News
Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg implements ORTEC’s vehicle routing and dispatch solution as an exam tool
May 19, 2008
As part of their examinations in the 3-year undergraduate program in Logistics Management at Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg (PHL), students will from now on be expected to effectively identify the most efficient routes by using Shortrec, ORTEC’s vehicle routing and dispatch solution. “Given that more than 30 percent of our students choose to work as transport planners after graduation, proficiency in the most widely used planning and scheduling software available definitely provides added value,” said project supervisor Toni Fonteyn, instructor in Logistics Software and Head of Logistics Research at the college.
Market research
The students at PHL conducted their own market research, comparing a number of different providers. Toni Fonteyn: “They chose ORTEC’s vehicle routing and dispatch solution because they feel it is the most efficient and user-friendly of all the applications on the market. ORTEC Shortrec will be implemented as a practice tool and be part of the examination for our Virtual Business course, which is taught to our second-year and third-year students. “As part of the course, students learn how to optimize the logistics business processes of a virtual company (as part of a network of 3,000 other ‘practice companies’.) We use the most up-to-date software for the course – in addition to ORTEC Shortrec, we also use SAP applications. Shortrec will be linked to an ERP system – a team of Computer Science students is currently creating an interface between ORTEC Shortrec and SAP’s Business One software.”
Always room for new talent
Lotte Berghman, who is supervising the project on behalf of ORTEC, is pleased with the progress the students have made so far: “Several other schools have also expressed an interest in working with us, but we’re particularly proud that these students have chosen to use our software – we feel that’s really significant. We hope that the students who are currently learning to use ORTEC will be inspired by us and the work we do in Operations Research, as we’re always looking for bright young logistics professionals to join our company. The field of Operations Research is not only exciting but also very challenging, and we’d like these students to become aware of that. ORTEC is one of the few companies involved in Operational Research and its practical application on a daily basis – we’ve implemented our solutions at major corporations such as Shell, Inbev, Heineken, TNT, and KLM.”
About Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg
Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg (PHL), nicknamed ‘Laptop College’, is a modern, business and research-oriented, international and successful undergraduate college. Offering a wide selection of courses ranging from Accountancy to Pop & Rock and Marketing, PHL has a basic curriculum of 20 academic programs, including a program in Logistics Management. With 175 full-time students, PHL is the leading provider of undergraduate Logistics courses in Flanders. For more information, please contact lotte.berghman@ortec.be