Route optimization is utilizing technology to find the most efficient route to get from one point to another. If you’ve ever typed an address into your phone GPS and been routed around a traffic jam, then you’ve already experienced route optimization to a small degree. But where route optimization software really shines is in planning delivery routes. This revolutionary software can be put to use to save a business time, money, and avoid all kinds of travel-related problems. Whether you’re a commuter, a delivery driver, or a business directing a fleet of trucks, route optimization software has something to offer everyone.
How Does Route Optimization Work?
Route optimization software works by using algorithms that factor in the number of stops, the schedules of delivery drivers, historical traffic data, real-time weather conditions, and other data points to map out the most efficient route for delivery drivers to take. Using this data, the software can solve the Traveling Salesman Problem, a traditionally difficult to solve computational problem that asks for the shortest possible route between a number of stops. Inefficient delivery routes can cost a business extra money in hourly wages, fuel costs, and wear and tear on company vehicles, as well as strain relationships with customers and employees when schedule conflicts arise. By using route planning optimization, a business can plan out the best use of their resources, whether they have many or just a few vehicles in their fleet.
There are three categories of route optimization software:
- Static (where routes are planned quarterly or monthly)
- Dynamic (where routes are planned every day)
- Real Time Dynamic (Where routes are planned and continuously updated throughout the day in response to changing data)
Of the three categories, real time dynamic route optimization software is the most advanced. It’s the fastest to respond to ever changing conditions on the ground, and as such if the most efficient of all the versions of route optimization software.
Why Use Route Optimization Software?
Route optimization software offers a wide range of benefits, from reducing costs to improving customer satisfaction. Unnecessary employee hours and fuel costs that could have otherwise been wasted doubling back on the same route, being stuck in traffic, or slowed by poor weather conditions can be trimmed away. Using this software, live tracking of trucks and up-to-date ETAs of deliveries can become easily available, reducing late deliveries and other similar causes of customer dissatisfaction. Administrative time and costs can be reduced by letting artificial intelligence and machine learning do the heavy lifting and number crunching that would have otherwise been taking up the time of dispatchers and managers. Route optimization software is well worth the cost to any business that needs to deliver goods or services.
Conclusions
Any business that involves deliveries can benefit from using route optimization software. Whether your business involves one truck or a hundred, route optimization software can make sure you’re getting the most out of your delivery routes. From saving time and money, to keeping your customers and drivers satisfied, there isn’t any downsides to using route optimization software.
