Yellow | Route optimization
- Thread starter flat top
- Start date
D
Deleted member 5115
Guest
They run an 'optimizer' for the UE runs at ABF, I don't know exactly what it does but I call it the sodomizer.
mysticobra
Over Here Now.
- Credits
- 177
Loop system. 
Yrc has had the route optimizer at our terminal ever since I have been there. At least on the inbound side. The everyday whiners optimize their routes by leaving behind stops they do not want, and then the supervisor steps in and optimizes the freight left behind onto people who do their jobs.
Last edited:
mysticobra
Over Here Now.
- Credits
- 177
That's not supposed to be funny.
But it is. And true.
twisted-hippie
Twisted Herb Plantation CEO
- Credits
- 153
"Back in the day" optimizer's. 
Reminds me of the OKC line driver, HAMMER DOWN!!"Back in the day" optimizer's.
United we stand
TB Lurker
- Credits
- 0
It is supposed to take the bills that are going out for delivery and make the best possible routes for the city drivers. HOWEVER, it does not work. It sends multiple drivers into the same location. Sends drivers 100 Miles out of the way for a pick up when other drivers are in the area. Etc etc. The sooner they dump that turd the better. When they activate it at your terminal tell the city drivers to get ready for some overtime.
I'm sure Matt will have it running like a well-oiled machine.
We had four drivers show up at the same customer with one skid each. Customer put a stop to it real quick. It flat out is a pita!
At first I thought pita must be a Canadian word but then I looked it up.
For those looking for a technical explanation, the software is meant to address what is known as the traveling salesman problem.
Turn down the volume for this interesting video:
Turn down the volume for this interesting video:
D
Deleted member 5115
Guest
What they do not take into account is the myriad of variables that come into play on a daily basis on our routes...customers' break and lunch times, busier and slower times, customers' schedules and when is best to make the delivery or pickup, when the freight will or will not be ready for pickup, traffic conditions, the list goes on. IF you have a good program AND loaders who know the customers' idiosyncrasies loading programs can sort of work but they will never be able to account for the changes that occur all day long, every day out there.
True, and a loader that will go to the trouble to look up an addresses on his smartphone produces far superior results compared to one that can’t, or won’t, which brings up the subject of how much this company has benefited from personal technology – many, many millions of dollars worth every year in my opinion, and growing!
True. But you have to start somewhere. Only the driver will know exactly how it should be loaded.
Canadian Flyer
They Call Me CF, Eh
- Credits
- 2
Best route optimizer around is a city man who knows his route and his customers.
At FedEx, my old barn used to let the city drivers advise the loaders. We got a new TM who put a stop to it because he thought he knew better. Six months down the road at the weekly driver meeting, he asked why our on-time delivery ratio had fallen from 99% to 96%. Every single city driver said the same thing. "The loaders aren't loading the trailer right. I'm having to move freight around and it's taking longer."
It took another 2% drop for the TM to realize that having the supervisors do the route planning wasn't working because nobody was asking the drivers how the trailer should be loaded.