The transport board at half past four
Tomorrow has twelve deliveries, nine collections and three depot transfers. The transport manager has two low loaders, a beavertail, a couple of HIAB lorries and a van for small tools. A 13 tonne excavator can only go on the low loader. A site in the city centre wants delivery before seven because of loading restrictions. Three off-hires came in this afternoon, and the customers want them collected tomorrow.
It all goes on a whiteboard with magnets, and when the transport manager is on holiday the whole depot feels it.
Why plant transport doesn't fit ordinary route planning
A plant move is not a parcel. Each one has a machine with a weight and dimensions, a set of vehicles that can carry it, a site that may or may not take a big vehicle, and often a collection that can be combined with it.
| Constraint | Example |
|---|---|
| Machine weight and size | Excavator needs the low loader, not the beavertail |
| Vehicle and trailer | HIAB for welfare units, van for small tools |
| Site access | Narrow entrance, no room to turn an artic |
| Time window | City site before 7am, school site outside term times |
| Pairing | Deliver to one site and collect from the next |
| Driver hours | Legal limits and depot start times |
Most of that is knowledge in the transport manager's head, and the hire system only knows that a machine needs delivering.
What poor transport planning costs
Empty running when a delivery and a nearby collection are not paired. Wrong vehicles sent to sites that can't take them. Late deliveries on job start days, which contractors remember. Off-hired machines left on site for days, earning nothing and at risk. And one person carrying the whole operation in their head.
Customers feel it most on the first day of a job. A groundworks crew standing around a site at eight o'clock waiting for an excavator costs the contractor a morning, and they will remember which hire company caused it when the next job is priced. Being reliable on delivery is often what separates hire companies whose rates are otherwise similar.
A transport planner we build
- Deliveries, collections and transfers are read from your hire system daily, with the machine, site address and requested time.
- Each machine category has its transport weight and dimensions, and each vehicle has what it can carry, so the planner knows which moves each vehicle can take.
- Site notes are stored per address: access, time windows, contact, and restrictions your drivers have reported.
- The planner proposes runs per vehicle and driver, pairing deliveries and collections where it saves a trip, and shows moves it couldn't fit and why.
- The transport manager adjusts by dragging moves between runs and locks anything they know better.
- Runs go to drivers' phones in order, with site notes and contacts, and drivers record delivery and collection with photos and times.
Legal driving hours and load securing remain your transport manager's and drivers' responsibility. The planner shows planned hours so they can be checked against your own rules, but it does not decide what is compliant.
The transport office afterwards
Tomorrow's plan starts as a draft. Collections from off-hires drop in with a suggested vehicle. Drivers get their runs on their phones with the notes they need. Customers can be told a delivery window. And if the transport manager is off, someone else can run the plan because the knowledge is in the system rather than on the whiteboard.
Signs your transport needs this
- Plans are made on a whiteboard or spreadsheet.
- Only one person can plan transport properly.
- Low loaders run empty on the way back more often than they should.
- Wrong vehicles are sent to sites that can't take them.
- Off-hired machines wait days for collection.