Route management: digitalization, a guarantee of optimization

Efficiently managing transport vehicle rounds, from the first kilometer to the last, is one of the objectives to be achieved for a profitable supply chain.

How to meet this need for optimization?

DDS Logistics offers you its digital tool, TMS Shipper, enhanced with a route management solution linked to the Mapotempo editor.

In the management of delivery rounds, each step counts to remain competitive.

Route optimization, from the first to the last mile, quickly becomes a delicate task for you, supply chain managers.

Concerned about optimizing each level of your supply chain management (SCM), DDS Logistics has equipped its TMS Shipper tool with digitalized route management features by signing a partnership with the publisher Mapotempo.

Round management: logistics issues

Logistics companies are now faced with the challenges of poor management of their rounds.

How can we meet the environmental requirements, the aim of which is to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions, while absorbing the number of transport missions which grows exponentially? All while guaranteeing customer satisfaction and maintaining the company in a good position on the competitive market!

The pole position of course! This is the puzzle for Supply Chain managers and consultants today!

Other hazards, exogenous to the organization of the supply chain, directly impact the management of shipments:

• urban and interurban works,
• overloaded road infrastructure in some cities (bypass, highway, etc.),
• increasingly difficult access to city centers,
• climatic events (flooding, forest fires, etc.),
• overconsumption, etc.

All these unforeseen events generate economic losses that must absolutely be minimized in order to remain a proactive and agile company.

Which strategy to implement?

Routing optimization: management from the first to the last mile

What logistical process should be put in place to stay in the race? This is the question that every SCM consultant asks!

Route optimization turns out to be the automated solution to implement!

It consists of scheduling freight transport missions and thus minimizing transport costs for the company.

Choice of groupings of parcels, choice of types of roads to take, calculation of the best route, vehicle capacity, time slot for passage are all parameters to be taken into account by the planner to organize the rounds.

At the scale of your business and the thousands of kilometers traveled each year to manage your supplies and shipments, this optimization is essential to promote financial gains and to reduce the carbon footprint.

Carrying out this operation by hand promises to be titanic, risky and above all time-consuming! Using all the human resources of your logistics force for this type of task is a waste of time and therefore of profitability.

The solution therefore consists in using calculation algorithms to relieve your teams.At DDS Logistics, these calculators are fully integrated into the digital solutions of the Transport Management System (TMS).

Using artificial intelligence AI and machine learning, our software adds the agile dimension to your logistics. The automated route calculations are carried out in real time.

Transporters receive information about route changes on the on-board computers in the trucks.

It’s a huge time saver!

Customer data management, a major competitive advantage

Route management solutions use customer data to make filling profitable. And also the route of own vehicles or those of your logistics providers.

Thanks to the geocoding of addresses, by direct entry or by importing the delivery address via the order interface, the geographical sectorization of deliveries is facilitated.

Being able to assign a group of vehicles to a delivery area facilitates management and anticipation:

• an absent driver,
• or a broken-down vehicle by again affecting the areas concerned.

Artificial intelligence coupled with different algorithms define the routes to be taken according to a centroid which can be:

• the warehouse,
• a deposit,
• or any other location to be determined.

Route distribution is then determined automatically, using artificial intelligence learning data. And according to data retrieved during previous routes possible by the constant geolocation of the fleet:

• time, traffic jam, travel time,
• fuel prices,
• energy consumption etc…

All these parameters are available in the form of auto-generated reports. Which comparative and statistical analysis aims to reduce the overall costs of flow management.

The digitization of tours gives back its place to the human

Route management only takes into account the purely mileage aspect.

In each vehicle, there is a driver and legislation concerning him. Time regulations, break times, are also to be taken into consideration.

When the driver enters his information into the on-board computer, the latter communicates his parameters to the TMS.

The algorithm checks the consistency between the driver’s data and that of the allocated route.

If necessary, the tool recalculates the route and the mandatory break times.

Customer satisfaction, a key to optimizing delivery management

Transport has experienced a boom in customer satisfaction over the past few years, even if its customer is not the end customer of the chain.

The sector must therefore adapt to this new requirement, not the least!

Scheduling routes includes this dimension of quality of service provided, which for delivery operations consists of:

• to be delivered on time, within the announced deadlines,
• while absorbing as much as possible technical hazards such as weather, road, etc.

The functionalities also make it possible to communicate directly with customers (intermediary or final) by sending notifications and alerts by email or SMS.

Thus informed of the driver’s estimated time of arrival (ETA), the end user is reassured and a customer satisfied by this real-time service experience!

Digitalization, a bold strategy for your human resources

The logistics professions belong to the professional bodies whose arduous nature no longer needs to be demonstrated.

Poorly organized rounds, poorly organized and illogical routes, annoyed customers during deliveries to intermediate warehouses or at the end point of the shipping chain, are all constraints that you add to the drivers.

Scheduling delivery points in a logical, ergonomic and efficient way saves time and productivity.

When the organization of the supply chain understands the strategic issues of this organizational comfort on the drivers’ side, the latter are much less stressed, less tired. Their working conditions are immediately improved and engaging.

Your company’s HR department appreciates the immediate effects on employee turnover and sick leave.

DDS Logistics will be your process partner to digitize your route management

The number of logistics managers won over by this transport solution that respects the environment, its staff and customers is constantly growing.

Faced with technological, economic and human challenges, are you ready to take the step of digitizing your supply chain to meet market expectations?

For more information on the solutions we can implement for you, contact us.

Together, we will establish a complete specification for a solution personalized to your sector of activity and your needs.