Four o'clock and the whiteboard
Order cut-off is at four. At ten past, your transport planner prints the list and starts moving magnets on the whiteboard. The cafe on the high street has to be done before eight because of the loading restriction. The care home wants its delivery after ten. The new customer out past the ring road does not fit any existing run. One van is in for its service tomorrow.
By six the runs are set, the pick lists are printed in drop order, and then a late order comes in from a good customer who was promised it would go. The planner reshuffles two runs. The driver on run three still finishes an hour late because two drops on opposite sides of town ended up on the same van.
Why it depends on one person
Delivery rules for wholesale customers are mostly unwritten. Opening times, access restrictions, which entrance to use, which drops need two people, which customers accept a delivery in the afternoon: this is knowledge the planner and drivers carry, not data in the system. Generic route planners do not know it, so they produce routes that look good on a map and fail at the kerb.
- Time windows are held in drivers' heads, not against the customer account.
- Vehicle limits (weight, height, tail-lift, chilled) are not linked to drops.
- Order weights and case counts are not calculated, so loads are judged by eye.
- Standing runs by day of week are repeated even when order volumes have changed.
What hand planning costs
Extra miles and driver hours add up across a fleet every week. Missed delivery windows mean refused drops, redelivery and customers who start using the cash and carry instead. When the planner is off, the business struggles, because nobody else knows the rules. And sales cannot say yes to a new customer in a new area with confidence, because nobody knows whether a van can fit them in.
The route planning we build
- Delivery rules are recorded against each customer: time windows, days they can take deliveries, access notes, vehicle restrictions, and unloading needs.
- Vehicles are set up with capacity, dimensions, chilled or ambient, and availability.
- After cut-off, the tool reads the day's orders from your system and works out weight, volume and case count per drop.
- A routing engine, using a mapping and optimisation service, suggests runs that respect the windows and vehicle limits, and shows them on a map for the planner.
- The planner moves drops between runs by dragging, and the tool re-checks loads and times.
- Pick lists are printed or sent to handhelds in reverse drop order, and drivers get their run on a phone with the access notes for each stop.
| Whiteboard | Route planning tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Customer time windows | Remembered | Held on the account and respected |
| Van capacity | Judged by eye | Worked out from order weights and volume |
| Late orders | Whole plan reshuffled by hand | Slotted in, with the effect shown |
| Planner off sick | Someone guesses | Rules are in the system |
| Driver notes | Passed on verbally | On the driver's phone at each stop |
What the evening looks like after
Cut-off arrives, the tool proposes runs, and the planner spends their time on judgement calls rather than arithmetic. Late orders can be accepted or refused with a clear view of which run they would go on. Drivers have the same notes as the planner. Sales can check whether a prospect's area and delivery window fit an existing run before promising anything.
Is your transport planning like this?
- One person plans the runs and nobody can cover for them.
- Drivers regularly miss delivery windows.
- Runs are fixed by day of the week whatever the volume.
- Vans go out overloaded or half empty.
- Late orders mean replanning everything.