Miguel Dias, Testing Team Leader, @SISCOG | 5 min read
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In the mystical and enchanting world of the Arabian Nights, an extraordinary magical lamp existed, possessing the power to grant wishes to whoever held it. This lamp was the stuff of legend, and its incredible power was said to be unmatched by anything else in the world. According to the myth, anyone who rubbed the lamp would awaken a powerful genie that would emerge from the spout and grant them three wishes. As tales of the lamp's incredible power spread far and wide, people from all corners of the kingdom sought to claim it for themselves, believing that it was the key to unlocking their deepest desires and most cherished aspirations. The lamp became a symbol of hope and boundless possibilities, inspiring people to pursue their dreams and to have faith in the power of their own imaginations. Yet, despite its fame and power, the lamp remained shrouded in mystery, known only to a select few who guarded its secrets closely.
Similarly, at SISCOG, we have developed powerful resource optimisation software engines for public transport operations. Our software is meticulously designed to help transport companies in operating more efficiently, ultimately reducing costs, increasing profits, and even become more environmentally friendly by saving energy and lowering carbon emissions.
And just like the magical lamp in the Arabian nights, our software features a button that unlocks its true power.
The button is represented by the symbol of a lamp, a subtle nod to the legendary magical lamp. When this button is pressed, our optimisation algorithms are activated, and the software begins to work its magic. It meticulously analyses data from transportation companies, including passenger demand, network details, and vehicle and driver availability, and combines it with the companies’ operational goals. Using this comprehensive information, the software creates the most efficient timetable, and vehicle and staff utilization plan possible.
Just like the magical lamp in the Arabian nights, our software features a button that unlocks its true power.
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But just like the magical object in the Arabian nights, the button adorned with the lamp symbol is far from being a mere ordinary button. It embodies a transformational power that has the potential to change the way transportation companies operate. Our software behind the button equips operators with the tools to optimise their operations significantly. They can reduce the time it takes to transport people or deliver goods, save energy costs, and even reduce their carbon footprint.
How? Almost 40 years ago, SISCOG had the vision to develop a product based on Artificial Intelligence. Ultimately, a few years later, the company strategically focused on revolutionising the way transport timetables, vehicles, and staff scheduling and dispatching were optimised.
Today, each of our four products possess their own unique power. And despite their individual strengths, these products are seamlessly integrated and modular in nature.
The first of these products, ONTIME, is a standard decision support product specially crafted to create and manage timetables. Equipped with three magnificent optimisers, ONTIME tackles diverse scheduling problems with unrivalled expertise. In the realm of line planning, ONTIME has the power to maximise revenue, minimise operational costs, and delight passengers with a seamless journey. In the world of periodic timetables, ONTIME waves its magic to minimise overall passenger travel time, synchronizing arrivals and departures to ensure smooth connections. And in the realm of non-periodic timetables, ONTIME ensures that transitions between different train hour frequencies do not fluctuate.
Next in line is FLEET, a standard decision support product dedicated to the scheduling and management of vehicles. Its optimisers possess a remarkable talent for orchestrating the movement of thousands of train trips across vast networks of hundreds of lines. With FLEET at their disposal, transport operators can witness the harmonious coordination of trains, as if the entire system were conducting a symphony of precision and punctuality. By using FLEET, transport operators can minimise operational costs, such as energy consumption, maintenance, and track slot allocation, while maximising revenue and passenger satisfaction by ensuring optimal seat availability for example.
Next up is RAILNODE that does for the station network, shunting yards and parks, what ONTIME and FLEET do for the global network, ensuring that local plans align with the global plans. In the scheme of railway operations, local resources play a crucial role in ensuring smooth and efficient journeys. They are the unsung heroes, working tirelessly behind the scenes to keep trains running on time and moving seamlessly from one station to another. We understood the importance of these local resources and sought to empower them with the magic of optimisation. RAILNODE knows that every second matters and that by carefully matching vehicle arrivals with departures, assigning platforms to each commercial vehicle, determining the best timeslots and locations for maintenances and assigning vehicles to parks while defining every necessary movement, operations could achieve unparalleled levels of productivity.
Last but not least, CREWS is an award-winning decision support tool for staff scheduling and management. Its optimisers are extraordinary and capable of reshaping the schedules of tens of thousands of tasks across thousands of duties, in both scheduling and rescheduling situations, combining several goals at the same time while achieving highly optimised solutions. It is as if a wizard waves a wand, and the complex web of staff schedules transforms into an intricate dance of efficiency and productivity. This transformation results in various benefits, such as minimising the number of staff and working hours needed for the operation, maximising the even distribution of workload among workers, and ensuring the satisfaction of individual staff preferences.
With these powerful products at their disposal, transport operators are able to harness the magic of optimisation to transform their operations, unlocking new levels of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and passenger satisfaction. SISCOG's offerings are like the enchanted artefacts of a grand adventure, each one with the power to reshape the world of transportation and leave a lasting legacy of optimised schedules and journeys that surpass all expectations.
At SISCOG, the lamp represents a better future for transportation networks, where transport is more efficient and more environmentally friendly, and staff are more satisfied.
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In the Arabian nights, the lamp represented hope and a better future. At SISCOG, the lamp represents a better future for transportation networks, where transport is more efficient and more environmentally friendly, and staff are more satisfied. And just like the magical lamp, our software is changing lives for the better, one day at a time.
So, the next time you see our button with the symbol of the lamp, remember the legend of the magical lamp, and think about the transformative power of our resource optimisation software.