JOURNAL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS & OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS FOR TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

Stefan Iovan 1*

ABSTRACT

The movement of goods from one point to another is complex - the transportation industry
is a blend of the networks, infrastructure, equipment, information technology, and
employee’s necessary to transport a large variety of products safely and efficiently
throughout the nation and around the world. Although generally considered separate
transportation entities, trains, planes, ships and trucks are actually part of an integrated
network. One of the defining characteristics of today's transportation industry is
intermodal or logistic services, the movement of freight through a coordinated and nearly
seamless system that uses multiple modes of transportation. Many products now move
worldwide in standardized containers that easily transfer onto truck chassis, rail cars,
and ship decks as they move from origin to destination. Also, the paper presents the role
and importance of products logistics and services in order to obtain the competitive
advantage. After a short presentation of logistics evolution, we will define the logistics
concept, respectively integrated logistics. The analysis of the logistics activities is based
on the total cost concept and it has as a purpose the efficient and effective management of
the physical flows of raw materials, materials and finite products, and of the international
flows. The competitive advantage is ensured through the harmonization of the logistics
function with the other company functions and through the integration of the logistics
chain of all upstream and downstream organizations in order to ensure a high level of
consumer service at economical costs under the farm of supply chain management. In the
end we present the main tendencies in the logistics evolution in the Romanian firms under
the circumstances that their international dimension increases.

KEYWORDS: transportation industry, intermodal, information technology, logistics,

supply chain, supply chain management, predictive analytics

1. INTRODUCTION

Technology plays an important role in the transportation industry, allowing companies to

respond to evolving requirements to move an ever-increasing number of products.
Technological enhancements are transforming the operation and management of the
transportation system in revolutionary ways [1].

1* corresponding author, Associate Professor PhD, Computer Science Department, West University
Timisoara, Romania, [email protected]

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Companies are trying to optimize their transportation systems to better forecast demand
and analyze all the competing resources such as workforce, routes, cost, transport mode,
equipment and demand all while gaining more efficiency from its operations.
With the rapid growth and demand in the transportation industry, companies are
struggling to efficiently transport materials and utilize their employees while reducing the
risk of turnover.

1.1. Customer Pain Points

Optimizing routes [2] and workforce utilization pose significant challenges:

 Globalization and the changing economy are placing greater demand on the
transportation system to move shipments faster and cheaper.
 The most critical aspect of the transportation infrastructure problem is
congestion or capacity constraint. Motor vehicle overcrowding is a major
problem in the largest cities. The shortest route often isn't the fastest.
 Companies are collecting more data than ever from gps, bar-coding,
RFID, time stamping, etc. While more data can give companies more
information, it also makes decision making more complicated.
 Accurately forecasting demand challenges companies - not really
knowing what is coming, when and who needs it when, can tie up
resources.
 There is tremendous cost in recruiting and training employees. Keeping full
crews for the trucks, trains, ships, and planes challenges even the best
organizations in the industry.
 Companies can't pay their employees enough to live on the road - they
need a compensation package that enables employees to balance their
personal and professional needs.
The need to optimize routes and workforce utilization is becoming even more crucial with
fluctuating fuel costs. Even with the ability to pass some of the fuel costs along to
customers via fuel clause adjustment, companies are experiencing shrinking profit
margins and capacity constraints in terms of both physical and human capital.

1.2. Conversation Starters

The challenges associated with forecasting and optimizing delivery routes and workforce
utilization can significantly impact a company's bottom line [3]. We've been able to
identify and solve a variety of issues by:
 Accurately forecasting demand and planning to optimize resource allocation;
 Conducting impact analysis of changes in the plan;
 Developing an operating plan that is tightly matched to traffic patterns;
 Enabling shortest-path-based algorithms using a large number of applicable
factors;
 Providing resource retention scenarios and plans.

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With these data mining, operational forecasting and research practices in place,
transportation companies are able to optimize their daily operations thereby reducing
costs and increasing revenue growth potential.
Table 1. Questions to determine the issues of the transport company
Optimizing routes Workforce utilization
How do you determine the best method of Is your transportation demand affected by
transport? seasonality? What are your busiest months
and how do you plan for workforce shifts?
How do you currently determine the best How much does it cost to recruit and train
route for a shipment/delivery? new employees?
What are your experiences in meeting How long does it take to train an employee?
customer Service Level Agreement
regarding on-time deliveries?
At what frequency, if at all, are you What is your turnover rate by employee
incurring significant refunds to customers classification or role?
because of late deliveries?
What processes can you attribute to any How do you retain your best engineers,
lost business due to poor delivery times? drivers, pilots, or captains?
What factors do you consider when Do you know the peaks and valleys of when
determining the most efficient route? an employee may consider leaving and what
to do to keep them?
Do you know which customers, business Do you know the peaks and valleys of when
segments or routes are most profitable? an employee may consider leaving and what
to do to keep them?
How do you allocate your resources? Do Do you know what your applicable factors
you use a forecast or demand planning are? Who are your best employees and what
application? makes them the best?
Is your network constrained? Is demand
exceeding capacity?
How do you adjust for seasonal and
climate variations by location?
How do you get information to and from
the drivers and integrate the data into
systems to identify trends for the next
time this route, season, event, etc. occurs?
With the volatile fuel prices, at what point
do you start passing on the increased cost
to your customers?

1.3. Solutions

The key to transport operations and workforce utilization understands all of the variables
such as weather, season, and mode of transportation, employee experience, workforce
utilization, traffic patterns, and levels of congestion or network constraint, size of load,

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fuel prices and more [3]. With all the variables in play when developing your shipping
plans, you will uncover the most beneficial options.
Analytics decision makers no longer have to rely on intuition. These analytics capabilities
give you the power to make decisions and build productive protocols based on:
 acts using your data and industry models;
 thorough forecasting;
 simultaneous consideration of all options;
 simulation and “what if” analysis;
 careful predictions of outcomes and estimates of risk;
 State-of-the-art decision tools and algorithmic engines.
Analytics offer significant value to transportation companies by providing capabilities to
better allocate resources, adapt to changes in cost, demand, traffic patterns, weather,
employee turnover and satisfaction and economic conditions.
Companies using the analytics software will benefit improving performance, maximizing
the workforce, optimizing routes, boosting retention rates, thus resulting in improved
profit margins and top line revenue growth.

2. e-LOGISTICS – MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT

2.1. Definition and concept of development logistics

United Nations Convention relating to multimodal transport of goods adopted in Geneva

year 1980 (Multimodal Transport Convention) defines multimodal transport as: carriage
of goods by at least two different modes of transport as basis of a multimodal transport
contract from a place in a country where the goods are taken over by a multimodal
transport delivery contractor and transported to a designated place located in another
country.
The rising cost of energy and raw materials in 1970, after concerns imposed to ensure
efficient procurement of raw materials for production, in order to do that were developed
implementation programs related to the objectives of the market effectively. In this
context one can speak of logistics and production logistics supply in materials
management. Organizing functions (supply, production, marketing, finance, sales, etc.)
resulted in "spreading" logistics activities within different functions, the objectives of
which there were many contradictory, which generated excessive costs or even money
loss.
Integrated Logistics is based on the analysis of the total cost of logistics activities, with
the focus level of consumer services. This means that at a certain level of consumer
services need to minimize logistic costs more than to try to minimize the individual
activities cost, as components of logistics. Attempts to reduce the cost of individual
activities may result in an increased total cost. The concept of total cost of logistics
activities must include: the level of customer services, transportation costs, storage costs,
cost control and computerization process, selling, manufacturing costs related to quantity.

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Logistics comprises [4]: planning, implementing and controlling the physical flow of
materials and finished goods from point of origin to their point of use, in order to make a
profit and to satisfy customer requirements. The goal is to create logistic supply chains,
namely as physical flows of materials to finished products for final consumers with the
lowest costs, knowing that their share in the total cost of the product is around 30-40% for
processed products.
One of the most prestigious groups of specialists in logistics in the U.S., The Council of
Logistics Management, uses the established term "logistics management", which is define
as "the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient flow and storage
bidirectional and efficient goods and services and related information between the point
of origin and point of consumption in order to meet consumer requirements" [5]. It is a
general definition that manages highlight of the physical distribution management and
delivery services, having as main objective the consumer need, and profit motive to
ensure competitiveness.
This definition of logistics covers all three activities: planning, implementing and
controlling, and not just one or two. The providers who rejects this view that supports the
logistic involvement in implementing more than planning policies, by ignoring the
strategic function of logistics.
Today, logistics has gone from so-called traditional approach which was focused on
targeting the point of consumption, to the approach focused on flow and storage inverse
(reverse logistics) and also activities which are born at the point of consumption.
Logistics "reverse" must receive more attention now, by the increasing profitability of
online purchases.
The purpose logistics, as shown in the definition is "to meet consumer demands", which
means that logistics strategies and activities must be based on the desires and needs of
consumers rather than on the requirements and capabilities of the other parties involved in
the process. This involves designing and managing an effective and efficient
communication system, and for businesses to communicate effectively with their
customers to know their needs and wishes.
All these aspects are very important, but shouldn’t be neglected as cost component. In
multiple businesses, the cost of logistics activities reaches or exceeds 20% of the total cost
producers, even reaching 50-55% of the cost of raw materials, which could turn into
important competitiveness through cost.
The strategic dimension of logistics is underlined [6] and defined as "the process of
managing in a strategic acquisition operations, movement and storage of materials, semi-
finished and finished products, starting from suppliers across the enterprise and its
distribution channels with the objective of maximizing profit and prompt resolution of
customer orders".
If we chain logistics activities to enterprises producing goods and services, we can
highlight three important segments that interact with each other, i.e. supply logistics
(logistics inputs), production logistics and materials management and logistics
distribution. If we take into account the relationship with marketing logistics, given the

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marketing opportunities, aimed among others to maximize sales various market segments;
we find that logistics as nothing more than a "marketing oriented".
In this context we can say that logistics aims to achieve a level of service to consumers in
terms of the five matches: the right product at the right place at the right time in the right
quantity and at the right cost. The term "appropriate cost" is specific to the firm's logistics
system. P.F. Drucker [7], with more than four decades ago, argued that improvements in
marketing and logistics are an important way to obtain products at economical cost.

2.2. Supply Chain Management - SCM

A general definition of the concept of supply chain of an enterprise includes all suppliers,
production capacity, distribution centers, warehouses and customers with raw materials,
semi-finished goods stock and the stock of finished goods and all resources and
information involved in customer satisfaction. Synonymous terms are logistics network or
supply network.
Another definition, more specifically, states that the supply chain is an economic process
(business process) that connects suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, logistics,
distributors and end customers and has the form of an integrated collection of skills and
resources aimed at service delivery and products to customers.
In its classical sense, the term supply chain management includes all coordination and
management of all activities involved in the supply chain to achieve optimal performance.
Currently, some analysts call these activities of supply chain operations, in an effort to
reflect better the high degree of collaboration between the actors involved in this process.
In the context of the analyzed company, supply chain starts with suppliers and ends with
its supplier’s enterprise customers. Frequently, the supply chain is described with costs
and revenues involved in each component:
- costs with suppliers/raw materials;
- transport costs;
- costs of production;
- storage and distribution costs;
- revenue from customers.
In the context of e-business, the importance of the chain of request (demand chain)
covering order processing processes was reconsidered. Current economic conditions
require firm’s short-term goals, such as:
- reduce inventory;
- revenue growth while maintaining constant fixed costs;
- improved performance.
SCM applications manage forecasting applications, synchronizing supply with demand
(requirement). Matching demand and ensures the ordered product at the right time. The
concept of authors [8], which in turn cites the views of other authors, can be delineated at
least possible functions of SCM applications:

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- planning - is strategic area of supply chain management, which is defined

resources management strategy for a particular business;
- management providers - developing a set of processes prospect of suppliers,
supplier selection, purchase and payment of goods, monitoring relations with
them;
- manufacture/production - scheduling, launching and execution of the production
of the goods, if the company carries out production activities;
- delivery and logistics - coordinate receipt of orders from customers, the operation
of a network of warehouses for cargo management, and so on;
- returns management - manage products returned by customers or by suppliers
and customer relationships with various complaints.

3. ANALYTICS CAPABILITIES

Streamline the mining and analysis of vast amounts of data. Analytics streamlines the
process to create highly accurate descriptive and predictive models based on analysis of
vast amounts of data from across an enterprise.
Look beyond where your company's been to where your company can go. Accurately
analyze past operational and financial performance over time to forecast the future. You
can identify previously unseen trends and anticipate fluctuations so you can more
effectively plan for the future. Factors that impact your business, such as 3rd party
econometric data, national and global market conditions, weather, traffic patterns and time
of year, can be identified, quantified and included in your forecasting processes for
improved results [9].
Create models with unlimited variables that optimize any scenario down to the details.
Analytics offers a wide array of mathematical optimization, project/resource management
and scheduling, simulation, decision analysis and other operations research capabilities to
enable you to build detailed models of your business or organization and create an
accurate picture of current, future and potential performance.

4. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Financial management aims to provide permanent organization with the necessary

resources and to exercise control board on the effectiveness of these cash transactions are
involved.
First functioning will be purchased fixed assets. Fixed assets include, in the case of
multimodal transport contractor: buildings, land and equipment. The purchase of such
goods is deemed to be capital expenditure.
Second, the resources to be used for the circulation current, or the current that are
expected to be converted into cash or consumed in a period of 12 months and in a normal
operating cycle. In the category of current assets of a multimodal transport contractor may
be included, for example, fuel.
The third destination resource is for operating expenses which include: rent, taxes, pay
subcontractors, insurance and payroll. Ensure adequate resources for operating expenses

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must be one of the major concerns of the financial management of a multimodal transport
contractor.
Last destination resource is the establishment of reserves (provisions) that materializes
cash resources readily usable by high liquidity to ensure the company's ability to meet
special events - the so-called "dark days syndrome" reserves are also part of current
assets. The funds distributed shall finance business for the agreed credit period.
In order to monitor and control financial performance literature is recommended to
calculate two indicators. The first of these is the return on capital employed calculated as
a percentage ratio between net profit and total assets. The second is the commercial rate of
profit calculated as a percentage ratio between net profit and sales.
We propose to calculate a third indicator that is called return on assets, calculated as the
ratio between sales and total assets and expressed in lei showing how sales are generated
by a loan in assets. The second aspect for safe financial management, a multimodal
transport company need to consider is solvency. Indicators that we would recommend for
use are leverage and interest coverage.
Indebtedness is a relationship between passive and indicating the share capital and credit
for multimodal transport company is calculated by dividing long-term loans to long-term
loans aggregated with shareholders' funds. Interest coverage is calculated as the ratio
between net profit and interest on the loan.
Finally, last but not least important aspect on which multimodal transportation company
should focus is liquidity. The most important indicator that provides information on the
situation in relation to available funds outstanding commitments of the current accounting
firm is the index which is calculated as a ratio between current assets and liabilities due in
the short term, less than 12 months.
Management structures have come to expect a powerful tool for measuring, monitoring
and tracking of key business processes. Tightening competition, managers now need to
solve complex problems, often insufficiently clearly defined, with implications for
multiple plans. Whichever solution is chosen among the leading business intelligence
functions include:
- Planning controls lifting and cargo delivery in time efficient working conditions,
distance traveled and resources used;
- Automating logistics processes;
- Workflow management in real time;
- Optimal use of space charge;
- Monitoring performance indicators (KPI) and generate reports tailored to the
organization;
- Interfacing with ERP, TMS, WMS, GPS (including SAP ®);
- Automatic route planning for all types of transport: retail distribution, LTL
transportation, transport containers, intermodal transport, postal and courier
services, transport tanks, vehicles, naval, air or mixed.

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SCM package provides several modules for different functions in the supply chain - sales
of companies that purchase this package, select and implement those that fit their
business. Among these functions are:
- collaboration in the supply chain;
- collaborative design;
- collaborative achievements;
- demand planning and supply;
- production planning;
- event management in the supply chain;
- performance supply chain management, etc.
As for Romania, we must remember that the Romanian companies still operate in the
manner of classic traditional SCM solutions while recognizing the importance of effective
business tool. Some of them have implemented SCM solutions, but limited in number and
functionality. In response to market needs, the solutions presented in most cases the
modules integrated into ERP application, but also with connections to applications like
SCM, CRM, and BI.

5. TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY BACKGROUNDER

The U.S. transportation industry is healthy, providing the nation with the most extensive,
highest quality transportation system in the world. For the near term, the forecast is for a
continued trend of expanding capability and improving service in each of the major
transportation modes. Relative to other regions of the world, the United States retains the
geographical and overall transportation advantage.

5.1. Trucking Industry

Trucks have carried the lion's share of the country's freight for the past 40 years. The
trucking industry's market dominance will remain unchallenged in the near future, as no
other form of transportation reaches so many areas with such a proven record of reliability
and flexibility. Analysts expect the trucking industry to expand an average of 2 percent
per year, with certain sectors (e.g., intermodal container operations and small package
delivery) accounting for most of this growth. In fact, small package freight has grown to
become the third largest product sector trucks carry, and demand is increasing at more
than 5 percent a year.
In spite of the positive market indicators, the industry faces several significant challenges
in maintaining its competitive advantage. The long-haul portion of the trucking industry is
facing a serious shortage of qualified drivers. Presently, there is a shortage of 80,000
drivers, leaving 5 - 10 percent of the fleet idle.
Moreover, driver turnover is approaching 150 percent in some companies, costing the
industry $3 billion annually for the recruitment and retention of new drivers. The U.S.
economy is partly to blame, as truckers are able to find better paying and less stressful
jobs in other fields. Over the long run, the industry will have to improve compensation

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and working conditions to correct this problem. Information technology will play an
incentive role here as well, allowing drivers more control over their schedules [10].
The long-haul trucking industry is also undergoing intense competition as deregulation
has opened the door for many new players. To stay competitive in this environment, many
small trucking companies operate on a modest 5.8 percent operating margin. The jump in
fuel financially squeezes many truckers who were unable to raise surcharges enough to
cover the added expense. This situation will continue as long as competition remains
fierce.

5.2. Railroad Industry

The railroad industry is simply holding its own. Despite the decline in some railroad
statistics, the industry remains highly capable of moving the country's freight. In fact, the
steady increase in labor productivity is a testament to the impact of information
technology on operations and the ease of trans-shipping containers by rail.
Railroads recognize the significant opportunity that intermodal containers are providing
the transportation industry. Train companies are adjusting routes and purchasing more
double-stack container cars specifically to target this important market niche. Currently,
intermodal traffic makes up 28 percent of the total rail car loadings, and container
handling has increased nearly 300 percent since 1980.
The railroads will remain a key segment of the transportation industry in the future. Rail
will continue to be the most efficient transporter of bulk commodities and general freight
that must move over long distances.
It is the mode of choice for outsized and oversized shipments and will continue to play an
important and growing role in the intermodal freight business. Furthermore, the railroads
are making dramatic improvements in efficiency through increased investments in
infrastructure, re-tracking mainlines, and state- of-the-art locomotive designs.

5.3. Air Cargo Industry

In addition to moving express packages, air freight carriers transport high-value, time-
sensitive manufactured goods that need to move long distances.
The air transportation industry is especially capital-, labor-, and technology-intensive.
Airline and air cargo companies are very conscious of market trends and are constantly
striving to make their operations more efficient and to earn a greater share of the market.
Productivity in the industry is up an amazing 110 percent since 1980 because of wise
investment in aircraft, use of a "hub-and-spoke" network, terminal enhancements, and
information technology.

5.4. Maritime Industry

While the U.S. trucking and air carrier industries lead the world in market share and
capability, the U.S. merchant marine fleet and ports continue to lag behind their
counterparts in Europe and Asia. The shipping industry has fewer and fewer U.S.-

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registered and -operated ships because it costs less to register ships elsewhere. The story
is much the same for the U.S. port infrastructure and operation. Terminal throughput and
efficiency is greater in Europe and Asia. Nevertheless, U.S. ports and inland waterways
handle more than 2 billion tons of cargo a year, and waterborne traffic represents 95
percent of the U.S. overseas trade.
Analysts expect world deep-sea trade to grow at 3-4 percent a year, doubling in the next
20 years. Ports in the United States can expect a rising tide of business as international
trade increases with Europe, Asia, and South America. To meet growing demand, the
industry must prepare now to handle the next generation of container ships. The newest
container ships will be wider and require a deeper draft.
Presently, only 5 of the top 15 U.S. ports have adequate channel depths, and of these, only
the West Coast ports have adequate berth depths. Dredging these ports will not be easy
because of environmental concerns. The ports will also need to expand their terminal
infrastructure to include larger cranes and greater container-handling and storage capacity.
Moreover, the state and local governments that control the ports will have to approve and
fund projects to improve rail and highway connections to handle the increased volume of
containers that will flow in and out of the ports.

6. PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS FOR BUSINESSES TRANSFORMATION

In Big Data Era, companies in a variety of industries, including transportation, more

acutely feel the need to collect information most relevant to their businesses [9, 11]. They
want to find a way to make decisions based on accurate information at the right time. To
achieve this, the development of systems that can transform the data collected information
from which to generate actions that benefit the business directly.
Some of these benefits may be:
 Identifying growth opportunities – internal and external data analysis can help to
shape and forecasting business results, allowing identification of the most
profitable growth opportunities, as well as some differentiators for business.
 Improving business performance – data analysis facilitates agile planning,
forecasting more accurate budgeting and improved planning is an important tool
for decision making.
 Better management of risk and regulatory requirements – data analysis allows
improved reporting procedures, identification of risk areas such as compliance
violation, fraud or reputation damage.
 Using emerging technologies – can identify new opportunities for obtaining
information relevant to business management, based on new technologies.
Very few companies use the full potential of predictive analysis. On the other hand, this
approach often comes into conflict with trying to keep under control and lowering IT
costs. Therefore, identifying and capitalizing on available information and identifying
information sources that can support the generation of new opportunities have become the
main challenge.

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In the digital age in which we operate, the volume of data generated is growing. Every
minute of every day, more than 200 million e-mails sent globally, and Google gets more
than 2 million search requests. It is estimated that by 2020 around 450 billion online
transactions take place every day. Given this context, organizations consider data as a
fourth factor of production, besides capital and human and material resources.
Effective integration of predictive analysis in business management has a measurable
impact on performance because it allows better planning, weather clearer and more
informed decisions, resulting in increased profits, reduce risk and increase business
agility.
Using predictive analytics is useful transport companies to ensure that all relevant
functions involved in the process so as to obtain an overview and to minimize information
leakage. Information about consumers are a typical example in this respect: sales have
billing addresses data and record transactions, marketing has information obtained from
the analysis of feedback coming from consumers and the logistics department has details
on concrete deliveries. All this information can sometimes double or vary from one
department to another [11, 12].
A coherent analysis of all these data can be a challenge, but an accurate analysis and
enhanced business can generate added value. Companies that monitor and estimate how
consumer behavior and preferences evolve it without exceeding the limits of
confidentiality, can gain significant advantages.

7. LOGISTIC IN ROMANIAN INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES

In the last fifteen years, the managers of Romanian industry faced multiple problems
caused by difficult economic instability, inflation, shortening product life cycles,
environment, market conditions and diversification of demand. All this makes it difficult
to find a way to organize the most effective and efficient the logistic companies in general
and in particular.
Currently, there are industrial companies, primarily those with private capital, which have
a good timing and efficient logistics organization; however we can speak of an effective
organizational structure of logistics in a few enterprises.
A concern of integrating logistics activities under a single authority is meeting since 1990.
Thus, we can say that companies who designed and developed logistics organization as
organizational structures were oriented primarily towards transport and storage activities
that are included logistic managers to control more than 70%, followed by the order and
delivery, inventory control and supply.
This large and medium-sized logistics function is headed by a manager to the position of
Vice President or Executive Director. The introduction and development of logistics in
the value chain of Romanian enterprises were made under the pressure of two forces,
namely:
 Transition to a market economy, a process that Romanian firms subject to
increasing pressure of competition, lower costs and eliminate competitors access

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to public resources leads firms to reduce capital requirements by resorting to

logistics;
 Integration of Romanian firms in the global economy, especially taking
performance of components and operations of the final products whose realization
depends on participants located in several countries, requires discipline and rigor
logistics contract enforcement [13].
For better international coverage Romanian logistics system should allows businesses,
primarily SME’s, to exploit the opportunities offered by the development of international
trade in goods and services, by exploiting the competitive advantage offered by logistics.
Currently there are a number of challenges facing the transport system and its
development that led to increased competitiveness and development in energy efficiency
technologies. Thus, a more accessible transport system should be prioritized traffic
management.
Regarding freight for the whole transport system efficiency, in addition to encouraging
projects aimed scheme applied to freight and developing new solutions for the delivery of
goods, smart technologies and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) play an essential role
in achieve the objectives of transport policies on developing an efficient, effective and
sustainable.
The role of ITS is generated by the problems caused by traffic congestion and
development of new information technologies in simulation for real-time control,
communication networks, providing the opportunity to address issues related to urban
traffic management in an innovative manner. Congestion reduces efficiency of
transportation infrastructure and has a negative impact on travel time, pollution, energy
consumption.
In urban traffic management and logistics are key factors underpinning the successful
implementation of ITS and for involving stakeholders, development of partnerships, the
application of essential tasks, optimize network performance, maximizing automation and
minimize human intervention at the operational level.

8. CONCLUSIONS

Predictive analytics helps companies move from a decision-making process

retrospectively and intuitive, proactive and oriented to one based on information. Based
on this approach, companies can build models with which to make better forecasts on
scenarios as realistic and provide the opportunities and challenges associated with them
[12].
In a digital world in constant evolution, with growing volumes of data generated, only
those companies that will build on the information will be able to increase their
competitiveness. Business performance will depend on the ability of the organization to
have access to accurate information and to exploit. Those organizations that can
understand and filter relevant information that will know how to discover patterns and act
on the results thus obtained will become businesses with top performance.

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9. REFERENCES

[1] Iovan, St., Increasing the Individual Performance through Learning and
Innovation, Iasi: Editura PIM, Proceedings of the International Conference:
“Innovative methodologies and technologies in work based learning within the
VET sector”, Romania, ISBN: 978-606-13-2026-4, pag. 168-180, (2014);
[2] Iovan, St., Daian, Gh. I., Enterprise Services Architecture in the World of Information
Technology, Tirgu-Jiu: “Academica Brancusi” Publisher, Annals of the “Constantin
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