Route planning and optimization is a major aspect of logistics and transportation. It helps drivers with timely pick-up and delivery of goods. Managing this part of logistics is a tedious and time-consuming task; therefore, businesses are relying on technology platforms and route planning software for optimizing delivery routes.
The software considers multiple factors like delivery time window, delivery location, customers’ type (with or without membership), route history, and real-time traffic & weather conditions, to design an optimized delivery route. By following that route drivers can ensure timely deliveries to all the stops in one trip. This was all about route planning and optimization. But the question here is what dynamic routing is.
What is dynamic routing?
Imagine a situation where a driver has to deliver six orders in one trip and the software has generated a delivery route considering all the stops along with other constraints. As he heads towards the first destination, a customer from the list cancels the order due to unavailability at the place. The driver with no idea of the cancellation goes all the way to that destination but couldn’t deliver the order due to unavailability of the customer.
It will be a total wastage of his time and effort. But if the route optimization software has dynamic route planning, then the software can check cancellation and will regenerate a new delivery route excluding the stop where the customer is not available.
Advantages of dynamic routing
Besides saving a driver’s time and effort, there are ample other benefits of dynamic routing. We have highlighted five of them below-
Improved fleet efficiency
Dynamic routing improves fleet efficiency by adding new orders (if any customer cancels the order) to the already planned route. For example- if a customer raises a return request, then the driver on that route can pick up the product while delivering the ones that has been assigned to him. It would save time, cost, and effort of sending a new driver and vehicle for facilitating return of the goods. It means delivery drivers can accept new jobs on the fly and accomplish them utilizing the time that would have been otherwise wasted while making a failed delivery attempt.
Minimized fuel cost
With real-time dynamic routing, fleet managers can monitor fuel consumption and make better route management strategies. Also, dynamic routing immediately shows new delivery routes in case of unexpected traffic congestions or road accidents in the route. Along with planning the new delivery routes, dynamic routing also designs return journeys so that a vehicle can reach the origin in time and can be prepared for the secondary trips.
Live tracking
The feature also helps in tracking drivers in real-time and dispatching control teams in case of unexpected situations like vehicle breakdown or accident. This helps to avoid delivery delays and other related problems that impact customer experience.
You can either choose to have route management software or get complete logistics management software. The former will help you only with route planning and optimization, while the latter will optimize other legs of logistics as well. No matter which of these two you choose, make sure it is customizable. Another main consideration is to check how long the software takes for integration and deployment. Choose carefully to get the best for your business.
