Increasingly distributed supply chains across the world have made logistics services more important than ever, but this also highlights a crucial issue that continues to grow: resource shortage. Many logistics companies face shortages in drivers, trucks and containers, leading to an inability to make all deliveries and creating product shortages. This is a serious obstacle to many sectors — especially retailers and logistics service providers, who need a solution that enables them to increase their transport capacity despite the limited resources and minimize service disruptions through improved planning.
According to the World Economic Forum, over a quarter of commercial truck drivers in the US will be 65 or older by 2030. In some parts of the world, up to 25% of driving jobs remain unfilled as a result of the shortage. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Logistics UK estimates a shortage of nearly 100,000 drivers in the country, which has led to dairy suppliers being unable to deliver a portion of their orders to supermarkets.
As a potential solution to this logistics crisis, some startups have been looking to further develop autonomous driving systems to one day be capable of operating safely at a commercial scale. But even if driverless systems could potentially solve this problem in the future, the concept and technology is still being evaluated today and the logistics industry is largely skeptical that this solution will be viable any time soon.
Coping with Driver Shortage
The reality we face today is that attracting and raising new talent or developing better autonomous driving systems cannot immediately solve the global shortage of qualified drivers. However, companies may have another way to cope while relying on the existing pool of qualified drivers: a planning system that combines intelligent resource planning with flexibility to help logistics service providers make their operations more efficient. By leveraging a solution with integrated planning and optimization capabilities, you can effectively clear logistics bottlenecks using resources you already have while helping your organization retain qualified drivers.
With KPI-based planning, your planners can minimize empty miles and identify the most efficient route plans, enabling your organization to make the same number of deliveries with less resources and fewer drivers. At the same time, the system connects with your drivers through the mobile application and allows you to take their preferences into account, so you can make plans with increased driver satisfaction.
The solution’s algorithms consider all constraints linked to route planning, resources and workforce, as well as your profit margins, costs and customer service levels. Some benefits that customers have realized with DELMIA’s Last Mile planning solution:
- Create transport resource availability through better planning
- Planning across all time horizons helps inform decision-making on the quantity of resources needed
- Consolidating loads and eliminating unnecessary trips reduces mileage and driving hours, requiring less drivers
- Leverage scenario planning to project the driver capacities needed
- Set driver satisfaction as a KPI and retain drivers by keeping them happy
- Improve customer service levels
- Reduction of transport-related costs
DELMIA’s Last Mile planning solution has helped many logistics companies handle high-volume operations with ease. The solution is easy to implement, and companies can choose to test it on a smaller scale with one or a few depots before deciding to scale up.
Interested to know more? Download our brochure. We also hosted a podcast where we spoke with our strategic partner, Ab Ovo, taking an in-depth look at the solution.
Global Marketing Specialist at Dassault Systèmes, Netherlands