Step up the distribution of sanitary equipment

The mission of IVADO Labs is to help Québec companies integrate artificial intelligence solutions into their operations. The company acts as an investment and consulting firm.

The COVID-19 health crisis took all countries by surprise and forced port authorities to rethink their priorities in handling goods. Medical devices had to be identified and then shipped as quickly as possible to hospitals and other health care institutions. It was in this context that Port of Montréal authorities contracted IVADO Labs to create two modules to:

• More quickly identify containers carrying medical equipment;
• Step up the transfer of these goods from the Port of Montréal (e.g. masks, disinfectants).

IVADO Labs has developed two solutions that allow Port of Montréal authorities to improve their decision-making related to container processing.

• The first tool identifies the goods in containers arriving at the port using natural language processing techniques.
• The second module optimizes freight transportation management once it has been identified.

The combination of the two modules allows port authorities to ship more equipment faster, which is a significant advantage in a health crisis.

Using the solutions created by IVADO Labs, Port of Montréal authorities and their partners obtain more information about goods arriving by container. The algorithm also incorporates a predictive and optimization facet that allow officials to better process the movement of the goods. Pooling the elements that were developed enables the various Port of Montréal stakeholders to be supported in their decision-making.

In developing the algorithm, IVADO Labs used a variety of techniques, including:

• Machine learning;
  
• Gradient boosting;
  
• Predictive analysis
  
• Linear integer optimization. Automatic natural language processing;
  
• Classification;
  
• Regression;
  
• Etc.