Chris Goossens

TNT Express is one of the world’s leading express delivery companies. The introduction of operations research (O.R.) at TNT Express during the past seven years has significantly improved decision-making quality and resulted in millions of Euros in cost savings. The Global Optimization Program (GO) initiative has led to the development of an entire suite of optimization solutions and the GO Academy, TNT’s management development program for teaching the optimization principles. The tools and available knowledge allow operating units to analyze performance, identify optimization opportunities and overcome operational challenges. To date, the most significant savings originate from the network routing and scheduling solution (TRANS), the tactical route planning solution for pickups and deliveries (SHORTREC), and the supply chain solution (DELTA Supply Chain). As a result of all these initiatives, O.R. is now an effective part of TNT Express' DNA, and over the period 2008-2011, more than €207 million in savings were realized.