4 strategies for using software to save a lot of time in dispatching
When it comes to organizing any type of logistics, dispatchers are the main players. Whether it’s a traditional freight forwarder or a shipper, or whether extraordinary circumstances such as plant transports and intermodal shipments need to be organized, without the dispatcher as the central planner, deliveries don’t get on the road. Every day, dispatchers must ensure that company-owned and third-party trucks are properly deployed and utilized.
Dispatching encompasses a wide range of tasks, including planning, controlling, responding and informing. Dispatchers are traditionally at the center of chaos in day-to-day operations and are subject to numerous interruptions.
Intelligent dispatching software solutions won’t eliminate all causes of disruption, but they will eliminate many of them. They can also relieve dispatchers of routine tasks, allowing them to spend more time on their core duties. You can save a lot of time in dispatching by implementing four key strategies.
- Provide your schedulers with all pertinent information.
There are two pairs of shoes in scheduling: planning and implementation, just as there are two pairs of shoes in theory and practice. A well-thought-out itinerary is usually only effective until it meets reality:
Vehicles are stuck in traffic or break down, an unloading point can’t be reached, or warehouse products haven’t been picked yet. Yesterday, a sales colleague sold a tour that needs to be accounted for tonight, and a customer calls to inquire about the status of her delivery.
This makes it all the more important that all relevant information is available to all dispatchers immediately and ideally at a glance in one system. How can we ensure this?
- Integrating telematics technologies into dispatching software: Your dispatchers can use GPS and status information not only to see where a truck is, but also whether and where delays have already occurred.
- Use arrival time prediction capabilities to plan ahead (ETA). Dispatchers can use this to identify impending delays early.
- Work with digital transport orders that automatically geolocate loading and unloading points.
- Let the software take care of dispatching. Even in areas where your dispatcher is unfamiliar, an intelligent system can calculate in a fraction of a second how long the trip from point A to point B will take, when a break is needed and what travel time to the next loading station should be set.
2. Ensure that communication with drivers is more efficient.
Experience shows that a large portion of dispatch phone calls are with drivers. By connecting a telematics system, a software system can also greatly assist dispatchers.
The use of the current GPS location information as well as the tour status or the performed activity has already been discussed. In addition, with the appropriate quality, the reverse route, i.e. the flow of information to the driver, is also very important and can save avoidable errors and queries in daily operations.
This avoids takeover errors by transferring delivery addresses directly to the driver and a navigation solution in the truck. Safety instructions or specific hygiene procedures required at the customer’s site can be handed over during the trip and do not have to be taken from an additional booklet or similar document.
All parties involved save time and the personal conversation can be reduced to the essentials by this technique of simpler and more effective communication between dispatch and driver.
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3. Communicate digitally and automatically with your customers
Your customers will appreciate the transparency and automated communication of information about the delivery process, especially the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a shipment. Transparency can be achieved in a number of ways. The use of automated notifications and the availability of tracking and tracing help reduce the number of costly and time-consuming phone calls.
Today, notifications are usually sent via automated email or electronic text message, thanks to customizable trigger events. At the same time, shipment tracking has become the second standard for automated customer data. Shoppers can check online the progress of their delivery and the estimated arrival date of their products.
4. Automations and artificial intelligence enable faster shipping.
The burden on dispatch can be significantly reduced by an automatically generated route plan. The route plan, on the other hand, is rarely generated without the knowledge and skill of the dispatcher. Rather, systems take the implicit knowledge of each dispatcher and digitally map it into the route plan using built-in rules and thresholds.
The system saves time by taking over activities that are theoretically possible but difficult and time-consuming for a human to complete.
- How long does the transport take to complete a route and can follow-up deadlines be met?
- Are drivers given enough driving and working time for the specified activities, or are there even usable buffers?
- Which vehicles will be available at a given time in a given region?
- Should the driver and vehicle return to headquarters or to a home address at the end of the day?
The more of these questions a system can answer automatically, the more time there is for dispatching the remaining unusual cases and ad hoc problems that arise.
Intelligent software systems are therefore a must for future dispatching.
Conclusion
Much of the hustle and bustle that normally occurs in dispatching can be avoided with customized software support for dispatching. Digitizing communication drastically reduces the number of daily phone calls, resulting in improved satisfaction for all involved.
Dispatching is relieved of repetitive work and can save a lot of time through a clear view of all important data and the use of artificial intelligence for automatic route planning. For the dispatching of the future, intelligent software systems are a must-have.
