What routing method does your organization use? Many companies deploying a transportation routing solution for the first time have visions of making the leap from manual or standard routing to dynamic. However, for some organizations, it remains just that – a vision, an aspiration, taking a “we’ll get there someday” approach. This apprehension stems from a fear of the unknown, change and the level of effort surrounding customer data maintenance. However, the results are well worth the endeavor…
One Roadnet Technologies client, Pollock Paper shared their experience and results related to dynamic routing. The paper distribution company took a “burn the ships”, or no going back approach, and the benefits have been incredibly rewarding. Pollock Paper reported a 12% reduction in fleet size, and improvements in time window accuracy and on-time deliveries to 99%.
Yet dynamic routing can still create concern for some organizations. This may be related to high customer demands surrounding service times, or fear that it will impact drivers and sales reps negatively. They key is understanding if your operation can execute an entirely dynamic model, or if it makes sense for certain areas of your business to use dynamic routing. To make such decisions, you need to understand the profitability of your customers – are you losing money seeing a high volume customer twice a day? Don’t assume quantity is quality. By evaluating customers in terms of actual profitability – you will have a strong idea of your potential use of dynamic routing.
Ultimately it’s about making the best business decisions and maximizing the return on your routing software investment. Which is why we have developed a new Roadnet University course, How To Effectively Route Dynamic, taking place April 2-4, 2013, at our corporate training facility in Baltimore, MD. This session was debuted at the Roadnet Users Conference in 2012, and by popular demand has been added to the Roadnet University schedule. The goal of this new course is to provide attendees with a solid understanding of the pros and cons related to dynamic routing, as well as hybrid models, to determine the best fit for your organization.
How To Effectively Route Dynamic discusses how dynamic routing works, routing theories, and drills down into the associated requirements and benefits. Space is very limited, Roadnet Technologies customers can register for this session today, or view the complete 2013 Roadnet University schedule here. We encourage our customers to look for ways to get even more value from the Roadnet Transportation Suite.
If you have questions, please contact Melissa Dailey, Roadnet University Coordinator by phone 410-847-1949 or email.
You’re dead on about the quality of a customer, not the quantity, being a priority on routing. That’s a point that isn’t often addressed in many management systems, or at least it’s simply considered advanced criteria that never makes it into consideration. I like this concept of dynamic routing and I’d be interested to see a case study.
Thank you Derek – dynamic routing can be a diffuclt transition because of the high commitment to customer data quality. Please view some of our case studies related to routing, as well as dynamic routing here: http://www.roadnet.com/pub/real-stories/Roadnet/.