Controlling operating and transportation costs while using solutions to help lower fuel usage and improve carbon emissions, will bring a big impact to transportation and logistics industry professionals’ bottom line, says Paragon Software Systems. To this end, the company has written five resolutions for transportation managers. These are:

1.      Look at how you allocate your customers to your distribution centers (DCs) to determine the best network of DC locations to satisfy your customer service requirements most cost effectively. This improves transportation efficiency, reduces total mileage, and fosters better customer service due to appropriate allocation of customers to each DC.

2.      Optimize your truck routes to cut costs, optimize vehicle use, streamline operations and help you make the most of every drop of fuel.

3.      Make your truck route plans as accurate as possible to deliver better results. Utilize a vehicle tracking tool that can tell how long it really takes a driver to deliver and/or collect at each customer site, then refine planning parameters accordingly.

4.     Reduce empty running of trucks. If drivers could pick up another load on the way back to the depot, then trucks are better utilized. The inter-working of multiple fleets generates route plans with efficient backloads, which increases asset utilization, improves productivity and reduces empty mileage.

5.    Continue working on winning the “hearts and minds” of those involved in your distribution operation.