5 Ways to Reduce Mileage, Cut Costs

Paragon Software Systems says its vehicle routing and scheduling optimization products can help transport and logistics industry professionals lower fuel usage, improve carbon emissions, better utilize resources, and reduce transportation costs, thus bringing a big impact to their bottom line.

The company offers five ways to reduce mileage, cut transportation costs, and better utilize assets by using routing and scheduling software.

1. Strategic network design. 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. Paragon’s Fastnet network modeling tool helps determine the best network of distribution centers and depots to satisfy distribution requirements most cost effectively. It utilizes historical order volumes to decide which customers to serve from each DC, recommends how many and which sites should be used, and allocates delivery points to DCs. This improves transportation efficiency, reduces total mileage, and fosters better customer service due to appropriate allocation of customers to each DC.
2. Intelligent route optimization. Optimize your truck routes to cuts costs, optimize vehicle use, streamline operations and help you make the most of every drop of fuel, while cutting carbon emissions. Paragon’s advanced routing and scheduling software provides intelligent route optimization so that companies can reduce their total annual mileage, which in turn cuts fuel usage and carbon emissions. These operations can also typically reduce their truck fleets by up 20 percent — delivering the same products with fewer trucks. Since a truck typically generates hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide emissions in its lifetime, this also has a direct impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Make your truck route plans as accurate as possible to deliver better results. There is no point creating a transportation plan that does not reflect the real world. Utilizing a vehicle-tracking tool can tell how long it really takes a driver to deliver and/or collect at each customer site. Then you refine planning parameters accordingly. The more accurate your route plans, the more likely you are to achieve more realistic savings.
4. Reduce empty running of trucks. Empty trucks are a waste of money. If your drivers could pick up another load on the way back to the depot, then trucks are better utilized. Paragon’s Integrated Fleets option enables vehicles and drivers at multiple sites to be treated as a single integrated transportation resource, so that movements from different depots can be combined into efficient routes that reduce overall empty running. This inter-working of multiple fleets generates route plans with efficient backloads, which increases asset utilization, improves productivity and reduces empty mileage.
5. Flexibility is key. So many variables exist from delivery to delivery, that you need a system that is extremely flexible to consider any situation. Paragon’s software takes into account things like school zones, one-way streets, sporting events, building/bridge height restrictions, driver schedules, lunch hours, hours of service restrictions, loading times, vehicle capacities, and much, much more. By offering the flexibility to incorporate an unlimited amount of variables, Paragon’s routing and scheduling systems create the most optimal routes that lower fuel usage and reduce mileage.

A study published last week by Trucking Efficiency found fleets that optimize their electronic engine parameters for fuel economy can expect to see about a 0.5 mpg improvement in fuel economy.