Although ordering parts and buying products has become a fast, simple affair for customers, what they don’t see is the behind-the-scenes planning required to deliver their request on time. Meeting customer expectations, maintaining the delivery fleet, keeping cost under control, and organising delivery routes typically involves a great deal of manual work and calculation.
Delivery route optimisation can help overcome this challenge. Using GPS technology, the entire list of delivery jobs is grouped to create job run sheets for drivers, ensuring the best route based on the destination addresses.
By incorporating a tool that optimises the delivery routes logistics companies can significantly improve the effectiveness of the delivery process. Here are just five of the logistics aspects route optimisation can improve:
- Finding the best solution with the resources you have
With access to delivery data, route optimising means considering the tools and resources available when detailing delivery plans, and adjusting or allowing for potential timing clashes. Route optimisation tools provide the ability to: ensure that personnel needed for loading and unloading deliveries can be notified of arrival; conduct fuel and time calculations; and software needed to track and ensure the delivery is completed.
- Increasing efficiency to deliver more in less time
Often, drivers lack the resources they need to meet increasing orders and make deliveries on time. Sometimes, this can mean they are pushed to their limits, leaving them exhausted and demoralised.
With route optimisation, drivers have the best possible way to deliver as many jobs per day as possible, with optimisation tools ordering jobs in the most efficient route, also catering for changes to the schedule. Being more efficient, this means drivers are on the road for the shortest time possible, and they may even be able to increase the number of deliveries made within the same amount of time, therefore increasing profits.
- Decreasing your carbon footprint
Route optimisation supports green initiatives by helping to decrease your carbon footprint. Because the optimisation tool only uses the most efficient routes to get to destinations, it reduces emissions by avoiding unnecessary routes and potential delays. This will also improve the fuel efficiency of the fleet.
- Minimising vehicle wear and tear
Because vehicles are spending less time on the road, they require less maintenance. Furthermore, there is reduced wear and tear on vehicles when they don’t drive unnecessary distances.
- Improving customer satisfaction
Customers are an integral part of any business, which makes keeping them satisfied an important task. However, it can become challenging to meet growing customer expectations around delivery timing when customers want their items straightaway.
Route optimisation gives a more accurate expected delivery time for customers, and ensures that the driver closest to the destination will deliver the item. With fleet visibility and tracking available, customers can also access accurate information on the progress of their item.
Optimising delivery routes, people and resources in the company can improve company efficiency, profits and customer satisfaction with on-time deliveries. For more information on how route optimisation can help your business improve delivering and scheduling, contact Upstream today.