Delivery Route Scheduling FAQs
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How does delivery route scheduling work?
Using clever algorithms to analyse various factors such as delivery locations, traffic conditions, and vehicle capacities Descartes’ software will calculate the most efficient routes for making deliveries, whether that be by:
- Lowest miles and shortest distance
- The quickest route
- The lowest cost route
- The most economical route for fuel usage
Or a combination in varying degrees of all of these.
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What are the benefits of using delivery route scheduling software?
Improved efficiency, reduced costs, enhanced customer satisfaction, and increased driver productivity are some of the key benefits. A big benefit for many customers is moving away from manual planning of delivery schedules to an automated process which saves many hours of work.
Read about the 12 reasons why any delivery fleet should use delivery planning software.
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What are the most important elements of creating a delivery route schedule?
All orders need to start with quality data for the order itself;
- The delivery address
- Operating hours, or hours in which a delivery can take place
- Any unloading restrictions
- Product data
- Dimensions
- Weight
- Stacking rules
- Materials carried in case they are hazardous or need special handling
After the details of the product and customer, comes the data about the vehicles available,
such as;- Size and capacity of the vehicle
- CO2 Emissions, (so entry into Clean Air Zones can be considered)
Without such details delivery schedules will be inaccurate and could result in missed deliveries or over utilised vehicles, all of which will impact customer service levels and the efficiency of the fleet delivery operation.
Next is the Route Optimistion software that will accurately model the real-world conditions and the most efficient routes to achieve the deliveries.
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What are the benefits of scheduling delivery routes for your fleet?
The benefits of scheduling your delivery routes using routing and scheduling software are;
- Increased delivery density and improved utilisation of delivery vehicles and drivers, resulting in fewer miles per delivery and lower costs.
- Reliability of delivery routes that are achievable in the time available.
- Customers’ goods are delivered on time in scheduled narrow time slots.
- Improved performance and customer satisfaction.
- No over utilisation or over capacity of vehicles.
- Goods don’t have to be left behind resulting in disappointed customers.
- Underutilised delivery vehicles and drivers add unnecessary costs.
- Advanced warnings of high delivery volumes so additional vehicles and drivers can be secured in advance.
- Reducing the miles per delivery also reduces CO2 per delivery and is better for the environment.
Descartes’ delivery route scheduling software works in conjunction with the route optimisation engine and recalculates not just the schedule but also the delivery routes, every time an order is taken.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Delivery Scheduling and Routing Software can also schedule deliveries over several days, helping to ensure optimal delivery schedules and routes are created. This is proven to be amore efficient methodology than optimising a batch of orders for the next day.
Being able to offer a narrow delivery window with a high degree of certainty that the delivery can be made at the time an order is taken will influence buyer behaviour and give your company a competitive advantage. Not all customers want their delivery the next day and will often prefer them to be delivered on a day and time that suits them. Being able to offer the customer the ability to select their own delivery window from options the system has offered, based on the existing orders in the system will increase customer satisfaction. It can also help to ensure that all deliveries are costed and viable for your business.
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What cost savings can be expected with delivery route scheduling and optimisation?
Existing customers save between 5% and 15% of fleet operations using Descartes’ delivery route scheduling software.
The savings are made from a number of areas, such as;
- Distance (e.g. miles) driven per stop is reduced
- Fewer miles means lower fuel costs,
- Fewer miles means reduced vehicle service and maintenance costs
Delivery route scheduling and route optimisation can also lead to benefits in other areas.
Fewer miles and high delivery density increases productivity i.e. more scheduled deliveries with the same number of vehicles and drivers. Additional drivers might not be required to meet increased consumer demand, which is very important with driver shortages.
The automation of delivery routes will reduce the number of planners required or free them up to deal with exceptions.
The automation of delivery routes can be incorporated into a dynamic appointment scheduling solution helping to steer customers into selecting delivery slots that are better for you and better for the environment, reducing delivery costs.
Goods delivered on time and when expected by the customer minimises the number of calls to customer services asking about the status of the delivery.