What Automated Route Planning Is Actually Worth: Proven With Energie AG Umwelt Service

Every day a route gets planned manually instead of automatically, a waste management operation leaves savings on the table, in fuel, in working hours, in the time dispatchers spend building routes instead of managing quality andexceptions. Most of that cost is invisible because nobody measures the alternative.

Energie AG Umwelt Service did. They ran a pilot with Prologa's automated route planning engine, tested it directly against their existing manual process, and measured exactly what changed.

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The setup

Two typical weeks of operational data from their Redlham site. Five vehicles for container collection service that had, until now, been planned entirely by hand.

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How automated route planning actually works

Prologa's automated planning engine does not guess, it works through a fixed sequence:

Data capture - drive and service times for every stop on the tour
Cost evaluation - cost values assigned based on total time
Constraint checks - vehicle capacity, time windows, and working-hour limits, both hard and soft, are respected
Optimization run - total tour cost minimized, for example through a savings algorithm
Result - the most efficient overall solution, across the entire fleet

Energie AG Umwelt Service validated this in two phases: first checking individual routes for accuracy against real conditions, then running a full week automated end to end and comparing it directly against what was actually driven.

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The results, as measured by Energie AG Umwelt Service

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6% fewer kilometers driven per operating day
22% fewer planned working hours per operating day
57 kg of CO2 saved per operating day, across five vehicles
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‍Why it matters beyond the numbers

The algorithm does not just plan faster, it plans differently. It can distribute complex services across a fleet in ways that are difficult for a dispatcher to hold in their head at once, also in large scenarios across several depots, even when the reasoning behind any single decision is not immediately obvious. The result is a consistently higher degree of optimization, and a faster decision making in time critical situations, not just on the days when conditions are easy.

Energie AG Umwelt Service's own conclusion is as practical as the results: automated planning frees dispatchers from manually assembling routes, and gives them time back for quality control and cost management instead. Their recommended path to full adoption: run automated and manual planning in parallel at first, have dispatchers challenge the algorithm regularly, and expand step by step toward full integration.

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What this means for your operation

Energie AG Umwelt Service measured what automation is worth for a five-vehicle container service. The same engine runs the planning for fleets ofany size, and the daily savings compound the same way: every route planned automatically instead of manually is fuel, working hours, and dispatcher attention you get back, every single day, not just once.

If you are running waste orrecycling logistics on SAP and still planning manually, this is what the alternative actually looks like, in numbers, not in theory.

‍Want to know what the same shift could be worth for your fleet?‍

Get in touch and we will help you find out.