Abstract
M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
Sustainable development is the buzz word of the twenty-first century
and it is the prerogative of the modern organization to ensure that
it keeps up with sustainable development initiatives in order to keep
its products marketable. As such a need has arisen to assist OPSI
Systems, an IT company that specializes in software development,
in selecting appropriate algorithms, implementation architectures and
business processes to implement in order to achieve improved sustainability in the development, deployment and usage of its software
products. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is the management
tool of choice for this.
Opsi Systems is an IT company that develops niche vehicle routing
and scheduling software for the transport logistics industry. Opsi Systems' software products are typically used by distribution planners and
managers to find the most efficient combinations of vehicles to use to
transport goods, assignment of goods to vehicles, routes to take and
stops to make along routes, in order to optimise the value-chain in
the supply of products to customers. As a software development and
support company, there are various documented methodologies that
can be used to enhance Opsi Systems' own value-chain in delivering its
software products to its clients. The Systems Development Life Cycle
(SDLC) approach is used in the development of OPSI Systems' products and a lifecycle approach to product development is important in
catering for sustainability in the software design process[3].
The main objective of OPSI systems software products is optimally
realistic solution of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), which is quite
key for logistics and supply chain management companies to be able to
conduct their business with minimal impact to the environment. The
use of fewer vehicles and a reduction in the total distance travelled
by those vehicles means lower fuel consumption and lower cost of
business. IT integration also leaves less of a paper trail and thus
electronic processing of orders is possible at a much reduced cost to
the company and the environment than traditional paper based sign-off . The savings introduced by e cient solution of the VRP has a
direct positive impact on sustainable development. As such research
on the VRP is also an important component of this study.