Data and the Distribution Industry

The distribution industry faces some clear challenges - on the one hand, service levels are central to customer satisfaction - they understandably want parcels and products delivered on time and in good condition. But for the distributors, this has to be balanced against the cost of delivery, and the pressure created by the need for eco-friendly performance.

Inevitably this creates complex business processes to accommodate deliveries and returns which are subject to fluctuating periods of peak activity throughout the calendar year. This is driven by a drive for waste reduction, optimal efficiency and customer demand.

On a day-to-day basis, distributors operate at varying and often very granular levels of geography. For UK distributors, the postcode system offers great advantages, but in the rest of the world equivalent systems can be far less comprehensive, making it difficult to build efficient delivery rounds and depot territories.

Optimal Performance

In our experience, distributors need to be able to optimise activity at both a central and field user level and operate ‘dynamic’ round planning rather than relying upon past performance to dictate resource requirements. In almost every case, clients require a solution that will provide the ability to;

• Manage a variety of methods of delivery. For example, delivery via foot, courier (car), truck (small to large).
• Manage a variety of parcel type/size/weight.
• Manage a variety of delivery points (i.e. premise type).
• Factor in central drop-off and collect distribution points.
• Factor in legislation around minimum wage for courier pay.
• Formulate a tactical plan for deliveries and returns that can shift according to times of peak activity.
• Use the tactical plan to inform decisions around increase and decreasing resource.

Tried and Tested Expertise

Geoplan can call upon significant experience in this area; most recently using well honed skills and internal capability to produce a bespoke Global On-Line Mapping System.

• The Solution can be accessed by depot managers at a local level and administered centrally, providing familiar data in the form of Google Maps, which facilitates a large pool of users with minimal associated licensing costs.
• Due to the volumes of delivery stops and pick-ups a key requirement for the distribution industry is the ability to plan at a detailed level. In order to meet this requirement, Geoplan has developed a process that has enabled the creation of a unique geography.
• In the case of TNT, Geoplan has created ‘Microzones’ which sit between UK Postcode Sector Boundaries and Unit Boundaries. TNT use Microzones as the building blocks for their delivery rounds and have effectively created a unique geography from which they co-ordinate their planning and operations.

Geoplan has also worked with a European Parcel Delivery organisation on a Mapping System which provides the ability to;

• Factor in a range of important considerations such as traffic flow information, population density, car park locations, traffic node locations and travel to work information.
• Correct and change delivery rounds by swapping Postcode units from one territory to another.
• Help identify possible locations for ‘packet shops’ which provide customers with an alternative method of parcel delivery or collection.

The results for TNT and many other Geoplan customers within the distribution industry are proven solutions to the clear set of challenges they face. By reducing service costs while increasing delivery efficiency, business performance sees a tangible benefit, while at the same time boosting the consumer ‘bottom line’ - parcels which arrive at the right place, at the right time and in the right quality.