The final step in the logistics supply chain, when the parcel is transferred to the recipient, is a crucial part of the supply chain that poses major challenges for many CEP service providers. Optimal route planning provides a remedy to make the process more flexible, efficient and sustainable.
The demands on logistics processes are becoming increasingly complex due to rising shipment volumes, high cost pressure and demanding and varied customer expectations. The last mile, the final stage in the supply chain to the recipient, is the most time-consuming and cost-intensive part of the shipping process. Intelligent systems and applications help to automate processes and interfaces and make them as lean as possible. To meet the performance and quality demands of customers, the levers must be set correctly early in the process. New information, changed delivery quantities and addresses, new short-term customer orders as well as data on the traffic situation pose a complex challenge, especially for route planning. Route planning deals with the planning of transport operations starting from a distribution warehouse to a large number of recipients with the aim of processing orders as cost-effectively and resource-efficiently as possible. Statically oriented route planning methods are increasingly reaching their limits in view of today’s highly dynamic environment. Modern software solutions enable the use of dynamic route planning procedures by identifying the uncertainties that occur in route planning and integrating them in the form of dynamic events and elements. This achieves a new quality of route planning.
7Days relies on dynamic tours, especially for day tours, due to fluctuating customer orders and delivery volumes. Shortly after midnight, the tours are determined based on the orders on hand for delivery in the morning hours. The efficient and daily tour organization leads to cost savings, a more targeted use of resources as well as a reduction of the CO2 footprint. Capacity changes in the dynamization of tours are a challenge and require a high degree of flexibility in the scheduling of resources. Thanks to many years of good cooperation with subcontractors and transport service providers, 7Days has succeeded in building a flexible delivery organization that meets these dynamic challenges on a daily basis.
“In the future, the integration of artificial intelligence into route planning will play a crucial role and open up new opportunities by not only increasing the efficiency of logistics, but also paving the way for even more sustainable and future-proof delivery processes.”
Jörg Braun, COO 7Days Switzerland
Note: This article has been machine translated.
