned at defined stages of its lifecycle. The information captured at each stage will be exchanged and integrated into Portakabin’s SAP system, not only giving it full visibility of asset location, but also full lifecycle intelligence for enhanced asset.

Ian Donal, Head of Supply Chain, Portakabin, explains: “We chose Zetes given their demonstratable record of delivering similar projects that vastly improve business efficiency. Previously it wasn’t always possible to gain the understanding we required, and where we could, it would involve a lot of manual effort and time. With Zetes, we will be able to have full visibility of the lifecycle of our buildings enabling us to continue to grow our business even in challenging market conditions.”

Amir Harel, UK Managing Director, Zetes, adds: “We are delighted to be able to provide a well-known British brand such as Portakabin with a solution that will enable them to improve their business efficiency and gain better insight into their operations, we look forward to continuing to work with them in partnership to provide further efficiency improvements.”

Portakabin deploys Zetes’ product tracking solution

Posted on 7 October, 2021 by David Priestman

Descartes unveils AI telematics suite

Posted on 7 October, 202129 July, 2025 by David Priestman

Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, has unveiled artificial intelligence (AI)- and machine learning (ML)-based enhancements to its Routing Mobile & Telematics suite. The enhancements help customers achieve outstanding optimisation results and learn from real-world outcomes to maximise fleet performance.

“Descartes has a long history of innovation, including robotic process automation for standardisation and automation of route planning processes, elastic cloud optimisation to scale for large fleet operations and same-day route optimisation to dynamically promise time-definite same-day deliveries,” said Sergio Torres, Senior Vice President at Descartes.

“Our AI- and ML-based enhancements are indicative of our continued efforts to enhance our routing solutions to simplify and automate configuration and system tuning for greater model accuracy and improved operational results.”

The AI and ML enhancements include:

Descartes AI Advisor, an intelligent configuration and monitoring module, emulates Descartes’ route optimisation experts’ knowledge. After walking the customer through a series of questions, Descartes AI Advisor automatically configures optimisation settings and parameters. This simplifies and accelerates the configuration process. Configuration scenarios are compared to determine the best route optimisation strategies to meet business goals. AI-Advisor can evaluate the results of the system in operation and recommend configuration changes to maintain optimal performance.
Machine learning algorithms have been applied to location, transit and stop-time calculations. Predictions for these key performance factors are continuously refined by monitoring real-world outcomes from mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) sources in combination with influencing variables. Tens of thousands of data points and variables are evaluated continuously to make learned adjustments to improve route planning accuracy and execute more predictable and efficient routes.

“AI and ML are perfect extensions to our advanced route optimisation and execution capabilities,” said Ken Wood, Executive Vice President at Descartes. “From dynamic delivery appointment scheduling through planning and real-time route execution, we’ve used AI and ML to improve our ability to deliver the next level of fleet performance for customers.”

Descartes unveils AI telematics suite

Posted on 7 October, 202129 July, 2025 by David Priestman

The AI and ML enhancements include:

Descartes AI Advisor, an intelligent configuration and monitoring module, emulates Descartes’ route optimisation experts’ knowledge. After walking the customer through a series of questions, Descartes AI Advisor automatically configures optimisation settings and parameters. This simplifies and accelerates the configuration process. Configuration scenarios are compared to determine the best route optimisation strategies to meet business goals. AI-Advisor can evaluate the results of the system in operation and recommend configuration changes to maintain optimal performance.
Machine learning algorithms have been applied to location, transit and stop-time calculations. Predictions for these key performance factors are continuously refined by monitoring real-world outcomes from mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) sources in combination with influencing variables. Tens of thousands of data points and variables are evaluated continuously to make learned adjustments to improve route planning accuracy and execute more predictable and efficient routes.

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