Jan
9
Routing: Your Roadmap to Success
Filed Under Auto | Leave a Comment
Making the best use of your resources is the key to minimizing your expenses as a fleet manager. That’s why we worry so much about things like fuel economy — a truck that isn’t getting the maximum gas mileage is costing the company money. Gas credit cards enable you to closely monitor your vehicles’ fuel economy, ensuring that problems don’t go unnoticed — at least not for very long!
But fleet fuel management is just one piece of the puzzle. There are many other ways to minimize your expenses. Well-planned routes are another way for you to guarantee that you are making the most out of your resources.
Think of routing as similar to planning out the errands you are going to run on a Saturday afternoon or on the way home from work — just on a larger scale. Careful routing means looking at what stops you need to make, and combining stops that are close to one another or can be done on the way to another. This makes the best use of your drivers’ time, as well as their fuel.
Routing isn’t easy, though, and requires someone who is able to see the big picture. Here are a few things to consider when planning your drivers’ routes:
- Location - This is the first and most obvious thing to look at. When you have deliveries to make close to one another, or one that can be made on the way to another, it makes sense to make only one trip. Same thing goes if you have five or even ten deliveries to make that can be combined, although now planning the route becomes a bit more challenging.
- Delivery time - What time does the delivery need to arrive? If you have a delivery that has to be there in the morning, and another that won’t be ready until afternoon, you won’t be able to combine them. That’s okay — you won’t be able to merge routes every time.
- Available space on the truck - Sometimes there just isn’t enough room on the truck. A large delivery probably won’t be able to be combined with other stops, except for maybe one or two small deliveries. Also, consider where things are to be loaded on the truck, and make sure that a later delivery isn’t blocking access to an earlier one.
- Hours of Service regulations - These regulations limit how long a driver can be behind the wheel each day. If you are planning short-term routes, you will need to make sure that you don’t put a driver on any route that will take him over his hours for the day. Send another driver, or split up the route.
- Special client needs - Sometimes clients have special needs that prohibit you from combining routes. For instance, a client might request a certain driver, or the nature of their delivery might require a certain truck.
Part of the reality of routing is finding a way to make separate deliveries mesh, despite all of these variables. Think of it like a giant puzzle. Although it does require someone who is good at seeing the big picture and at finding ways to put the puzzle pieces together so that they fit, careful routing is a skill that will ensure you make the best use of the resources available to you.
Dec
27
How Routing Can Be Your Road Map To Success
Filed Under Auto | Leave a Comment
Clean, clear mapping solutions may be just what your fleet needs in order to hit profitability goals.
If you’re responsible for managing the fleet service your company uses with its vehicles, you may have questions concerning the concept of how to most effectively use routing systems to succeed in achieving your bottom line goals. As with most goals and objectives, having a target to shoot for will aid in how you most effectively implement routing into your organizations daily operations.
The following are nine aspects to consider when routing your company towards the successful completion of its fleet goals and objectives:
1. Dispatching: the effective use of centrally located dispatching stations can aid the overall efficiency of your routing operations. While a certain amount of latitude may be necessary when designing operations around existing facilities, if the option exists to locate new dispatch facilities, understanding how to best enable the system overall with location and services associated with your dispatch can make big differences in how your routing systems succeed.
2. Delivery Stops: number and location of delivery stops on a pre-existing route is an important consideration regarding optimization of fleet-wide operations. Where your vehicles are able to use fleet gas cards, obtain maintenance and other aspects, will guide in the design and number of delivery stops for each vehicle on their routes.
3. Regulations: in addition to any customer-specific requirements, your drivers’ routes will need to conform to federal, state and possibly even local regulations. Considerations for drivers’ hours on the road, weight limitations, etc. would be a part of knowing and applying the proper regulations to a routing system.
4. Tracking: the more complicated a routing system gets the further away from manual operations you’ll be. Aspects of fuel prices and consumption, equipment requirements for various types of loads, driver usage and interactions with the system all add up to needing the ability to effectively track these and other aspects.
5. Technology Systems: in order to reach your routing goals fast and effectively, you’ll need to employ a certain amount of technology. As with tracking, the number of variables which need to be considered and manipulated with daily operations requires effective dispatch interfaces, back office optimization capabilities, warehouse pick and load print outs, etc.
6. Running Mock-ups: no system is static for very long. New customers are added and dropped on a regular basis. Being able to run a mock-up on your various routes will provide planning information for how changes to your orders, deliveries and pick-ups will affect your daily business operations.
7. Pick and Load Lists: every aspect of your route delivery systems has to be accounted for when making your pick and load lists. You’ll want to be as efficient as possible when loading each vehicle in your fleet. Every moment you save a driver or delivery person while they are on the road saves your company time, money, and increases its bottom line.
8. Route Manifests: from the low tech end of printing clean, clear routing manifests for pick up by the driver to higher-end wireless digital delivery from dispatch servers to the trucks on-board computing systems. Getting the latest changes into the hands of the drivers can make the difference between success and mediocrity.
9. Driver Adoption: as with most things new and different, you’ll need your drivers to use new routing systems in order for them to be effective. Developing driver reward and recognition programs is one way this can be made a smoother proposition.
Finally, in order for a fleet service manager to bring important, money saving changes to your company, they’ll need to be able to show effective return on investment for any new system. Simply stated, over a set period of time, route optimization systems need to pay for themselves as well as provide continued savings for the company.
Dec
22
Have a Plan: Optimizing Fuel Purchases
Filed Under Auto | Leave a Comment
Learning the hidden secrets of optimizing your fuel purchases could save your company thousands of dollars.
Having a plan to optimize your fuel purchases may seem like a common sense approach to fleet fuel management, yet many organizations are still missing out on a piece of the saving’s pie. Once you’ve learned some of these hidden secrets, which we’ve outlined below, your fleet savings could amount to thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars every year.
Fuel cost, like many commodities, are in a constant upheaval: prices go up, prices fall slightly. They go up a little more and then fall below the original starting point. Then there are fuel taxes, surpluses and other fees to be factored in. One of the most common myths deals with the concept that even when adjusting for taxes, fuel costs tend to be the same throughout a geographical area.
The reality is, fuel prices can vary upwards from $.20 to $.30 per gallon. It is not uncommon to find such variations from filling stations only 100 miles from one another. With these kinds of price variations, it can be nearly impossible for your drivers to know what makes the most financial sense and where to stop for refilling.
Added to this confusion is the concept of refundable fuel taxes. What happens when your drivers have the choice of refueling where the price per gallon of fuel may be as much as a $.15 difference? Where should they stop? The likely answer is the station that is $.15 cheaper, right?
Not necessarily. There are more questions which need answering, such as which stop has the higher refundable fuel tax? This has to be taken into consideration if your fleet is going to optimize its fuel purchasing.
Some fleet service managers may think issuing and using business gas cards is time consuming, expensive and can offset any savings the program may generate. Depending upon the program you choose for your fleet, this may be true.
You’ll want to be sure you have the ability to see a clear return on investment for the programs you implement as well as ease of use for both your fleet drivers as well as those responsible for implementing the program’s objectives. There are, in fact a number of high quality, well planned fleet services available in the marketplace should you decide to employ a full featured program.
Even with an optimized fuel purchasing program, many managers and fleet owners are concerned their savings won’t be effective enough. If you’re using the plan correctly, even a savings between a nickel and a dime a gallon could amount to over $1,000 per year, per vehicle (depending upon miles driven, age of vehicles, repairs needed, etc.). Would that be enough to consider taking the time and energy to plan out your fuel purchases?
Finally, there’s a misconception that any program that dictates where their drivers should stop, will add to the number of natural stops they are making. Effective programs will, however, take into account all the factors required before initiating stop orders for the fleet.
There is more than just refueling to be considered. Other maintenance and drivers’ needs should be a part of the decision making process. Additionally, fuel costs, fuel taxes, distance between refueling, tires and repair needs and other important factors will be entered into the equation. As a result, the output to the fleet operators becomes much more informed and efficient.
At the end of the day, using a proper, efficient and focused fuel purchasing optimization system will eventually pay for itself in time and money savings.