Home

Watsons Water Goes Live with Descartes Routing and Scheduling

Largest Water Company in Hong Kong to Improve Delivery Service
Dec. 11, 2002
2 min read

The Descartes Systems Group Inc., a provider of logistics solutions, announced that Watsons Water, the largest water company in Hong Kong, has gone live with Descartes Routing and Scheduling to improve customer satisfaction for its water delivery.

A subsidiary of A.S. Watson Group (HK) Limited, Watsons Water currently operates Hong Kong's largest water delivery fleet, using 65 company-owned vehicles to make more than 2 million deliveries per year to businesses and homes throughout the region. In a city known to have one of the densest populations and most complex road systems in the world, Watsons Water faces the challenge of scheduling customer orders, then meeting delivery commitments both on time and on budget. As distilled water consumption and the demand for home delivery increases in Hong Kong, the Company is faced with the added challenge of improving profitability and strengthening its customer service.

To scale its fleet operations and meet customer commitments, Watsons Water selected Descartes Routing and Scheduling. With this solution, Watsons Water plans to optimize weekly routes and schedules, rapidly respond to last-minute requests and ensure regular, on-time deliveries to customers. Information from the Descartes system about actual deliveries also will help the Company better plan service schedules for customers that also ensure optimal use of driver resources.

"Last year, we set out to find a routing and scheduling solution that could help us efficiently scale our delivery operations and offer better and more differentiated service to our customers to strengthen the brand in Hong Kong. We looked at several alternative solutions for routing, but found Descartes to offer a proven solution that is rich in functionality, easy to use and can be effectively integrated into our operations," said Chris Atkins, Watsons Water's general manager.

"Descartes Routing and Scheduling continues to attract direct delivery companies and show results across a range of geographies and through some of the most challenging delivery environments in the world," said Manuel Pietra, Descartes' co-chief executive officer and president. "Faced with the challenge of operating a delivery service in Hong Kong, a densely populated region with a complex transportation infrastructure, Watsons Water plans to meet their customer service and cost saving objectives with Descartes."

Source: Descartes Systems Group Inc.

Sign up for Wastewater Digest Newsletters
Get all the latest news and updates.