Brazil’s Grupo Petrópolis Uses Descartes Routing Solution to Optimise Nationwide Beverage Distribution

About Grupo Petrópolis

Grupo Petrópolis is the only major company in the beer sector with 100% Brazilian capital. It produces the beer brands Itaipava, Crystal, Petra, Black Princess, Cacildis, Cabaré, Lokal, and Weltenburger; the vodkas Blue Spirit Ice and Nordka; Cabaré Ice; the energy drinks TNT Energy Drink and Magneto; the liquid dietary supplement TNT Sports Drink; Petra mineral water; Petra tonic; and the soft drink It!. Through environmental projects, it promotes the planting and maintenance of thousands of trees, as well as sustainability initiatives and environmental education projects for public schools. Learn more at www.grupopetropolis.com.br and on LinkedIn.

The Challenge

“To better meet customer needs, we wanted a fleet management platform to enhance on-time performance, improve service in case of returns or customer concerns and advance sustainability goals by reducing carbon emissions,” said Luís Moura, Manager at Grupo Petrópolis.

The Solution

Part of Descartes’ routing, mobile and telematics solution suite, the Descartes routing and fleet management solution helps retail food and beverage distribution companies, like Grupo Petrópolis, manage routes for optimal efficiency and minimising the impact of unforeseen events on customer service levels, mileage and costs. By continually re-optimizing route plans based on real-time traffic data and other variables, the solution enhances customer service by improving on-time delivery performance, lowers mileage by guiding drivers through shorter route paths, and decreases total route time and costs by helping drivers navigate through heavy traffic with alternate routes and stop sequences. The solution also monitors planned vs. actual deliveries, product traceability, journey control (including lunch breaks, overnights and overtime), route deviations, unplanned stops and departure or arrival delays.

The Results

Brazil’s Grupo Petrópolis is using Descartes’ routing and fleet management solution to enhance its nationwide beverage distribution operations with approximately 2,900 vehicles. The Descartes solution helped Grupo Petrópolis achieve an on-time delivery rate of 98%, reduce overtime hours by 9% and decrease fuel consumption by 5%. These improvements reflect more efficient and sustainable fleet operations.

 “The Descartes solution gives us a new level of control and visibility into our large distribution network. Across 160 locations, routes are now more intelligent and efficient, and we track all routes in real time. If a driver goes off a planned route, the system immediately signals the detour so our team can respond quickly, which is critical to providing reliable service. And, because we can act with much more delivery precision and agility, we have lowered fuel and maintenance costs, gained visibility into idle vehicles and overcome challenges with product and delivery traceability.” said Luís Moura, Manager at Grupo Petrópolis.

How This is Achieved 

“Our collaboration with Grupo Petrópolis highlights how advanced routing solutions can help transform complex distribution environments into highly efficient, sustainable, and customer-focused logistics operations,” said Douglas Alves, Sales Executive at Descartes. “As food and beverage distributors look for opportunities to enhance last-mile performance, our solution suite can help rebalance distribution networks; improve route productivity, execution and sustainability; respond more dynamically to demand; and accelerate cash flow with electronic proof of delivery.”

Speak with one of our experts to discover how Descartes can benefit your business or to learn more about route execution, fleet performance management or our Routing, Mobile and Telematics solution suite.