Chapter 3 Operational Control

1. Chapter 3Operational Control

2. STUDY OBJECTIVES • Understand the importance of transport planning. • Be able to explain the link between vehicle control and utilisation, availability and fleet size. • Be able to explain the role of, and factors which affect, routing and scheduling and the efficiency of a transport operation.

3. STUDY OBJECTIVES cont’ • Have insight into the need for documentation and record-keeping in a transportation undertaking. • Be able to identify the various areas in the organisation in which the establishment of standards is essential and why this is so. • Become well-acquainted with traffic-related safety issues, internationally, nationally, and on a company-specific basis.

4. 3.1 INTRODUCTION 3.1.1 TRANSPORT PLANNING • Goods are not moved by choice - it is an additional burden of cost, a cost which should be kept to a minimum

5. 3.1.1 TRANSPORT PLANNING cont’ These factors for consideration will therefore include the cost as well as: • Security of the goods while in transit • Packaging requirements • Delivery time available • Loading and unloading problems at ‘in transit’ depots • Unloading problems at the customer’s premises • Company image and company impact

6. Before starting to develop any transport plan or procedure involving vehicle management, a number of questions need to be answered: • Does the distribution of the product need vehicles? • Pipeline, conveyor, direct collection by customer • If vehicles are needed, must they be road vehicles? • Railway, aircraft, waterway more efficient?

7. If road vehicles are needed, are the services of a haulier more efficient than a company operating its own fleet? • If road vehicles are to be operated by the company on an own-account basis, should they be leased, used on contract hire, or owned?

8. If the final decision is to use company-owned vehicles, how many are required, what types are needed, and where are they to be based? • Not only should basic costs be taken into account, but looking at ‘real costs’ which include service, to the customer and the total value of the whole operation to the overall profitability of the company.

9. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL Management has four basic functions, namely: • planning, • organising, • leading and • Control • Operational control addresses two main areas, namely driver and vehicle control.

10. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’

11. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Operational control begins at the fourth stage and ends at stage seven (as illustrated in Figure 3.1).

12. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • The main aim of vehicle control is to obtain the maximum possible productivity from the vehicle within certain time, load, and on-vehicle staff constraints.

13. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Documents are necessary to control the flow of activities and to maintain current and permanent records. • Transportation documents includes: • bills of lading, • waybills, and • freightbills.

14. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Waybills are activity records. • These three kinds of documentation are used regularly and relate directly to the transportation service.

15. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Transport Admin documents would include: • arrival notices, • delivery receipts, • inspection reports, and • claim forms. • (not required on all shipments)

16. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Transportation documents categorised as management documents include : • contracts, • tariffs, • average and actual weight agreements, • average demurrage agreements, and • insurance policies.

17. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Apart from these forms of documentation, the driver is often required to keep a logbook with departure and arrival times noted at customers, as well as kilometre readings at each offloading point. • From logbooks the transport manager can easily determine where the driver delivered goods first, as well as the distribution route followed for routing exercises.

18. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Logbook cont’ • Standing time at each customer can also be determined compared to the goods offloaded (standing time = arrival time – departure time) • If standards have been set for goods to be off-loaded these standards can now be compared to actual time taken.

19. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Utilisation factors, for which exercises need to be conducted on a regular basis, are as follows • Time utilisation • Distance utilisation • Load utilisation

20. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Time utilisation • To obtain maximum benefit from an investment in a vehicle it is important to maximise the time it is in use, compared to its available time. • If driving time is too high for the type of business, it could point to a: • driver not knowing his route, • where his customers are, etc.

21. a) Time utilisation cont’ E.G. • Truck has available 8hours in a day to do pick up and deliveries • From the logbook we can see that 7 of the 8hours are spent driving. • We see that the driving time for this type of business is too high that could point to: • Driver not knowing the route or • Where the customer is

22. a) Time utilisation cont’ • If the standing time is too high, it could point to an unproductive, unmotivated crew, handling difficulties, queuing at customers, paperwork, etc. • E.G. • Truck has available 8 working hours and from logbook it can be seen it is only working for 5 of that 8 hours available.

23. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Utilisation factors, for which exercises need to be conducted on a regular basis, are as follows • Time utilisation • Distance utilisation • Load utilisation

24. b) Distance utilisation • The longer the vehicle travels with a load the more fixed costs are divided by the payload. • Space on a vehicle cannot be stored and is immediately wasted if the vehicle travels with a partload (leftover space) • Successful operators are always aiming at eliminating unladenkilometres. • Minimise the distance that the vehicle travels empty

25. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Utilisation factors, for which exercises need to be conducted on a regular basis, are as follows • Time utilisation • Distance utilisation • Load utilisation

26. c) Load utilisation • By concept, only volume (m³) or mass (kg) is transported in the freight industry. Transported by mass, usually expressed in tons: • bags of cement, • steel, bricks, etc. is Transporting of volumetric commodities expressed in cubic metres are: • furniture, • fibreglass rolls, etc.

27. c) Load utilisation cont’ • Every vehicle has a certain capacity - whether it is in tons or cubic metres. • Capacity is arrived at by subtracting the vehicle tare (unladen mass) from its gross vehicle mass (laden = including the load).

28. c) Load utilisation cont’ • Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) is the maximum allowable total mass of a fully loaded motor vehicle, consisting of the tare mass (mass of the vehicle) plus the load (including passengers) • Tare (unladen mass) GVM – Tare = Capacity

29. c) Load utilisation cont’ • By optimising each load, in other words the full capacity (fully laden) of the vehicle, the operator could achieve the lowest cost per unit transported.

30. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Vehicle availability is the number of days that a vehicle should be available to the company to deliver/transport goods. • Used to determine whether fleet size is at an optimum

31. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ Reasons for low availability are: • lack of drivers, • downtime due to repairs and maintenance, • waiting for spares, etc. • Generally speaking, the lower the availability given a specific workload, the more vehicles are required. • End - 01March2013

33. 3.1.2 VEHICLE CONTROL cont’ • Efficient vehicle utilisation (Time, Distance and Load) is the key to a minimum-cost operation. • Particular attention must be given to vehicle preparation, loading, running time, delivery of the goods, load assessment, and route planning.

34. 3.1.3 VEHICLE PREPARATION • The driver is the only person who should check a vehicle before a day’s deliveries. • The roadworthiness of the vehicle is his responsibility.

35. 3.1.3 VEHICLE PREPARATION cont’ • Drivers need to be trained to check their vehicles in accordance with a standard drill, in the same way in which an airline pilot will carry out his pretake-off checks. The sequence should start outside of the vehicle with the checking of the: • tyres, • the security of the load,

36. 3.1.3 VEHICLE PREPARATION cont’ • the doors on box vans, • the pins in side- and tail-boards of flat-bed vehicles, • container fastenings, • oil, • water, • lights, rear and side reflectors, and so on

37. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING 3.2.1 INTRODUCTION The main purpose of routing and scheduling is to optimise vehicle usage while maintaining a given predetermined level of service. Routing Send or direct along a specified course or route Scheduling A list of times of departures and arrivals; a timetable/ A plan for performing work or achieving an objective, specifying the order and allotted time for each part

38. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ This can be achieved through: • Maximising time utilisation • Maximising capacity utilisation • Minimising distances travelled • Minimising fleet size

39. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ Various factors could influence the above, ie.: • Volumetric or mass restrictions of vehicles • Distance and/or time limitations

40. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ • The modern techniques of route planning by computer are being applied successfully in many industries – but experience of staff is still necessary • The most efficient and economical routing has been carried out by producing a computer solution, and then adapting this to a practical application

41. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ • Practical experience of routes and delivery rounds, has many advantages over the computer. • Factors such as factory or school times and holidays, a football match, or even a level crossing with a late train, cannot always be dealt with by the computer.

42. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ Information required for the routing and scheduling of vehicles: • Product items • Product groups • Mass (per unit or in total) • Volume (per unit or in total) • Carton/crate/parcel detail

43. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ • Unit loads (pallets, cages) • Delivery points (number, extent and distribution) • Vehicle data (mass/volume restrictions, etc.) • Customer detail

44. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ Factors that affect routing and scheduling: • Customer restrictions • Specified delivery times • Lunch times • Parking facilities etc. • Vehicle limitations • Number and type of vehicles available • Capacity limitations

45. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ Factors that affect routing and scheduling cont’: 3. Route Limitations • Distances - in time and kilometres • Time limitations (limits the number of deliveries per day) 4. Product/unit load limitations • Product separation requirements due to contamination, danger and pilferage • Dimension arid/or mass

46. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ Factors that affect routing and scheduling cont’: 5. Personnel • Efficiency at the depot • On-vehicle staff performance and motivation 6. Level of customer service required

47. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ • The driver is also able, by his practical knowledge, to provide the answers to most of the everyday problems of vehicle routing. Transport managers can produce substantial cost savings - by encouraging drivers to: • use the most economic and fastest routes, • to take advantage of maximum speed limits of the roads and their vehicles, and • to return to base without undue delay

48. 3.2 ROUTING AND SCHEDULING Intro cont’ • Route planning enables loads to be ready as soon as vehicles return to a depot. • Scheduling by computer, or even manually, will help to provide information about the most efficient route for a particular set of circumstances.

49. 3.2.2 LOAD ASSESSMENT Load assessment means the workload of the vehicle and includes an assessment of the effort and time needed by the driver and crew to : • load, unload and distribute the contents of the delivery schedule, • the time needed to arrive at the delivery area, • the time needed to manoeuvre the vehicle from one delivery point to the next, • the time needed to return to base, and • the time needed for the driver to prepare his vehicle and carry out routine administration.

50. 3.2.2 LOAD ASSESSMENT cont’ • Qperational management’s responsibility is to estimate the total workload for a particular operation and to convert it to a standard time. • This standard time is used to assess the crew’s productivity based on actual performance.