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

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.