Through HaulPlan’s optimization and user network expertise, over 150 services that were originally routed through the service center were selected to use new break points. These changes shift 72,000 lbs. away from the terminal daily.
72,000 lbs.
Rehandling Reduction
1,300 miles
Linehaul Miles Saved
$2,000 per day
Cost Savings
Business problem
One of our client’s service centers runs a small linehaul consolidation (rehandling) operation, mainly to help some freight meet their service standards. However, over time, additional freight was moved in and out of this service center, resulting in inconsistent freight volumes and, ultimately, inefficient loads.
Our approach
Optym’s HaulPlan reads in network and plan data to simulate freight movement across a planning horizon, presenting detailed analysis across the entire network. Using this input data, HaulPlan can make recommendations tuned to many specific studies. In this case, HaulPlan was used to generate the most efficient alternative routes that rerouted freight away from the service center.
Key benefits
- Effects of any plan change can be quickly evaluated through HaulPlan, including:
- Terminal rehandling volume
- Trailer counts on each load
- Network imbalance
- Impact on service standards
- HaulPlan can evaluate thousands of different options within minutes to provide the best recommendations.
- Once changes are finalized, HaulPlan allows users to instantly publish the new plan into their execution system.
Results
As a result of removing inefficient loads and providing a more focused hub operation, network costs DECREASED by $2,000 per day! This includes 1,300 linehaul miles reduced due to optimizing consolidation opportunities.
There are often some adverse effects to changes like these, such as increased rehandling at other terminals and modified service standards, but the total network cost decreased while meeting the objective of reducing the terminal’s rehandling footprint. HaulPlan identifies and highlights these adverse effects to help users understand the entire picture of how their changes will impact the network before they finalize their decisions. The team was also able to instantly push these changes to their execution system through HaulPlan to immediately capitalize on the benefits. This was a huge win for our client’s planning team!