Customer Case · Nomadia TourSolver
Messer Optimizes Industrial Gas Deliveries by Tanker Truck with Nomadia TourSolver
The Results: 4 Transformed KPIs
Messer Group: 110 Years of Expertise in Industrial, Medical, and Specialty Gases
With more than 110 years of experience, the Messer Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of industrial gases. Its range covers oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, helium, shielding gases, specialty gases, medical gases, and gas mixtures — used in industries as critical as steel, chemicals, healthcare, and food processing.
Liquid gas is delivered by tanker trucks, vehicles with very specific load and speed constraints depending on the type of road. It is in this demanding context, and to optimize its delivery operations in China, that Messer deployed Nomadia TourSolver.
The Transformation: From Manual Planning to Automatic Optimization
- Manual planning by dedicated planners for each plant
- 1 to 2 hours required to plan each route
- No orders accepted after 4 p.m.
- Special deliveries in bad weather conditions, without an appropriate tool
- Sub-optimal vehicle utilization based on load
- Non-optimized itineraries, low on-time delivery rate
- Automatic route planning for all plants
- 50 vehicles and 200 customers planned in less than 10 minutes
- Extended order acceptance: +1h per day
- Automatic adaptation to weather and road conditions
- Speed calculation adapted to each vehicle's load
- +23% on-time delivery rate, -10% km traveled
The Challenges: Unique Operational Constraints in Gas Delivery
- Premature order acceptance cut-off: manual planning required 1 to 2 hours of work, forcing Messer to stop accepting new orders after 4 p.m. every day.
- Tanker truck specifics: a tanker truck's speed on the road varies significantly depending on its load (full or empty) and the type of road. Manual planning could not reliably integrate these variables.
- Unpredictable weather conditions: in China, weather conditions (snow, fog, heavy rain) can drastically affect traffic conditions. Messer had to organize "special deliveries" without an appropriate tool.
- Under-utilized vehicles: without optimization, vehicles were not assigned according to their capacity and actual load, generating unnecessary transport costs.
- Existing TMS insufficient for transport optimization: the existing transport management system had standardized order management well, but did not meet route and route plan optimization needs.
The power of TourSolver's optimization engine allows Messer to process in less than 10 minutes schedules that previously required 1 to 2 hours of manual work per plant. A time saving that frees up order acceptance capacity and radically transforms the planners' organization.
TourSolver and Vector Maps: A Solution Tailored to Gas Transport Specifics
Messer deployed TourSolver combined with vector maps containing all local road information. The solution automatically calculates vehicle speeds on each type of road based on their load, and organizes itineraries and visit order taking into account pre-configured weather conditions.
Integration of all territory-specific road information (China), enabling precise journey time calculation according to road type.
Taking into account tanker truck weight (full / being emptied / empty) to calculate realistic speeds on each road section.
Configuration of weather parameters (snow, rain, fog) that automatically adjust journey times and route sequencing.
50 vehicles and 200 customers planned in less than 10 minutes, where manual planning previously required 1 to 2 hours per plant.
Thanks to automatic calculation, Messer can now accept orders well after 4 p.m., gaining one additional hour of daily order intake.
Shorter itineraries, minimized costs, optimal vehicle utilization, improved customer satisfaction: all of Messer's strategic objectives addressed simultaneously.
The Benefits Experienced by Messer
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+1 Hour Per Day of Order Acceptance
Eliminating the manual planning bottleneck allows Messer to accept orders well after 4 p.m. An extra hour each day that represents a significant commercial gain in a market where responsiveness is a competitive factor.
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+12% Vehicle Utilization Rate
By optimizing tanker truck assignment according to their capacity and volumes to be delivered, TourSolver reduces under-utilized routes and improves overall fleet productivity. A direct gain on cost per delivery.
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-10% Kilometers Traveled
Optimized itineraries, taking into account road types and local conditions, eliminate unnecessary detours. Fewer kilometers means less fuel, less vehicle wear, and a reduced carbon footprint for high-impact tanker trucks.
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+23% On-Time Delivery Rate
The most visible result for customers: a 23% improvement in the rate of deliveries within contractual deadlines. A key indicator in industrial and medical sectors where gas availability is critical to production processes.
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Improved Working Comfort for Route Planners
Planners no longer manually build each route. They supervise and validate automatically generated plans, focusing on exceptional adjustments. A shift in posture that improves quality of working life and reduces the risk of human errors.
A Performance Lever for Constrained Industrial Product Logistics
+23% on-time delivery rate in sectors where a gas supply disruption can halt an entire production line.
-10% km, +12% vehicle utilization: a dual optimization lever on cost per delivery across a tanker truck fleet.
+1h per day of order acceptance: a direct competitive advantage in an industrial market where speed of response makes the difference.
Discover Nomadia TourSolver
The optimization engine that plans 50 vehicles and 200 customers in less than 10 minutes — like Messer.
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