In logistics, well-thought-out and efficient transport planning determines the success or failure of a company. In this article, we will take a fundamental look at the topic of transport planning and go into particular detail on what is important in transport planning for trucks.
Transport planning - a definition
The umbrella term transport planning encompasses all processes and activities associated with the organisation and optimisation of transport. In short, the responsible transport planners determine which goods should reach their destination at what time, on which route and with which means of transport.
In road freight transport, effective truck transport planning is paramount. Dispatchers must consider countless factors, such as available vehicles, their capacities, the weight and volume of goods, and optimal routes and distributions.
Goals of a TMS
What are the goals of transport planning?
The goal of good transport planning is to manage the upcoming transport tasks with as efficiently as possible. The best use of available resources, produces the lowest cost transport plan. This is essential, especially in times of significant price increases, including energy and fuel costs. Accurate transport planning ensures greater customer satisfaction; with careful planning, all deliveries can be made on time reducing customer waiting times.
Importance of transport planning for companies
Efficient and reliable transport planning represents a decisive competitive advantage for many companies: By increasing your profitability through cost savings, you can withstand strong price pressure in international competition. At the same time, short delivery times ensure greater customer satisfaction. Last but not least, effective and functional transport planning also leads to a better working atmosphere for drivers and dispatchers.
Route Planning
Route planning and scheduling trucks
Route planning and scheduling vehicles and drivers is an important part of the transport planning process. Scheduling involves optimally distributing the various routes to the individual trucks and drivers in the fleet. Route planning involves organisaing the deliveries, capacities, restrictions and constraints that must be taken into account.
Route planning is a complex task for the transport planners. They have to correctly bring together all the influencing factors and create the most efficient routes from them. They need to allocate the routes to the resources available and they need to communicate with the drivers and inform customers. Last but not least, they must react to changes and disruptions in the transport process and (re-)optimise the routes.
In order to cope with the tasks, transport companies today rely on software that is specialised in the individual tasks. It takes a lot of work off the transport planner, saves them time and supports them in their daily planning business. Transport planning and route planning for trucks can now be significantly automated and optimised with connected systems and intelligent algorithms.
Important planning factors for truck transports
There are a large number of different factors and specifications to consider in transport planning. These can be divided into internal and external requirements.
Internal factors in relation to transport planning for trucks
The most important internal factors regarding truck transport planning are, of course, the available vehicles and drivers. Not all drivers can operate all means of transport, for example, because they lack the appropriate qualifications. At the same time, they must comply with driving and working hours, holidays and sickness. Company goals and internal specifications, for example for environmental and sustainability goals or service standards, can also be included as factors in transport planning.
External requirements for transport planning for trucks
In addition to the internal factors, there is an even greater number of external influences and requirements. For example, you must consider the following aspects when planning transport:
- Customer requirements: Compliance to delivery dates and specific delivery times, vehicle restrictions
- Legal regulations: Driving bans and restrictions, transport regulations as well as Sundays and public holidays
- Route characteristics: Speed limits, underpasses with limited height or roads restrictions to trucks
- Traffic situation: Construction sites, road closures, accidents and traffic jams
- Weather conditions: Snow and ice have a decisive influence on road conditions
Anyone who does not plan their own vehicles, but handles their transports through external companies, is then also faced with the challenge of finding the right carrier. There are also systems and functions for this in order to optimise carrier selection.
Optimise planning – transport more efficiently
On average, transport costs alone account for about a third of a company’s total logistics costs. Accordingly, savings in this area have a huge impact. There are a variety of ways in which efficient truck transport planning can reduce costs.
Improve route planning
All companies benefit from improved route planning, regardless of their size and the complexity of their transport planning. Time and fuel saving routes can now be integrated into planning much better than before: The software systems are now mature and precisely geared to this. Its often the last minute changes that result in inefficiency in the transport plan With modern transport planning software, planning can be largely automated freeing up time for hte planners and providing the ability to continuously re-optimise based on real time events.
Maximise utilisation
Intelligent truck route planning ensures that companies fully utilise the capacities of their transport fleet. The larger the company, the better the savings that result from improved utilisation. In the many cases, it gives capacity for growth, without having to expand your fleet. In smaller companies, improving utilisation may have a lesser impact because there is less scope to reduce a full vehicle, but time, fuel and subcontractor savings are still achieveable.
Integrating systems
A high added value can also be created through the clever connection of the various systems in transport management. A good interaction of telematics solutions, GPS, digital tachograph and the transport control system enables a precise and continuous flow of data, which also makes the transport “flow” better. fundamentally, accurate data ensures that errors are reduced. It is also possible to predict the estimated times of arrival (ETA) of the trucks, much better than a few years ago. This increases the transparency in the supply chain enormously.
Current trends and developments
Finally, let’s take a look at current trends in transport management. Transport planning is as old as freight transport itself. Nevertheless, it has fundamentally changed in recent decades due to increasing global networking and digitisation.
Digitisation and automation
The digitisation of transport planning enables the increasing networking and automation of formerly separate processes. For example, it is now possible to directly connect online orders with route planning and thereby optimise them in real time.
Transport planning for trucks also benefits from the digital possibilities to improve communication. An optimised exchange between driver and planner takes place via solutions such as telematics and driver app. And communication with customers can be improved and the customer experience increased via automated notifications, online shipment tracking and an electronic delivery receipt.
At the same time, digital transport planning enables a link with warehouse management and picking and thus ensures reliable notification and provision. Here, companies can, for example, use an arrival monitor in the warehouse.
Electric vehicle transport planning
The switch from traditional trucks to electrically powered vehicles ensures that further factors have to be included in transport planning: Companies that use electric vehicles, to reduce CO2 emissions, must include the vehicle driving range and the location of suitable charging stations in the route planning process.
At the same time, digitized and software-supported transport planning for trucks helps to cope with these challenges without having to accept losses in terms of punctuality, performance and transport volume.