Just because a tank doesn’t have a tank monitor doesn’t mean you can’t forecast the level, days to safety stock and days to empty.
You simply cannot optimize logistics without accurate order forecasts.
We often hear customers say 80% of their bulk tanks are not monitored and therefore not forecast. Inaccurate or missing forecasts have a significant impacts on transportation and logistics costs, because:
- Over serve customers – you deliver more often than you should
- Retain too much product – avg 10-20% returned to the depot
- Only use 80% of your vehicle capacity
- Run less efficient routes
When drivers deliver with the goRoam mobile app, all tanks get a barcode and all tanks have a tank profile created, so you know the tank capacity, max fill level, safety stock, etc. All subsequent deliveries are tied to individual tanks, so you know exact delivery quantity and timing.
This data is used by our Insight module, which uses statistical consumption modeling that we have developed to analyze delivery history, related tanks, monitored tanks and related products so to generate a forecast. The benefit of the Insight module is the ability to use AI and ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) to detect relationships that simple statistics like averages cannot detect. With Insight, your dispatchers have a tool and data to optimize logistics and make smarter decisions, including:
- When should I service this customer? Instead of a keep-full account that goes 2x per week, they may determine they can go 3x every 2 weeks. At $125/per stop, this saves one stop.
- How much product should I plan for the order, assuming the same keep-full schedule? Most of our customers want to change the schedule and fill when needed, but if you keep the same schedule, you may have 30% additional capacity on your truck. We often see keep-full tanks that are filled at 50% of the order volume, so even keeping a buffer above the forecast volume still frees significant truck capacity.
- Are there any keep-full tanks that I could top off to use 100% of my truck capacity? This is a trade off in transportation costs, but now that you have another 20-30% of available capacity on your truck and the driver is already on the road, you can determine if there are other tanks that you can top off.
- Can I revise the order quantity based on the forecast so I DON’T have as much retained product (if I always top-off my slow-moving tanks at the same customer location)?
Forecasting all tanks has a direct impact on the bulk delivery KPI’s. You should see an immediate impact in the following. When looking at gal/trip and gal/hr, you should be tracking delivered gallons, not loaded gallons.
- Gal/stop
- Gal/trip
- Gal/Hr
- Gal retained
And what about tanks that have infrequent fills, such as once a quarter, and our ability to forecast the? The more frequent the delivery, the more accurate the forecast and the better ability to capture trends or seasonality. There is still an opportunity in infrequent fills. If you deliver 700 gals on Jan 1, April 1, July 1, etc. you can now call the customer on Mar 15 and say “We have a truck in the area and we think you need xxx gallons. Would you like to place an order?”
The key to forecasting is data, and the key to data is capturing it at the point of delivery. The goRoam mobile app and MobileHub Insights module help you make smarter decisions.
You simply cannot optimize logistics without accurate order forecasts.
Contact us to learn more or set up a demo of our Insight module!
goRoam for fuels and goRoam for lubricants and chemicals
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