Manual route planning might feel like you are saving money at first, but there are hidden costs. You might as well use the funds to automate the process and save time as well.
Where are the hidden costs? Frustrated drivers waste fuel, and as delivery volumes grow, the gap only gets bigger.
What Is Manual Route Planning?
Sitting late nights in the office with a piece of paper, planning each driver’s route and stops might seem ridiculous, but some do it because they think they can’t afford fancy software.
Even using a spreadsheet is considered a manual route planning approach. Here’s the bad news: you might actually be costing your business more than you think.
Manual route planning involves estimating routes and timing. There is no accuracy or real-time data-driven decision-making.
It might be working okay for now, but that’s a short-term solution to a long-term project.
ALSO READ: 8 Steps to choose the right route planning for your needs
How Much Money Do You Waste With Manual Planning?
Time, inaccuracy, fuel waste, and low visibility all add up to those hidden costs.
Managers spend hours daily planning routes, and most of the time, the plans change. Wasting time and valuable resources is a significant factor here.
Humans make mistakes, and planning everything with pen and paper is almost a guarantee that errors will occur.
When delivery windows are missed, it impacts customer trust. Inaccurate deliveries are a high price to pay. When the sequence of the deliveries is poor, you’ll get more frequent late drop-offs.
Now that your drivers are using inefficient routes, it means they spend more time on the road, which increases mileage and leads to more frequent trips to the filling station.
Without software that can track the drivers, customers and managers have zero visibility over where drivers are.
Why Do I need Automated Route Planning?
Route planning software uses algorithms to choose the most efficient route, which saves fuel money.
Using route optimization software and automated route planning allows dispatchers to plan routes within seconds, taking into consideration driver breaks and live traffic.
The routes are automatically updated when new orders come in or when delivery windows are adjusted.
It also creates accountability with real-time ETAs. Without the software, managers don’t know where the drivers are, and if they are working to their full capacity. Very.
Steps To Transition to Automated Planning
Start with a small delivery zone
Automating routes in a small area first, one that you can easily scale when it’s successful. You can fine-tune the delivery times and measure the results.
Keep an eye on things like fuel savings and how many of your time windows are missed. When you start noticing improvement, you can easily make a decision to implement it on a larger scale.
Use hybrid planning during rollout
Initially, it may feel intimidating to transition away from manual planning. But starting small and combining manual overstith with automation might just work best for you.
Use the software to perform bulk routing, but have a dispatcher double-check the plan initially. This will give you peace of mind, knowing that everything you are doing is an improvement.
Train drivers and dispatchers together
Drivers are the ones on the ground and can usually spot when there are practical challenges. Try to do one session with the drivers and dispatchers to build confidence in the technology and create consistency.
The smoother the collaboration, the faster you’ll see results.
NOW READ: Ultimate Guide to Route Planning and Optimization
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
