A lot of information must come together for freight to hit the receiving dock on time and on budget. Nothing ever goes entirely as planned, but this reality does not limit technology’s usefulness for routing optimization. Meeting customer service requirements while reducing costs might be impossible without it.
When evaluating technology to route your pickups and deliveries, one of the first considerations is how frequently you plan and replan your routes.
Fleets that provide home delivery, such as an organic grocer, might limit deliveries to certain days of the week. Other commercial and private fleets have more dynamic needs; some orders are picked up and delivered the same day, and route plans change on the fly.
C2Logix offers a Web-based route planning system for fleets that have fairly static multistop routes. The service costs $34 per vehicle per month and requires minimal training. To use the system, fleets upload a daily file of their order details, and the software calculates the optimal least-cost route plan.
If companies have a satellite tracking system, C2Logix can compare the plan versus actual performance in terms of time and distance. The software does not use position data to modify routes in real time.
Paragon Software says it is seeing more demand for live daily route scheduling and is configuring its route planning software according to customers’ needs. The clear trend is toward live reporting on delivery status as the day progresses, says Will Salter, chief executive. If the software determines a delivery will be late, it automatically can alert fleet managers, who may decide to use the software to reroute vehicles.
