Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/858523
commercial carrier journal | august 2017 99 Routing strategies help fleets boost performance, safety BY AARON HUFF R oute planning and scheduling is among the most routine activities in operations. For many companies, the process has become automated, but there is always room for improvement. New technologies are prompting some fleets to look at routing through a more strategic lens. Rather than leave some of the details of route planning to drivers, some forward-thinking carriers now are optimizing an entire trip plan. Such a detail-heavy plan may include turn-by-turn navigation that guides drivers from dock to dock and through all types of weather and road conditions. e final mile is where it matters the most. As drivers approach a destina- tion, applications can provide them with specific instructions on where to enter a facility and what procedures to follow. ese and other details can help decrease accident risk and improve worker productivity. Urban deliveries According to research firm Nielsen, 4 percent of food and beverage sales now are made online. By 2025, e-commerce will capture 20 percent of this $700 billion market. Online grocer Fresh Direct provides next-day delivery in the densely populat- ed Connecticut-to-Philadelphia region. Most orders come from New York City – more specifically, Manhattan. Fresh Direct's order placement cutoff time for next-day delivery is in the early evening. Aer this time, the company begins the route scheduling and planning process for its private fleet that operates about 320 trucks most days and more than 400 during peak seasons. Fresh Direct uses the Omnitracs Road- net soware to optimize its daily routes dynamically. Some trips will dispatch a truck to a central location where employ- ees called "runners" will make door-to- Online grocer Fresh Direct uses the Omnitracs Roadnet software to optimize its next- day metropolitan delivery routes dynamically.