Friday, May 30, 2014

Map Multiple Locations and Save Time



If you work for a company which requires you to make deliveries to multiple locations, you may have found you are wasting time planning out your route. You want a fast, efficient route where you can reach all your delivery points while saving yourself time and gas money. Planning the most efficient route is a problem for many delivery companies.

If you need to map multiple locations, you have three basic choices. First, you can wing it, just going the route which seems the best in your head. If your locations are in a clear line or are near each other, this might work. At the very worst, if they are near each other, you might not waste too much gas or money.
A second option is to plan out the route on your own, using an online map program or looking at a physical map to plan the route.  This may work, but if you have a long list of locations, this could be pretty time-consuming. There is also the risk of missing a location or thinking you are saving time by going to one location before another when in reality you would have saved time by reversing them. The more locations on your route, the more likely this is to happen. 

Your third option is to use route planning software like MyRouteOnline. With this, you simply enter the addresses of the places you need to visit, and the software will plan the best route for you. Even better, if you need to be at a specific location as a certain time, you can include that information, and your route will be adjusted accordingly. Your route can even be saved, making it easier if you do the same route or similar routes on a regular basis. If using route planning software sounds like the best way to plan your next multiple stop route.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Efficient Route Planning: How The World's Largest Corporations Are Using It



Getting from point A to point B is not just a matter of looking at a map anymore. Careful and efficient route planning is now part of what some of the world's largest and most profitable corporations are doing. It is helping them to save huge amounts of money and time, and many of them are taking notice now. 

UPS Moves To Better Route Planning



planning route efficiently is necessary
The United Postal Service or UPS delivers more packages than any other company in the world. Needless to say, they are a little obsessed with getting their routes down to a science. A Bloomberg article details some of the steps taken in recent years by this company to get it right, 

UPS has a history of monitoring and standardizing even the smallest issues, from drivers keeping keys hooked on a finger instead of in their pockets and making only right turns, to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Routes From The Latest Technologies 


Routes can be mapped out with great accuracy now because of the latest mapping technology that is available. Entering multiple addresses into a planner allows that technology to produce the route that requires the least amount of drive time. It knows exactly every turn to take and of course all of the shortcuts. That is not easy to determine by hand as many different addresses can be scattered all throughout the map. 

Even Small Amounts Matter 


Even if better route planning only provides the driver with one fewer mile driven, that is worth it. UPS was able to reduce a lot of driver's total route by one full mile. This meant that they were able to save about $50 million in just fuel costs over the course of a single year! Imagine that number being stretched out over an even longer period of time. That is a lot of extra money that goes towards the bottom line just for using the latest technology available to them. It magnifies the need for this kind of planning. 

Contact us for more information on using route planners.