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Forecasting & Planning
This software module is fundamental to establishing the automatic relationship between the Operational Schedule and Mobile Virtual Stores. The Operational Schedule is imported into the system from the operator's operational systems. Routing schedules are analyzed and coded in a way that the planning criteria groups the routes so that the planning business rules applying to assortments, inventory standards, and promotions are associated automatically to the schedule of operations or departures. The output of this module is the Onboard Retail (OBR) Provisioning Schedule, which can be used by the caterers or handlers in pre-departure preparation. This provisioning schedule is then used by the Warehouse Logistics module to pick-up, replenish and prepare specific inventories to load, and the POS Manager component to load the product and inventory information into handheld Point-of-Sale (POS) devices or server-based POS distributed via seatback screens.
Store Optimization
This software module optimizes the provisioning load plan based on the route, the inventory standard associated to the route, its historic or expected consumption per product/service, the characteristics of the products to board, the capabilities of the ground handlers per station, and the minimization of the handling and ground transportation movements. This optimization component is especially efficient in complex or long routings that present several options for provisioning or replenishment. The input to this module is the OBR provisioning schedule and the output is the same schedule showing a modified load plan with optimization applied.
Warehouse Logistics
The pre-departure operation ends with the physical preparation of the galley equipment (trolleys, carriers, containers, etc) loaded or replenished with new inventory to be sold onboard. This tool allows ground handlers to see the schedule, select the departures to prepare ahead of time, modify the load plan if necessary — due to last-minute changes — prepare, seal, control, annotate any issues and dispatch the trolleys or containers. The module comprises outbound and inbound components. Inbound controls the arrival of galley equipment, seals issues, inventory offload counts, and assignment of equipment for replenishment and preparation for the outbound operation. The offload and replenishment operation supports automatic "pick-lists" reflecting inventory standards per departure and is configurable by item quantities associated to the trolley or container unit (called assemblies), or to drawers, trays, sub-containers (called sub-assemblies), and their positions within the assemblies.
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