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Firms with small or large fleets may incorporate Route Optimization Software into their system of fleet management to enhance route efficiency and increase profits. The main aim is to do more work with fewer resources and in fewer miles. Route optimization software help companies deliver or move goods and services with tracking capability of GPS and innovative reporting features which will assist dispatchers to reduce mileage expenses, avoid unplanned stops and adopt more fuel-efficient routes.
Benefits of Route Optimization Software for Manufacturers
There can be many advantages of using route optimization software in companies. The first benefit of using route optimization software is the smart algorithms. Route optimization software is built to solve the Vehicle Routing Problem, or Travelling Salesman Problem. It only takes you a few minutes to consume all the data input and then solve the giant route optimization hurdles. When compared to the manual work done by the workforce in the organizations, it’s much faster to produce optimal route solutions, not to mention the 100% accuracy of processing data (Jovičić et al., 2010).
Along with that, there can be savings of cost expenses. These savings can be invested in more resourceful areas like the advancement of technology in the organization, training of human resources, etc. The savings can be evident in the more resourceful use of fuel, better use of available time, fewer kilometers traveled, and competent management of staff and used vehicles. Currently, Procter & Gamble, a leading manufacturing company, is using route optimization software Abivin vRoute to avoid unnecessary costs and provide GPS vehicle tracking with minimal costs and road usage charging to trucks.
Besides, the adoption of route optimization software improves the utilization of the resources such as drivers, vehicles and trailers. Trips are optimized in line with the specific requirements, including delivery time windows, vehicle capacity and roadblock. Even with small fleets, the software generally creates savings of between 15 and 30%. For instance, many leading cloud-based platform and mobile solutions firms are providing optimized route solutions to drivers and dispatchers through software and avoiding the hassle of long-term execution of plans (Greenmile, 2019).
Another benefit of route optimization software is that it gives a company all the important information at a glance with the data which can be saved through end-to-end means in the software. Activities that were previously performed manually can now be standardized and can be made fully automated. Responding to changes in vehicle availability or customer orders can no longer be a problem; with all the data at hand, the impact of changes can easily be reviewed. The organization BoldIQ is presently using route optimization software to provide dynamic scheduling and planning of routes and to use resources to the full end means (Nagata, 2007).
Route optimization software is not only about the optimal planning and use of resources but a plan should also have to comply with statutory regulations, road access restrictions. With route optimization software, a business can ensure all its planning results which are compliant with external and internal requirements.
How can Manufacturers utilize Route Optimization Software?
Manufacturers can use Route Optimization Software even in different types of transportation management.
1. Manufacturers having a privately owned delivery fleet
If manufacturers have already invested in building a private delivery fleet, a route optimization software can benefit them in terms of saving cost and time. Implementing route optimization software can help dispatchers save hours every day. Instead of planning routes, solving constraints manually, they can just click a few buttons to have the most optimized route on hand, which can save the company big bucks.
2. Manufacturers working with distributor/distributors
If manufacturers have distributors as their distribution partners doing the delivery works, route optimization software can benefit manufacturers in terms of management. By implementing this software for distributors, manufacturing companies can keep track of the delivery progress of all partners, ensuring smooth and timely delivery for customers to maintain satisfaction. They can also access different types of reports and business intelligence, improving management efficiency.
Because distributors’ delivery fleet is actually the end-users of route optimization software, first manufacturers have to connect route optimization software vendors with the distributors, acting as a bridge between vendor and end-user. Manufacturers can either pay for the software and provide it to distributors. Or manufacturers can establish connections between vendors and distributors, in which distributors will be the main payer.
3. Manufacturers working with transporters, 3PL companies
Many transporters, 3PL companies already have route optimization software, but not all of them. Innovative route optimization software vendor like Abivin has solutions for this type of transportation management. Manufacturing companies can choose one of the two methods below:
Manufacturers will be the main dispatcher. They can optimize and create delivery plans, then assign those delivery plans to suitable transporters. Transporters can also access the software, but they can only receive delivery tasks, complete the tasks and report on the software so that manufacturers can keep track closely.
The second method is transporters, 3PL companies will be the main users. Manufacturers can assign delivery orders. Transporters receive and optimize, creating their own delivery plan and managing their resources for delivery. Manufacturers can access the tracking feature but cannot touch the delivery plan of transporters.
All types of transportation management mentioned above are available in Abivin vRoute. Our software is built to work with every manufacturer’s transportation model.
Conclusion
To ensure a better delivery system and on-time delivery to the end-customers, the company can decide to use route optimization software. Along with that, the delivery time can be reduced by the half time in which the company will be able to take more orders with the guarantee of on-time delivery. The route optimization software can also offer several other benefits such as less transporting expenses, doing the same amount of work with fewer vehicles in less time, decreased working finance capitalized in inventory, more approachable customer service, improved ‘on-time’ guarantees, good utilization of crews and drivers, greater utilization of vehicles.
References
1. G. Dommety, M. Veeraraghavan, and M. Singhal. (2017). “Route optimization in mobile ATM networks,” in ACM/Baltzer Mobile Networks Appl. J.
3. Baldacci, R. & Mingozzi, A. Math. Program. . (2009). Improving Operations with Route Optimization, 120: 347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10107-008-0218-9.
4. Desai, S. N., Shah, M., & Zaveri, P. . (2018). Route optimisation for solid waste management using ArcGIS network analyst: a review. Network.
5. Greenmile. (2019). Route execution in the palm of your hand. Retrieved from http://greenmile.com/en/home-en/
6. Jovičić et al. (2010). Route optimization to increase energy efficiency and reduce fuel consumption of communal vehicles. Thermal Science, 14(5), 67.
7. Nagata. (2007). Edge Assembly Crossover for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem. In: Cotta C., van Hemert J. (eds) Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimization. EvoCOP 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4446. Springer, Berlin, Hei.