Delivery deadlines: meeting them with tires and routes

Some more obvious connections can be made, such as the impact of planned routes, but did you know delivery deadlines can also be affected by tire management in your operation?

Although you may not see the connection at first, it exists. Tires in poor condition also cause other harm to your fleet, of course, such as increased fuel consumption and vehicle failures or breakdowns.

Basically, the influence is indirect, because tires can skid, hydroplane or blow out during a trip, all of which lead to delayed or incomplete deliveries.

But to fully understand what we mean, let us start with a basic question:

How does delivery deadline management work?

There are some factors you need to consider to plan, meet and adapt a delivery deadline:

• Lead time – the time a product takes to reach the consumer, from when the order is placed;
• Order fulfillment – how many orders a company can fulfill within a period without affecting delivery deadlines;
• Freight costs – how many orders can be placed and shipped on a trip without increasing freight costs;
• Customer satisfaction – how often the customer returns and makes new purchases as you meet your deadline;
• Route development – which routes offer the best value, being short while also offering the best travel conditions;
• Use of appropriate vehicles – each road, load and distance traveled may place different demands on vehicles and tires. It is always good to confirm whether what is currently available is the best choice for the trip, so it is completed rather than compromised;
• Monitoring and assistance as needed – each cargo movement must be observed and transport monitored to prevent losses or other risks that may occur.

An additional tip: managers should always be concerned with offering deadlines they can meet.

What are the best practices for meeting customer delivery deadlines?

Organizing logistics processes through data collection and analysis

Data is essential for you to visualize and understand various factors that contribute to optimizing processes. These include how long it takes the product to reach inventory, how long it spends in the warehouse, and travel time on certain routes and even by driver.

You can also analyze the different fuel costs generated by different drivers over the same route and distance if you work with recurring deliveries.

In short, collection and analysis help you understand and consider the entire production and distribution chain flow when planning transport operations and delivery deadlines.

Real-time cargo monitoring

To know exactly how late a delivery will be or whether it will arrive on time, real-time monitoring is the answer. Some systems even allow notifications to be sent to customers awaiting a delivery, whether to let them know the product is arriving or that there will be a delay and when it can be expected.

It is also possible to plan routes and make last-minute adjustments if something unexpected happens during the trip, such as a closed road, and a new route is needed immediately.

A geolocation technology system is ideal, facilitating this planning. Especially when you have the opportunity to manage routes as well as optimize fleet distance, time and resources.

Risk management

Risks are unpredictable and there is no concrete plan for dealing with them, since we never know when they will actually occur. That is why our best alternative is to consider them and plan possible actions for each scenario.

This way, there is already advance preparation, such as a protocol, to carry out. You and the other fleet employees are always ready to take preventive or corrective actions and measures.

Now, learn:

Why does any tire issue delay delivery?

Tires are essential components for moving a vehicle. Without them, the vehicle literally goes nowhere. So, when there are tire issues, the trip will not be as smooth and safe as you would like, right?

Furthermore, although the main role of tires in the fleet is to make transport possible, some secondary functions are also present:

• Improving vehicle performance and fuel consumption;
• Increasing vehicle durability by reducing corrective maintenance.

Another factor affected, considering everything tires represent in the fleet, is the delivery deadline. If tires are not well cared for and performing at their best, your operations may suffer the consequences.

A bald tire, for example, can cause hydroplaning and slipping on rainy days. This can lead to vehicle rollover and cargo loss, if not even more drastic scenarios.

Tires with incorrect calibration can also make a trip consume more fuel and require more refueling stops. Incorrect calibration can even lead to uneven or accelerated component wear.

And do you know what this causes?

Across the fleet, it leads to premature tire loss. But looking at an immediate effect that causes delivery delays, high tire pressure can lead to a blowout, requiring you to stop the vehicle and change the tire before continuing the trip.

This kind of stop can take minutes or hours, depending on the situation: whether a suitable spare tire is available, correctly inflated, with adequate tread depth, etc. Even whether the driver is prepared to change it or whether help from mechanics or tire repair specialists will need to be called.

This, of course, assumes a less serious scenario in which the tire blew out without causing a more serious accident.

Can you see how important tires are to maintaining a reliable delivery deadline and meeting promised demand?

Did you know that to care for tires, you need to care for routes?

Yes, it is a fact. Creating efficient route planning is certainly a crucial step in avoiding premature tire loss.

The truth is that all fleet stages are connected and should be considered together. That is why communication between managers also becomes essential in a reliable, efficient transport company.

You can even plan routes considering the tire management routine, since it allows you to identify roads in the worst condition to avoid. This also prevents tire loss from blowouts, cracks, cuts and bulges.

In this respect, using and making the most of technology should be your priority for creating more efficient fleet processes.

To start, tire control software that allows you to analyze the quality of the items and their wear level over time.

Then, a route planning system to decide the routes and ensure all trips meet the delivery deadline established by the company.

What else do you need for a productive, efficient operation? Find out on our YouTube channel:

(video in Portuguese)