In the past routing focused on moving drivers from point A to point B. Now businesses have grown to understand that routing affects several aspects of an operation including safety, customer service and ultimately, profitability.
Route Optimisation is the process of generating the best possible delivery routes your goods at the lowest possible cost. Achieving this goal can be a very complex undertaking. You need to produce route plans that fully factor in order consolidation, load optimization, delivery time windows, route planning and fleet size.
Previously, businesses hired specialized routing personnel who spent hours in front of a computer analysing and developing routes for drivers. Once a route was established, the driver was expected to follow it exactly how it was outlined. However, planned routes couldn’t account for unforeseeable circumstances, such as accidents or traffic jams, that cause delays.
Thankfully, supply chain technology has evolved. Route Optimisation solutions are now capable of creating intelligent transportation plans that balance profitability and customer requirements. In order to maximize return, the software considers every aspect of routing: what consolidation options are available, which route takes the fewest miles, are there pooling opportunities, is it more cost effective to ship the freight on your fleet or broker the load to a 3rd party and finally which 3rd party offers the most economic option.
Moreover, a sophisticated Route Optimisation solution like HighJump allows you to manage an extensive array of information about customers, fleets, time windows, carrier rates, etc. ensuring that you’re leveraging your freight network to its utmost potential!
Maximize Utilization or Spend
Today’s companies may have a mix of self-carried freight, private contracted freight, and third-party freight. The unique business environment many companies find themselves in creates a complex cost-matrix, one that may rely on filling trucks and minimizing mileage, or simply optimizing which shipments go with which carriers, to ensure freight spend is as low as possible.
Routing software enables 3PL’s, distributors, retailers and manufacturers to maximize the effectiveness of their freight spend. It combines load building optimization, scheduling, and routing decision support for least cost shipping. It ultimately differentiates your business from competitors’ by better fulfilling the needs of your customers while managing the profitability for your enterprise.
Additionally, optimising your routing can result in a drastic reduction in fuel use, vehicle wear and risk exposure.
The HighJump Solution
In today’s world, effectively managing your supply chain is not enough. You must do so quickly, effectively, and efficiently. You need solutions that are easier to use tomorrow than they were today. That means letting the system learn from your preferences, retain your requirements, and quickly select the optimal solution without intervention.
Your implementation will start with describing what matters to you and to your customers: defining capacities, pickup and delivery requirements and system restrictions. Then you let the software work for you by ensuring that the provided freight solution is one that satisfies all constraints.
Run different scenarios to ensure that you’ve considered all possible conclusions and made the right decision for the business. Adjust parameters on-the-fly to evaluate different possibilities and select the best solution for the problem at hand.
Using software to define the best possible freight scenario is a powerful concept. In the world of the supply chain, you must be able to quickly adjust to changing conditions. Optimising your transportation will allow you to monitor and respond to any changes in real-time.
Conclusion
Route Optimization goes beyond simply finding the shortest path between two points, to incorporate numerous relevant factors to determine the most cost-efficient route.
With the HighJump platform, iWMS Australasia can offer your business a tailored, configurable and scalable solution that will meet your exact business needs today and for years to come. Contact us today to discuss your business requirements.
Download the full HighJump Load & Route Optimisation brochure here.