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Marcotte Systems Solutions - Published on November 1, 2014

The Challenges of Dispatching

Dispatching is a critical business function in the ready-mix producer's supply chain.

 

One big challenge that ready-mix producers of all sizes face is

meeting customers' highest requirements and satisfaction while maintaining an efficient and profitable delivery process.

 

Open, Best of Breed Software Technologies provide the innovation, DATA and business tools to ease the implementation of automation and predictability in your process.

 

Please read the following success story, which demonstrates how a one plant, 20 trucks, ready mix producer was able to implement MDispatch and eradicate lost/ idle minutes using MARCOTTE's unique software functionalities. #bestofbreed

 

 

Reducing lost minutes

 

Eradicating lost minutes is one of the key operational challenges for ready-mix producers today. Inadequate utilization of the truck/driver asset drives unnecessary additional costs, directly impacting each delivery's profitability and excluding the opportunity to drive additional revenue per truck.

 

Case Study

 

A metropolitan ready mix producer with a 20 truck operation located in Montreal, QC.

 

We need to understand better the proportion of time spent waiting/idle by the truck fleet at job sites. 

 

We want to make sure we can see an increase in our efficiency and lower our costs.

 

Based on predetermined metrics, we schedule 10 minutes to load a truck. Are we losing precious minutes?

 

We need to increase our precision while dealing with real-time decisions; as you know, we are always in an ever-changing environment.

 

Solutions 

 

MARCOTTE implemented MDispatch 

 

Real-time predictive route scheduling via Google API (time, day traffic)

Real-time predictive load times via MARCOTTE AI (by truck, volume, mix)

Real-time integration with GPS and real-time tracking

Implementation of real-time Truck dynamic scheduling via delivery statuses

Implementation of auto-dispatch and truck allocations based on specific orders.  

Integration of Quickbooks to automate invoicing of tickets

 

MARCOTTE implemented MInsights

 

Real-time dispatcher KPIs supporting decision process (delivery performance in real-time)

Real-time Manager KPIs overseeing global operations (profitability)

 

Results

 

Thanks to an easy-to-use virtual interface, the dispatcher could rapidly and seamlessly prepare their schedules, considering all parameters.

 

After several days, MInsights enabled us to control our operations better and see where improvements were needed.

 

AFTER 90 DAYS

 

11% reduction of eradicated lost minutes 

- 9.7 minutes per trip (2 hour round trip).

 

- Average of 50 trips per day, representing 8.08 hours of eradicated idle time per day = 30 minutes per truck a day.