Written by Thomas Laarz
Efficient Route Planning | 6 mins read
– Route planning in the transportation and logistics industry is no easy task. Depending on the type of products being transported, planners have different constraints to consider, whether it’s the transportation of liquid bulk, dry bulk, cold transport or hazardous loads.
Then there is the matter of coordinating a large number of deliveries with a limited pool of drivers. Demand for the logistics industry is always growing, but with the world now facing a shortage of truck drivers, transportation companies need to be able to do more with less and a lot of this responsibility falls to planners.
But even with the perfect plan, unexpected disruptions can happen on the day of the delivery, resulting in delayed deliveries, dissatisfied customers and even extra costs incurred.
Efficient Route Planning
Demand for the logistics industry is always growing, but with the world now facing a shortage of truck drivers, transportation companies need to be able to do more with less and a lot of this responsibility falls to planners.Leveraging a Smart Solution for Improved Planning Capabilities
Route planning becomes a far less demanding job when planners are able to leverage the power of data and AI to help them make the best decisions in optimizing routes. DELMIA, in partnership with Ab Ovo offer an easily accessible and powerful planning solution that is able to support both large and highly complex logistics companies as well as mid-size trucking companies.
Imagine a solution that can help planners easily keep track of the number of shipments planned, estimated pickup and delivery times, utilization of individual trucks and view driving routes on a map—all from a single user-friendly interface. The precise timing calculated also takes into account driver regulations, loading and unloading times as well as various road restrictions along driving routes.
Then with the touch of a button, the solution can simulate all possible routes—calculating the total distance and cost of all routes for the day—and recommend an efficient route plan with the lowest total distance and cost within all constraints and conditions provided. The plan can also be continuously optimized over the course of the day to overcome last-minute disruptions, with drivers receiving the latest updates to the schedule on their devices for improved synchronization.
Efficient Route Planning
Imagine a solution that can help planners easily keep track of the number of shipments planned, estimated pickup and delivery times, utilization of individual trucks and view driving routes on a map—all from a single user-friendly interface.The benefits of employing such a solution are manifold for logistics companies:
- Cost reduction from reducing inefficient empty miles
- Total mileage reduction means reduced carbon emissions
- Better arrival information and higher customer satisfaction
- More satisfied drivers from improved schedules; better driver retention
- Easier route planning means more satisfied planners; better planner retention
- Easy to implement and configure with fast ROI
Discover more benefits and details about how you can empower your logistics operations through SmartRouting, the smart transportation planning solution from DELMIA and Ab Ovo, a strategic partner of Dassault Systèmes. Click here to listen to the podcast.
KPI Based Planning
Good KPIs for a transportation department include whether all orders are planned and expected to be delivered on time, as well as the total costs of doing so.About SmartRouting
Our SmartRouting solution is a full suite to do route planning and optimization for your transportation puzzle, large or small, simple or complex. Automated planning, continuous optimization, suggestions to the planner are all included.
Instant updates and recalculation of the future plan comes out-of-the-box, to provide full transparency to the planners on their actions and driver updates, which in turn allows the planner to make better decisions.
It comes with a fully developed standard integration package to seamlessly connect to all other systems in your landscape, such as (but not limited to) a Transportation Management System, a payroll system, and on-board computers. In case your system landscape does not include on-board computers with the ability to sign-off deliveries and track your resources with GPS, our solution also includes a ready-made Mobile Driver App.
For the details of the functionalities of the SmartRouting solution, please have a look at our Solution Sheet.
For more information, contact us with any questions you may have.
Thomas Laarz, Industry Sales Strategy Specialist, Business Services, is responsible for extending Dassault Systèmes footprint in the logistics industry. In this role, he leads and collaborates with geo teams on the development of robust, go-to-market strategies to promote Dassault Systèmes’ digital transformation and simulation capabilities that help logistics firms strengthen supply chain resiliency, optimize planning and improve the customer experience. With over 20 years of experience in logistics, Thomas has gained in-depth experience across all aspects of logistics and has built up a broad base of cross cultural experience and knowledge along the value chain.
