Aptean Customer at The Co-operative Group Named Winner of Food Logistics’ 2021 Rock Stars of the Supply Chain Awards

Russell Brace, an Aptean customer and the winner of Food Logistics’ 2021 “Rock Stars of the Supply Chain” awards, is the National Transport Support Manager for The Co-operative Group (Co-op). This award program features influential individuals in the food and beverage industry whose achievements, hard work and vision have shaped the global supply chain.

Russell has been with the Co-op for 18 years and a strong supporter of Aptean’s—using Aptean Routing & Scheduling Paragon Edition software to optimize and automate route planning in the global cold food supply chain. At the Co-op, Russell is involved in work that massively improves the efficiency of delivery operations. This often involves automating repetitive processes or finding ways to better integrate disparate ordering, route planning and WMS systems.

The Co-op is the UK’s sixth-largest consumer retailer with a diverse family of businesses, including food retail and wholesale, e-pharmacy, insurance services, legal services and funeral care, with over 3,700 locations. And Russell keeps busy—he manages a fleet of 1,300 trucks that make 34,000 weekly deliveries across the UK.

Russell said, “I have been promoting and leveraging Aptean’s solution to automate route planning for many years. This software has already helped eliminate nearly 1 million miles of drive time, and I’m excited for continuous process improvement breakthroughs to improve route planning and execution further. With Aptean Routing & Scheduling, I have pioneered the testing and adoption of new, real-time functionality that increases efficiency, improved transport management customer experience and automated route planning to reduce 551 tons of CO2 emissions in one year.”

Food Logistics is the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product through the global cold food supply chain. And this year, Russell was recognized by Food Logistics for meeting and exceeding industry standards in safety, efficiency, productivity and innovation with Aptean Routing & Scheduling Paragon Edition software.

“These professionals are making waves in an industry upended by the global pandemic. Whether it’s pivoting into a different channel or implementing emerging technologies, these supply chain leaders prove that hard work pays off,” says Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive. “These winners collaborated, optimized, developed, educated and played a critical role in the survival and success of their company amid a global pandemic. I am honored to recognize these individuals, and continue to extend my utmost gratitude to everyone in the cold food supply chain industry for their time, efforts and innovations to keep food moving through the chain in a safe and efficient manner.”

Leveraging Aptean Routing & Scheduling, Russell created a robust, fast-paced logistics operation that supports store replenishment of food products from seven different distribution centers/terminals across the UK.

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