Selecting first and last stops for vehicles

When manual route optimisation is being carried out for one or more vehicles, you can specify a start and/or end point for the routes, for example if all vehicles are to be driven back to the terminal after the last delivery. Extra stops are added to the route, and the driving time to the start and end points is included in the route optimisation. No other conditions for the shipments are changed, such as the pickup or delivery windows for individual shipments.

The addresses that can be selected as start and end points are taken from the shipments that are currently undergoing route optimisation, and from the home locations of the resources. You cannot add addresses other than those already in the list; it is instead a way of locking any of the existing shipment addresses, or the home location, as the first and/or last stop.

Proceed as follows

In dispatch, select one or more shipments and press F9 to open the Route optimization window, or right-click on a resource box and select Route optimize.
Select the vehicles to be included in the route optimisation.
Select an address from one of the Vehicles must start route at or Vehicles must end route at drop-down lists.
- Vehicles must start route at: All vehicles must start from this address. The driving time to the starting address is included in the route optimisation and the delivery time for the first shipment takes this driving time into account. If you select [None], the route starts at the vehicle’s current position. If [Home location] is selected, the route starts at the resource’s home location, if one has been entered in the vehicle or driver registry.
- Vehicles must end route at: All vehicles must end their working session at this address. The driving time to the final address is included in the route optimisation and the end time of the working session is taken into account. If you select [None], the route will end at the delivery address of the last shipment. If [Home location] is selected, the route will end at the resource’s home location.
Adjust any other route optimisation settings and then click on Calculate route sequence.

Extra stops are added at the beginning or end of the route for each vehicle, depending on whether you have chosen to have the routes start or end at a specific address.

Example

Morning session

A home delivery working session with ten different vehicles starts at 8:00 am. The drivers have the vehicles at home. All the packages are located at the terminal in Stockholm, so all routes must start from there. The vehicles will then be driven back to the terminal so that other drivers can take over for the afternoon session, which starts at 12:00 pm (noon). When carrying out route optimisation, select the following from the drop-down lists:

Vehicles must start route at: the Stockholm terminal.
Vehicles must end route at: the Stockholm terminal.

As the Use position and calculate driving time to first stop checkbox is selected in the Route optimization settings window, the route optimisation calculation takes into account the driving time the vehicles need to reach the terminal when planning the delivery time for the first shipments. An extra stop is added at the end of the route to drive the vehicle back to the terminal. Route optimisation takes the driving time into account and it is calculated so that the vehicles will be back at the terminal by 12:00 pm (noon).

The morning session with home location

A home delivery working session with ten different vehicles starts at 8:00 am. The drivers have their cars at home, so the driving time from home to the terminal should be included in the working session. All packages are located at the terminal in Stockholm. The vehicles will then be driven back to the terminal so that other drivers can take over for the afternoon session, which starts at 12:00 pm (noon). When carrying out route optimisation, select the following from the drop-down lists:

Vehicles must start route at: [Home location], as the driving time from the home location to the terminal should be included in the working session.
Vehicles must end route at: the Stockholm terminal.

As [Home location] is selected in the Vehicles must start route at drop-down list, the route optimisation calculation takes into account the driving time the vehicles need to reach the terminal when planning the delivery time for the first shipments. An extra stop is added at the end of the route to drive the vehicle back to the terminal. Route optimisation takes the driving time into account and it is calculated so that the vehicles will be back at the terminal by 12:00 pm (noon).

Afternoon session

The afternoon session begins at 12 pm. All the vehicles should be back at the Stockholm terminal by 4 pm for the evening session. When carrying out route optimisation, select the following from the drop-down lists:

Vehicles must start route at: [None] because all the vehicles are already at the terminal.
Vehicles must end route at: the Stockholm terminal.

An extra stop is added at the end of the route to drive the vehicle back to the terminal. Route optimisation takes the driving time into account and it is calculated so that the vehicles will be back at the terminal by 4:00 pm.

Evening session

The evening session starts at 4:00 pm and ends at 10:00 pm. Drivers take their vehicles home with them, but the time spent driving home is not included in the working session.

Vehicles must start route at: [None] because all the vehicles are already at the terminal.
Vehicles must end route at: [None], because no extra driving time should be included in the working session after the last delivery.

The evening session with home location

The evening session starts at 4:00 pm and ends at 10:00 pm. Drivers take their vehicles home with them, and the time spent driving home should be included in the working session.

Vehicles must start route at: [None] because all the vehicles are already at the terminal.
Vehicles must end route at: [Home location], because the driving time to the home location after the last delivery should be included in the working session.