Office Logistics Services, Office Delivery Software for Vehicle Routing

Rapid response to customers?  Yes.

NetScheduler allows you to schedule deliveries at the point of order capture. This is ideal for home delivery operations and field services, as it allows you to present available delivery slots to your customers via your call centre, on your own website or even in the shop. Customers don’t want to wait at home all day for a delivery, and with NetScheduler they don’t have to.

NetScheduler uses advanced routing algorithms rather than a simple delivery window allocation routine.

It schedules; analyses multiple delivery windows across multiple days, presents alternative delivery windows on different days, assigns orders with special requirements to the correct vehicle. It can take advantage of multi-core servers and load balancing and takes road speed and height/weight limits into account. NetScheduler can also manage multiple independent scenarios on the same servers.

For your business, we expect you to quickly see significant improvements including rapid response times, achievable delivery windows and transparent integration and this will give the ability to offer new services and reduce emissions.

Do you feel you’re firefighting, rather than being in control?

Roadnet^® reduces transport costs by calculating methods of getting to your customers at times specified by you. It will tell you which of your vehicles to use to service which customer, at what time and in which order. Roadnet^® allows you to route and schedule your orders quickly and efficiently and will transform any business currently managing this process manually.

Roadnet^® is one of a number of modular components within the Roadnet^® Transportation Suite. With information stored centrally, data is shared between modules and as business requirements grow or change allows additional modules to be added [at a] later stage if required.

As a single module Roadnet^® calculates effective route plans using digital map data incorporating vehicle height and weight restrictions together with historical road speed information, resulting in better use of resources to meet demand by delivering more and driving less.

As a management tool it helps you understand how delivery costs affect profitability by knowing the actual cost per stop, and your own planners will spend significantly less time configuring routes.

Obviously, it gives you all the essential reports, such as carbon emissions, driver manifests, maps, cost breakdowns, and more.

We would expect your business to benefit by a significant reduction in miles driven, in the number of vehicles used and in management time. Effectively planning routes for your vehicle fleet reduces emissions and therefore your carbon footprint. You will see improvement in driver management, have more time to plan for contingencies and more importantly improve your customer service.

Can you plan for the ‘what if’ scenarios?

If you serve customers at a fixed frequency, then Territory Planner^® will work out fixed routes for you, even if every customer’s frequency is different. This sophisticated piece of kit will use as few resources as possible, while adhering to delivery time windows and vehicle capacities.

We’ve found it to be equally as useful to plan and schedule work for service engineers and salesmen, as well as delivery drivers.

And the real beauty of this module is the ‘what if’ scenarios. It can aid your decision making when you may be considering more depots, fewer lorries, or for example, vehicles of a different size. Territory Planner^® will model predicted peaks and troughs, allowing you to make sound decisions, not expensive mistakes.

To highlight some of its features, we’ve listed some here for you.

Add new customers without adding trucks. You can place new customers within existing territories and routes, simply and quickly.

Seasonal changes. New routes can be generated to analyse fluctuations quickly and stored for future use.

Optimise route sequencing. Here, you simply define the optimal route sequence while adhering to open/close times and time windows.

Cost per stop. This allows you to determine the profitability of each delivery stop by knowing the actual cost per stop.

It will, of course, give you management reports to aid planning now and for the future. And in planning for the future, as the software is a modular design, information is shared between other component modules within the Roadnet^® Transportation Suite, allowing additional components to be added easily at a later date.

We would expect at the very least for you to see a reduction in transportation costs, fewer resources and a reduction in emissions. You will benefit from less time required for strategic re-routes with an effective, streamlined routing system.

A device that drivers will appreciate.

MobileCast^® Handheld is far more than an electronic proof of delivery system. It allows product scanning and driver communication, and allows drop times, product inventory and vehicle tracking to be recorded in real time.

Capturing actual delivery / collection information in real time allows shorter delivery-to-invoice times. And no rekeying is required as all information is electronic and can be passed back to the host or accountancy software for processing.

MobileCast^® Handheld can run on multiple wireless devices from a smartphone, right up to a ruggedized handheld computer.

For suitably equipped mobile devices, use of a built-in barcode scanner can ensure the accuracy of your customers' orders while deliveries are confirmed with the collection of consignee signatures. The driver can call the next stop with the touch of a button, without the driver needing to know the contact details.

For times when coverage is less than optimal, "store and forward" technology ensures that your messages are not lost. It is truly paperless as the electronic manifest captures arrival, departure, and delivery service times.

It’s smart and it’s simple.

Do you really know what’s going on out there?

MobileCast^® is a piece of software that manages real-time dispatch and tracking and gives you the ability to communicate between dispatchers and drivers.

MobileCast^® reports on differences between planned and actual routes and stops.

It automatically warns you if there is a difference between where your vehicles are and where they should be and, if something happens which shouldn’t, you’ll know about it. You can manage by exception. If everything is running according to plan, there is nothing to worry about.

The live screens will show you where your vehicles are in real time and warn you of late running or other exceptions. The reports show the difference between routes planned and routes actually driven and compare planned with actual mileage. It enables you to improve route plans by adjusting drop times or vehicle speeds when route planning and can clearly identify any malpractice.

You can buy a new system, or you can adapt an existing system. At 121 Systems, we supply MobileCast^® Handheld which is where the data comparisons come from. However, if you already have a tracking system, you can use the data from this, combined with routes planned in Roadnet^® or routes planned in an existing routing and scheduling system. So, if you already have a simpler routing, scheduling, tracking or handheld software system, there is no need to replace it to gain the benefits of MobileCast^®.

It gives a clear view of what is actually happening here and now.

Do you know whether you are meeting your service promises?

Roadnet Info Center^® allows you to see scheduled stops on each route, and shows you each delivery being made in both projected and real time. Live and historical statistical information is available to all authorised staff via a web browser.

The key features of Roadnet Info Center^®:

• Daily order volume
• Daily route costs
• Missed time window evaluation
• Off-day delivery costs
• Delivery cost by location
• Customer enquiry information – planned arrival time
• Customer delivery confirmation
• Historical customer sales volume
• On-time delivery history
• Identification of small orders
• Daily route and stop schedules
• Actual arrival and departure times
• Vehicle locations

They say you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

Roadnet^® Performance Dashboard provides a range of clear graphs and gauges, allowing you to develop your own KPIs in the format you prefer. It displays easy to read information so you can see where improvements are needed.

There is no longer a need to trawl through reams of data and complicated spreadsheets. Roadnet^® Performance Dashboard works the data out for you.

Like any management tool, it allows you to compare your operations with your goals, compare productivity levels to help allocate resources more efficiently and, through a personalised dashboard, share information at different levels.

For those businesses making constant comparisons for maximum performance, Roadnet^® Performance Dashboard will definitely simplify this process.