5 SMEs That Would Benefit From Delivery Route Planning Software

Route planning software is extremely useful for a variety of industries, not just delivery vehicles. No matter the industry or the size of the fleet, route planning is a must for any fleet manager who prioritises route optimisation and therefore efficiency and productivity. Whether your fleet is used for grocery delivery, road repair, electrician services, HVAC installation or anything in between, truck route planning should be at the top of your daily to-do list. Lucky for you, route planning software does most of the legwork for you. 

Here are just five industries that can majorly benefit from implementing truck route planning into their workflow. 

Truck Route Planning: 5 Sectors that Can Profit

1. Route Optimisation in Retail 

Due to the current world health crisis, it’s estimated that the demand for home delivery has increased by 100%. The retail industry has been affected by the recent increase in home deliveries as many stores have been forced to close entirely or limit the number of customers allowed into their shops at one time. By using delivery route planning software, retailers can confirm pickup and delivery of parcels and notify customers when an order has been delivered. This is a simple way you can improve your customer service while also ensuring that orders are delivered in a timely manner. 

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2. Route Optimisation in Construction 

Fleet tracking systems aren’t just for delivery vans and other “traditional” vehicles. The delivery route planning software can also be used to manage a fleet of construction vehicles. By reviewing the route of each vehicle that enters and exits a construction site, you can check that supply delivery runs between sites were successful or make sure a vehicle arrived at a job on time. Additionally, you can track the flow of multiple vehicles and workers across various sites. 

By tracking and documenting each vehicle’s routes and usage, a fleet manager can create a maintenance schedule. This is especially important since a vehicle malfunction on a construction site would cost you time and money, as well as jeopardise the safety of your employees. 

3. Route Optimisation in Public Transport

Truck route planning is especially beneficial for managing public transport vehicles, such as busses. Reviewing each bus’s route history shows you whether or not the driver made it to each appointed stop on time, plus you’ll be able to see if the driver ever deviated from the assigned route. You’ll also have access to the idling times for each bus and can make changes to the route as needed. By reducing idling times, you’ll limit your fleet’s total carbon emissions and can ensure that you’re adhering to government regulations, thus avoiding any costly fines in the future

read more: Real Time GPS Trackers: For Richer & Greener Businesses

4. Route Optimisation in Food Delivery 

Fleet managers overseeing food delivery vehicles can benefit from delivery route planning software in a number of ways. Namely, they can review a vehicle’s route to make sure food was delivered to a specified location in a timely manner. It’s crucial that food arrives within a certain time frame to ensure it’s still safe to eat upon delivery, not to mention delicious.

Whether your fleet deals with pizza delivery, grocery delivery or another type of food delivery, food safety is of the utmost importance. Reviewing your fleet’s route history can also help reduce idling times and highlight which routes can be optimised moving forward. This will help save on fuel costs and minimise the numbers of miles your delivery vehicles need to travel. 

5. Route Optimisation in Emergency Services 

Police cars, ambulances and fire engines need to be able to respond quickly to a call. Fleet tracking software allows you to see where each vehicle is in real time, which makes it easy to dispatch the nearest driver to an emergency call. At the end of each shift, you can review each driver’s routes using the delivery route planning function of the fleet tracking software to pinpoint which traffic intersections are busiest at certain times of day, which stop lights can be avoided to shorten total drive time and more. This kind of data makes planning future routes easier and helps emergency vehicles reach their destinations more quickly (and safely!) in the future. 

Delivery and truck route planning software for your business

Truck route planning is more than just checking the traffic before heading out to a job. With the proper tools and data — like that which Fleet Geo provides — fleets can work smarter and safer. No matter the industry, investing in reliable fleet tracking software is essential. 

How Delivery Route Planning Can Save Any Business Money

A lot has been said about GPS vehicle tracking software and the intuitive tools they provide forward-looking fleet managers. One outstanding benefit of fleet management solutions is a more efficient delivery route planning system. Efficient route planning for deliveries is an important way for businesses to lower their fleet management costs and boost company revenues.

Below, we outline how route planning software can help you save business running costs.

Reduces Number of Vehicles

Delivery route planning’s biggest advantage is that it can help reduce the number of vehicles your business needs to function effectively. That means your company can you save the money that would have gone into buying or leasing additional fleet vehicles. Plus, it also helps you to eliminate the cost of fuel, driver pay, insurance, maintenance, and other ancillary expenses. You can channel these funds into more strategic areas vital to your company’s growth.

Read more: HGV Hours Simplified

Lowers Fuel Consumption

Delivery route planning with dedicated software solutions can drastically lower your fuel bills. It provides drivers a clearly defined route designed to optimise fuel usage, delivery times, and productivity. That way, drivers can avoid traffic delays, fuel waste, idling time, and ultimately help reduce money spent on buying fuel.

Lower Maintenance Bills

With reduced number of fleet cars, lower idling times, and faster delivery schedules, wear and tear will reduce. The result is that vehicles with delivery route planning will last longer and breakdowns will be fewer. Thus, you spend less on maintaining your company fleet.

Delivery Route Planning, Delivering Faster Deliveries

Delivery route planning software can reduce the time it takes for your field representatives to fulfil customer orders. These tools offer a geocoding feature that ensures drivers have accurate customer addresses, thus eliminating delays. It is important to note that one delay creates a cascade effect, leading to delays for subsequent deliveries.

With an effective delivery route optimisation tool, you can reduce delays to the barest minimum, enhance driver productivity, and boost customers’ confidence in your ability to deliver on time. And that means more business and higher revenues for your company.

Real-Time Driver Tracking with Delivery Route Planning

Delivery route planning solutions work thanks to real-time GPS tracking devices on fleet vehicles. With this capability, fleet managers can monitor the speed, fuel consumption, and even the driving pattern of drivers in real-time. This allows you to identify and correct drivers that are not following their assigned route, control fuel wastage, and boost productivity.