Case Study

Optimizing Last Mile Distribution in Zambia

Getting health commodities to where they are needed most.
Supply Chain
A smiling woman wearing safety gear in the middle of a warehouse

The Challenge

The Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) is responsible for distribution of essential health commodities to public health facilities in Zambia. In ZAMMSA warehouses, transportation planning is just one step in a complex set of logistics processes that ensure essential health commodities get from warehouses to the public health facilities which order them. In planning outbound transportation, ZAMMSA staff relied on historical experience and intuition to make these decisions. Manual processes led to underused trucks, higher costs, frustrated staff, and often delayed or incomplete deliveries.  

Our Solution

Dispatch Optimization Tool

Chemonics introduced a smart route optimization tool that can be run by planners in ZAMMSA warehouses to calculate the best delivery plans using real-time data. The dispatch optimization tool or “DOT” works by combining commodity volumetric data with other data points (e.g., facility-level order data, facility-level GIS data, 3PL truck size/volume, and 3PL cost data) and applies mathematical optimization through open-source platforms, like OpenRoute Service, Google OR-Tools, and Python programming. The software runs trillions of sequences to solve for the optimal grouping of facilities on a predetermined route, sequencing of facilities, and vehicle size to optimize for cost and logistical efficiencies.   

Users load a list of orders (data) into the tool, follow the guided user experience, and then solve for the optimal set of dispatches and review the results. The suggested dispatch groupings and sequences, along with truck assignments, inform warehouse picking and packing activities and the ordering of appropriate delivery vehicles to facilitate delivery of health commodities to the hubs and service delivery points. This automated loading and vehicle planning replaces manual guesswork — reducing delays resulting in more efficient delivery to patients and improved morale of warehouse operators. 

Two men on motorcycles transport malaria nets on a dirt road
Three medical professionals in white coats look at a computer

The Impact

Optimized route planning that results in on-time distribution of commodities.

The DOT determines the cheapest configuration of vehicles that maximizes truck utilization and enables advanced planning, allowing warehouse workers to better allocate their time and 3PLs to pre-position trucks. This data has improved efficiency in the route planning and distribution of commodities because ZAMMSA staff have all the information needed, resulting in the reduced time taken to plan for the distribution of commodities and ensuring that commodities reach the facilities on schedule.  

  • Enabled faster, smarter deliveries to 650+ health facilities, ensuring essential medicines reach communities on time.  
  • Improved distribution schedule adherence from an average of 50% to 99%.  
  • Strengthened coordination of warehouse picking, packing, staging, and loading activities.   
  • Increased agility due to ability to re-plan routes based on actual needs.  
  • Enhanced operational efficiency and resource allocation.  
  • Elevated morale of staff due to alleviation of frustration of having stock left behind. 

 

Two men wearing safety gear sit at a desk making copies of documents