Whatever type of business you run, if you have a fleet of vehicles regularly managing deliveries or collections, you should consider using route optimisation software. Why? Because running a fleet makes up a significant percentage of your costs and therefore has an impact on your margins. Finding ways to reduce those costs are better for your bottom line, better for your teams and better for your customers.
The benefits of waste transport optimisation
As specialists in the waste and recycling industry, we’ve spent a lot of time with customers across the world, looking at how they run and manage their route planning and how we can help them to do it better.
In the waste industry, companies have to run regular waste collection routes – both domestic and commercial – and collect a variety of materials that then have to be delivered to the next stage in the process. Obviously, waste and recycling companies are significantly reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill, so trucks need to go to recycling centres, remove materials that can be sold in secondary markets, take food waste to anaerobic digester sites and also take some materials to landfill.
That can be a logistical challenge – particularly when you take rota and shift planning into account. Businesses have to manage other costs such as fuel and insurances – over which they have no control. So finding ways to make the process itself more efficient is the best way to save money.
There are a few key ways that route optimisation software can deliver these efficiencies:
Helps you manage regulatory requirements – most countries and jurisdictions have some form of regulation about the number of hours drivers or teams can work. Using waste management routing software helps companies to avoid putting their teams in harm’s way and risking fines for poor scheduling.
Manage routes more easily – software allows you to see how you can manage your routes to create more time or to get more done in the time you have. This is useful when new routes are added – because of an extension of the contract or the opening of new developments, for example. Instead of manually labouring over routes, let the software take the strain.
Better staff management – route optimisation goes hand in hand with staff optimisation, so you need software that helps you to manage sickness and absence as well as periods where you may need additional temporary workers in order to fulfil your contract obligations.
You’ll find that the best route optimisation software can give you this and more. On top of that, you’ll also deliver better customer service, which will enhance your brand reputation and give you a platform to bid for other complex projects. Plus, you’ll have the data insights at your fingertips to allow visibility, reporting and faster decision making.
Effective waste transport optimisation is just one of the important factors and potential benefits of a good waste management software solution. To review other elements and learn more about their importance, head to our complete guide to all things waste management software.
