What does a transport network review look at for a distributor?

A transport network review takes a quarter of deliveries and works out what each drop actually costs, which runs are dense and which are a truck driving across Sydney for one pallet, where your own fleet beats a carrier and where it does not, and what the customers' delivery windows are costing. The output is a set of runs, a fleet and carrier mix, and delivery terms that cost less per drop at the same service.

Book the route review Pallet freight from Prestons

Or call Jayden on 0494 820 639, 7am to 5pm weekdays.

Quick answer

What does a transport network review look at?

A transport network review for a distributor looks at a quarter of deliveries worked into cost per drop by run, customer and lane, route density, own fleet against carrier with the empty return costed, delivery windows and waiting from the PODs, and whether the truck comes back earning. What usually changes: fixed run days by area, the fleet and carrier mix reset lane by lane, delivery terms rewritten, pallet pickups on the return leg, and a weekly report with four numbers.

The question

What is a drop costing me?

Freight is usually managed as a total: the carrier invoices and the fleet costs, against last year. The number that runs a distribution network is cost per drop by run and by customer, and most distributors have never seen it. Build it once from a quarter of consignments: the carrier charge or the fleet cost of the run, divided across the drops on it, with the fuel levy, tolls, waiting time and redeliveries added where they landed. Sort it. The expensive drops are the single pallet to a customer across the city on a day nobody else in that suburb ordered, the site with a two hour window that holds the truck, and the redelivery to the receiver with no forklift.

The same quarter gives drops per run, pallets per drop and kilometres per drop, which is route density. Two runs with the same cost and twice the drops are not the same network. How a metro pallet run works covers how a delivery window changes the run.

What we measure

What does the review measure?

Measure	From	What it decides
Cost per drop by run, customer and lane	A quarter of consignments and the fleet costs	Which customers and lanes are served below cost, and which runs carry the network
Route density	Drops per run, pallets per drop, kilometres per drop, by day of week	Which days and areas need consolidating into fewer, fuller runs
Fleet against carrier	Own fleet cost per run against the carrier price for the same drops, including the empty return	Where a dedicated truck wins, where shared freight wins, and where a carrier's lane is cheaper
Delivery windows and waiting	Booked windows, arrival times, waiting time from the PODs	Which customer terms are costing the run, and what to offer instead
Backhaul and returns	Empty kilometres per run; pallets, returns and pickups available on the way back	Whether the truck can come back earning: pallet collection on the return leg is the usual answer
Service	DIFOT by run and customer from the PODs	Whether the cheap runs are the late ones, so the change does not buy cost with service

Everything is measured from data a distributor already holds: the carrier invoices, the fleet costs, the booking system and the PODs. If the PODs do not carry a time and a count, that is finding one, and the POD page says what they need to carry.

What changes

What usually changes after a network review?

Fixed run days by area. Customers in the same area are delivered on the same days, so the truck does Wetherill Park on Tuesday and Thursday rather than every day half full. Service stays next business day or better for most; the single pallet across the city becomes a scheduled run or a carrier consignment.
The fleet and carrier mix reset. Dense metro runs on your own trucks or a dedicated truck and driver; thin lanes and interstate on carriers; one to six pallets on shared freight. The vehicles page sets out the vehicle classes from a van to a semi.
Delivery terms rewritten. Windows of half a day rather than an hour, a waiting charge after a set time, a tailgate surcharge where there is no forklift, and a minimum order per drop. Most customers accept them when the alternative is a higher freight charge.
The return leg earning. Pallet pickups and supplier collections booked on the way back, which is how a run that was a cost becomes a run that is partly paid for.
A weekly report with four numbers. Cost per drop, drops per run, DIFOT and empty kilometres, so the network is managed on the number that moves rather than the invoice total.

Doing it without a review

What can I do this week?

Pull last month's consignments and sort them by cost per pallet delivered. The top ten per cent will show the pattern without any analysis: the same few customers, the same few suburbs, the same day of the week. Ring the three worst and ask for a run day. Then put the delivery area of the health check through the ten minute health check; it scores delivery against five other areas so the network is weighed against the warehouse before either is changed.

A review adds the full quarter, the fleet against carrier comparison with the empty return costed in, the customer terms, and a set of runs drawn and priced. It is scoped as a project; route optimisation and fleet review has the inputs.

Start with a quarter

Send a quarter of consignments and the fleet costs.

The carrier invoices, the booking export and the PODs. It comes back as cost per drop by run and customer, the five runs to change first, and the price of the review as work.

Book the route review Pallet freight from Prestons

Questions about network reviews

What is a transport network review?

A measured look at every delivery over a quarter: what each drop cost, how dense each run was, where own fleet beat a carrier, what the delivery windows cost, and whether the truck came back empty. The output is a set of runs, a fleet and carrier mix and delivery terms that cost less per drop at the same service.

How is cost per drop worked out?

The carrier charge or the fleet cost of a run, divided across the drops on it, with fuel levy, tolls, waiting time and redeliveries added to the drop that caused them. A quarter of consignments is enough to see the pattern.

Should a distributor run its own trucks?

On dense metro runs with steady volume, often yes, or a dedicated truck and driver. On thin lanes and interstate, a carrier or shared freight is usually cheaper once the empty return is costed. The review answers it lane by lane rather than for the fleet as a whole.

What is route density?

Drops per run and pallets per drop over the kilometres driven. Two runs that cost the same with twice the drops on one of them are not the same network, and density is what fixed run days by area improves.

Does the review cover customer delivery terms?

Yes. Windows, waiting, tailgate deliveries and minimum drop sizes are where a large part of the cost sits, and rewriting the terms is usually part of the change.

Prefer to talk? Call Jayden on 0494 820 639. The service behind this page: route optimisation and fleet review. The freight itself, from a van to a semi: pallet freight from Prestons.

Call 0494 820 639 Get a price