Delivery Logistics Software: Weather-Proofing Your Logistics Operations
Uncertain and inevitable weather events like winter storms, hurricanes, polar vortices, or wildfires bring the supply chain to a halt. But delivery companies cannot wait for the uneven weather to stop.
Logistics businesses have the responsibility to operate their supply chains when there are interruptions like winter storms or extreme temperature swings. These season-induced logistics breakdowns cause maximum vehicle downtime.
Vehicle downtime
Vehicle downtime is the time in which a vehicle is pulled out of the service until the driver resumes the work. It is the period of time during which a vehicle is not operating or is unavailable. One should not misunderstand repair time with downtime.
Types of vehicle downtime
Vehicle downtimes occur due to planned reasons or unplanned reasons. Downtimes that occur due to planned reasons are called planned downtime. Downtimes that occur due to unplanned reasons are called unplanned downtime.
Unplanned vehicle downtime
Vehicles spend off the road because of incidents like collisions, breakdowns, delays in service/maintenance, or repair schedules. They attract less visible costs or soft costs to be charged on the budget
Ex:- Cost of replacing a vehicle and ruined goods
- Paying drivers for unscheduled stops
- Inability to deliver goods OnTime and In Full
- Idle staff hours
Planned vehicle downtime
Planned downtime is the time during which activity in a company slows down due to the implementation of new technology, refresher training, vehicle inspections, scheduled servicing, etc.
Ex:- Towing charges
- Lost revenue
- Temporary rental
- Employee overtime
Impact of logistics breakdowns on supply chain during winter
Capacity
When trucking capacity is not maintained, it leads to some vehicle stoppage midway. Especially during winters, it becomes difficult to reallocate alternative vehicles when the majority of the trucks are off the roads.
Road closures
Road closures are one of the biggest hindrances that cold weather provides when businesses set out to deliver products. Beyond affecting traffic speed, they result in increased travel time, and dangerous driving conditions that hold higher risk of accidents.
Stockouts
Due to a sudden purchase spike the store shelves get emptied quickly following power outages. This oscillates people towards online shopping putting increased pressure on fleet drivers to work on tight delivery schedules.
Lead times
When people order products online during winter seasons, lead times become quite unpredictable. As the parcel volumes keep piling up, it becomes difficult to schedule deliveries and plan ETAs.
Rejected loads
As logistics breakdowns during winters make it challenging to execute on-time deliveries, there are greater occurrences of rejected loads. This results in increased wait times and idling costs because it is tough during winters to find alternate receivers of products.
Delayed shipments
Unusual weather conditions, coupled with limited vehicle capacity and driver shortage triggers logistics breakdowns, thereby leading to delivery delays.
Rising costs
Logistics breakdowns during winters lead to a spike in costs through ripple effects of delayed deliveries, increased demand and reduced supply.
How delivery logistics software helps smartly weather-proof logistics operations
Plan your deliveries early
Helps to plan alternate safe stops when there are extreme weather conditions, thereby reducing issues facing Hours of Service (HOS). Enables fleet managers to plan routes based on road conditions and vehicle capacity.
Facilitate effective communication
Enables logistics businesses to conduct smooth internal and external communications when there are logistics breakdowns. External communication informs customers about delivery delays through alerts. Internal communication facilitates organizational communication on additional costs due to weather issues.
Flexibility in deliveries
Provides flexibility in assigning drivers to different delivery windows based on safety restrictions. Offers a greater sense of control to customers to reschedule their deliveries when there are uneven weather events.
Make proper vehicle selection
Helps fleet managers to run vehicle capacity checks before planning delivery scheduled for drivers. Enables them to prepare delivery schedules based on vehicles that confront extreme weather situations.
Effective rerouting capability
Enables drivers to improve their First Attempt Delivery Rates (FADR), without burdening them with tight delivery time windows. Helps fleet managers to quickly reassign deliveries to nearby drivers when there is a weather-driven vehicle stoppage, reducing failed and missed deliveries.
Track scheduled vehicle maintenance
Helps logistics manager proactively monitor the length of time vehicles spend in garages. Its insights minimizes chances for weather-induced accidents, thereby reducing the maintenance costs.
Locus: A tool to tackle logistics breakdowns and target customers
Locus Delivery logistics software helps fleet managers track, identify and rectify weather-induced vehicle breakdowns. It enables logistics businesses to manage efficiency standards during winter without compromising safety standards. It improves the fleet's capabilities to handle weather issues and enhance customer satisfaction.
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