Two o'clock: sixty small orders and a planner with a pencil
Small food producers send a pallet or two each. A cheese maker, a charcuterie supplier, a ready meal kitchen, a frozen dessert brand. By early afternoon the orders are in, and the planner works out which go on the trunk to the northern hub tonight, which wait a day to fill a better load, and which need a dedicated run because the customer's depot slot is early.
The planner is very good at it. It still takes hours, relies on one person, and results in trunks that leave with space nobody noticed and a second trailer the next night that could have been avoided.
Why consolidation is hard to do well by hand
Groupage planning combines several puzzles at once, each changing through the afternoon as late orders arrive.
- Regime: chilled and frozen can share a multi-temp trailer, but only in the right compartments.
- Lane: consignments must go through the right hub for their delivery area.
- Timing: some can wait a day, some cannot, and depot slots constrain the rest.
- Space: pallets vary in height and stackability.
- Late orders arrive after the plan is mostly done.
What instinct-based consolidation costs
Trunks that leave part full cost almost as much as full ones. Extra trailers and drivers get booked when a better grouping would have avoided them. Consignments wait an extra day unnecessarily, which customers notice. And the business depends on one planner's judgement, which is a risk whenever they are away.
How we pool orders into loads
- The day's consignments come from your order system with regime, pallet count and type, collection site, delivery area, required delivery date and any depot slot.
- Lanes, hubs, trailer types and compartment options are set up once from your network.
- The planner proposes trunk loads and delivery loads by regime and lane, showing fill for each trailer and compartment.
- Consignments that could wait a day without missing their delivery date are marked, so the planner can hold them to fill a better load.
- Late orders are slotted into existing loads where space allows, with the effect shown.
- The planner adjusts, fixes the plan and sends it to the dock and the trunk drivers. Each day's plan is kept, so fill and cost can be reviewed.
| Constraint | How it is handled |
|---|---|
| Regime | Compartment allocation on multi-temp trailers |
| Lane | Grouping by hub and delivery area |
| Delivery date | Hold where the date allows |
| Depot slot | Fixed departure for time-critical loads |
The planner stays in charge. The tool proposes; experienced judgement makes the final plan, and it is faster because the arithmetic is done.
What the afternoon looks like after
A proposed plan within minutes of the order cut-off, with fill levels visible. The planner spends time on the difficult loads rather than the arithmetic. Someone else can run the plan when the main planner is on holiday.
Over weeks, the fill history shows which lanes run light and where pricing or network changes might help.
Does your groupage plan depend on one person?
- Groupage loads are built by hand each afternoon.
- Trunks leave with space that could have been used.
- Only one planner can build the plan confidently.
- Late orders cause replanning.
- You cannot see fill levels by lane over time.