The Right Direction
Remember when planning a route meant figuring out which customers were out of Brand X, then scrambling to find the most logical and time effective route to replenish the customer? Thanks to the benefits of advanced vehicle routing technology (VRT), this once common occurrence is fading into the pavement. Whether a territory is neighborhood, domestic or global, every consumer goods company utilizes some form of VRT to get goods to customers in a cost-effective and timely fashion. In fact, companies can typically decrease transport costs 12-20 percent through better routing and better mode selection, according to an industry analyst.
Manual Maneuver
Scott Boyd, operations manager for Christie's Biscuits, a division of Kraft's Nabisco products', recalls what it was like to route hundreds of deliveries per day, manually.
"On a typical day, 400 plus orders required delivery," says Boyd. "It required three full-time people with maps to sort out what calls would be made in which order."
Minimally, it was an inefficient system but more importantly it was a customer service issue, as delivery windows weren't being met. Boyd chose Appian Logistics Direct Route solution to automate and optimize the routing process. According to Boyd, it takes one person a fraction of the time it did before to select the proper routes.
"The benefits of using a logistics package are threefold: one, our customer service has improved dramatically; our system is driven by customer delivery windows; and lastly, fleet utilization has improved as the Direct Route software stores the cubic dimensions of each box enabling the company to build more efficient loads."
Bud Watts, president of Gate City Beverage, agrees. His company's biggest challenge was meeting time windows for deliveries.
"With distances and traffic, there was no way of insuring that drivers would arrive at the expected time," says Watts. "It was a customer service issue."
Fleeting Glimpse
Gate City Beverage utilizes a private fleet of 70 plus trucks that deliver to 4000 stores throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California, a massive area covering 10,000 square miles where transportation glitches are common. Using their manual system, duplication often occurred, with too many trucks with less than truckload (LTL) delivering in the same area. The company chose Descartes Roadshow software to map their routes, and a once manual task that took up to nine hours is now easily crunched out.
"On-time delivery increased immediately by 50 percent, "says Watts. "It's a competitive market and the pressure to be on time is greater and greater. Using routing software, we now miss less than two percent of delivery time windows and only because stuff happens'."
VRT software identifies potential issues such as road construction or gridlock so that re-routes can be calculated before the driver is stuck in a jam.
Global Goods
For companies doing business on a global level, consider order changes that may occur when the product is en route. One industry insider provides the scenario of a large line item but a consumer good non-the-less: an automobile. Mr. Baker goes out to buy a German made car, and decides he wants a sunroof. Cars are pre-sold to dealerships so in this case the car is probably sitting somewhere between Amsterdam and New York City on a ship. How do you communicate the order change so that when Mr. Baker arrives to pick up his car, he is a happy camper as the car he ordered arrives complete with sunroof?
Seamless Process
It can be a seamless process by using routing technology. The order is entered into a system, the change in order is relayed to the routing software, which locates the automobile and diverts the original route to a body shop for sunroof installation. If a customer changes their original order, the change is entered into SAP or another customer relationship management (CRM) or order entry package, then downloaded to the vehicle routing software. The vehicle routing software compares the original order to the new order and update accordingly. The software maps a new route, taking into consideration items such as order criticality, road works, truck locations via global positioning system (GPS), calculates available truckload, etc., to ensure maximum efficiency and cost savings. The new information is relayed to the dispatcher who then relays the information to the driver or the driver is alerted via an onboard PC or other wireless handheld device such as a cell phone.
Wireless Revolution
Wireless technology and geocoding (digital mapping) has revolutionized routing and product delivery. The technologies have created real-time communication between order entry, dispatcher and driver, as well as providing practically up-to-the minute location and delivery data back to corporate for functions such as billing and load planning. In fact, a recent BeverageWorld (November, 2002) survey asked fleet managers to name their wish list items to improve truck design in the future. A top ten response was the ability to turn the tractor cab into an on-the-road office to include handheld devices and printers.
The Latest and Greatest
The latest up and coming technology for wireless connectivity is support for Bluetooth, the newest wireless technology standard. The widespread deployment of Bluetooth devices makes it a cost-effective solution and because it is a more non-proprietary standard ensures compatibility for additional peripherals. Essentially, fleet managers will have the ablility to virtually build their own PC systems on-board.
Worth the Trip
The latest developments in VRT software can boost customer service, drastically lower operating expenses and serve as an efficient substitute for manual procedures that once took hours to complete. Clearly, VRT is a valuable trip worth taking.