by Jessica Cearfoss

If the routing platform you’re using or assessing doesn’t include advanced tools for making manual adjustments on the fly, you miss out on significant efficiency and safety benefits.

The first step should always be getting the most accurate data into the routing system at the outset—including geocoding for customer locations and travel speed on specific arteries— since certain variables can change over time.

Only through these ongoing adjustments are routes truly optimized. There is always room for improvement on every route based on local knowledge—something that an automated algorithm can’t do on its own.

To accurately account for these shifts, a routing platform must have these three capabilities:

• Detailed route editing: After running automatic solvers, tools reassign customer pickups to other routes on an individual basis and permits detailed fine-tuning of each route.
• Block-based sequencing: This controls the way a truck drives around a route by “clicking out” on a block-by-block basis instead of having to click individually on hundreds of different customers.  
• Multi-day commercial pattern adjustments: With commercial waste collection, trucks visit businesses that may get multiple pickups every week. Our editing tools help waste management companies keep these service patterns intact as they balance customers between routes.

Learn more about RouteSmart’s local knowledge tools by contacting me at jcearfoss@routesmart.com.