Many larger organizations have adopted some type of route optimization software in the past. Many have had successful implementations and are happy with their vendor today. On the other hand, there have also been many cases where the results were not what was expected. And, in many of these cases, a considerable amount of time and money was spent before abandoning the implementation.
When discussing optimization when planning routes, trips, or loads, the first thing that comes to mind is that the optimized end result reduces transportation costs by a significant amount. But there are other savings to be gained as well. The time needed to plan those routes, trips, or loads can take quite a long time every day.
Good communications is more than just a two way street where a dispatcher can carry on a conversation with a driver in the field. It also is a way to send data back and forth which can be turned into useful operational information.
One of the key reasons for using a route optimization application is the ability to use a GPS application for tracking, and then to compare the actual route driven with the route that was planned. Route optimization can save anywhere from 10 to 30 percent in overall transportation expenses every day, but these savings only can be achieved when the driver follows the route given.
Businesses are always in the process of reducing costs. Last mile product delivery is one place where costs can be reduced. Any business that does not use some type of route optimization or dynamic routing is leaving money on the table.
Now that we have set our clocks back to Standard Time and have some extra daylight in the morning, it is time to consider safety issues on these shorter days.
Now that the election is over, and your email inbox won’t be getting the frequent solicitations from the party or candidate of your choice, the Strategic Movements team would like to offer you something different: our new website. Over the past few weeks, we have been working on ways to tell our story better and we feel that the new website tells it effectively. We are combining it with new emails for our blog and video posts and are actively promoting with social media.
Although Strategic Movements may be used as a manual dispatching tool, or to maintain and dispatch master schedules of static routes, it provides the greatest savings when used for dynamic routing. Dynamic routing, also known as automated routing or autonomous routing is the technique where the work of a human route planner, load planner or trip planner is done by a computer process.
The history of mankind is full of cases where a tool is discovered or invented, and that tool is used to make some task easier or more efficient, or both. From tools as simple as picks and shovels, to looms and sewing machines, to automobiles and airplanes, ways have been found to complete a task in less time than had been required before. So why are so many things still done in an inefficient manner?
There are many ways to get information about trends and possible opportunities in almost all fields. This morning, I was reading the October, 2020 issue of Trains magazine and found an article on intermodal opportunities. While Strategic Movements does not handle intermodal shipments, the article cited some interesting statistics on motor freight in general.