The challenge when using
Pallet Networks
“Delivering pallets singly or in small batches is an age-old problem for hauliers,”
says Mary Short, MapMechanics’ director and founder.
“Frequently their resource base and depot network will have local or regional strengths, so it will be much more cost-effective for them to do their own deliveries in some geographical areas than others. But the challenge for them is how to differentiate between these two types of consignment cost-effectively.”
She adds:
“Operators have developed many strategies to deal with the problem, but these can be very imprecise. It can be hard for traffic planners to make the right assumption for every consignment – especially in very busy, intensive transport operations where load volumes are high, and many consignments may be ‘on the margin’ for viable in-house handling.”
TruckStops Pallet Networks takes the guesswork out of this process.
TruckStops: Pallet Networks
TruckStops Pallet Networks: deliver in-house or contract out?
TruckStops Pallet Networks will automatically identify the most cost effective movement for each palletised consignment. Hauliers and other organisations with palletised goods to move can make much more informed and cost-effective decisions about which individual pallets to deliver on their own vehicles and which to subcontract to a pallet network or similar third-party carrier.
Scheduling of in-house and pallet networks handled in single process
TruckStops Pallet Networks handles the scheduling of in-house movements and pallet network consignments in a single process. Details of all consignments are fed into TruckStops Pallet Networks, and the resultant output is made up of delivery rounds for the in-house fleet, plus consignments for the third-party networks. There is no need to run the planning process twice – though the user can update, revise or re-run the plan as the situation evolves.
Use own operating parameters and chosen pallet network's rate tables
The system takes advantage of the ability of TruckStops VRS to store numerous operating parameters for reference during the optimisation process – your own fleet type, vehicle size and capacity, cost base, service-level requirements and so on. To these features has now been added the ability to reference the chosen pallet network’s rate table, which can be accessed via an existing in-house transport management system. This means the latest available data can always be used in calculations.
More precise than traditional methods of planning for subcontracted goods
Because TruckStops Pallet Networks is viewing the transport operation in the round, the way it handles goods for a given destination will not always be the same, but will be dictated by the pattern of each day’s deliveries. It will continue to be driven by the objective of ensuring that the journeys made by the operator’s own vehicles are as cost-effective as possible. This makes it very much more precise (and hence cost-efficient) than traditional methods of planning for subcontracted goods, in which pallets might always be “farmed out” if their destination falls outside a pre-determined distance band around the operator’s depot.
The operator retains the ability to intervene manually whenever required
As always with TruckStops, the operator retains the ability to intervene manually whenever required. For instance, working interactively on screen, the traffic planner can transfer a consignment from one route to another, or from an in-house route to the pallet network pool. The rest of the route will be adjusted automatically to suit, and the costs will be recalculated. This would be invaluable, for example, if there was some reason not apparent in the system setup for handling a specific delivery in-house (a specific customer request, perhaps, or a need to collect a return load in the vicinity).
