Creating an Easy Dispatch Process for Goods Transportation
There are multiple things you need to keep in mind if you want to create an easy dispatch process for goods transportation. This guide covers the same. We will see all the things that logistics and transporter need to keep in mind to create the best transportation process. We will cover not only the core points like route planning, goods dispatch, etc. but we will also cover the important parts like creating a business plan, etc. So, you will get a complete idea about each and everything needed for the creation of an easy process.
Let’s start with the main point.
Creating a Plan
As you already know, if you start without any outline, you will end up messing up everything. So, you will have to keep in mind the main thing and create a roadmap or a plan to start with. The plan should cover all the things that we mentioned here.
So, the first step is to take a chart paper or a piece of paper and start writing a perfect plan. One can also use an online tool to create one. However, we would recommend you create a plan in the paper. This will allow you to add every detail you should include.
The first step of Dispatch
The first part of the process should be the goods dispatch. It includes the process of the packaging of the goods and leaving the inventory. People usually use QR or barcode scanning when the parcel or the goods leave the inventory. So, you can have the same thing in your process.
When the goods are left in the inventory, one can always go with the best tech as it will make the entire process much easier. It’s almost next to impossible to take notes of all the goods that are going out of your inventory. Instead, a one-tap barcode or QR will make the whole process a lot easier.
So, you can have the best tech for the goods dispatch. When you do it, you have completed the first step of the processing.
Route Planning
In India, looking for the shortest path is not always the best idea. Sometimes, you have to keep in mind all the restrictions of the goods movement especially if you are planning to enter the city. In many cities, there are certain areas/roads where you are not allowed to enter the city.
In the same way, if you are going on big routes, you will have to take many breaks in between. So, you don’t just have to find the easiest and shortest route. Instead, you will have to look for the best route.
Further, if you are delivering different goods to different cities in the same truck, you can take the shortest path to travel to the cities. So, route planning is most important part of the dispatch process.
If you are transferring the goods via train in between, you can keep in mind the train timings as well and plan the route accordingly.
Therefore, we can say that it’s a unique process to determine the best route.
Driver Management with Vehicle Allocation
You will have to manage the drivers as well as vehicles. If you have drivers who have hometowns in specific cities and you are also traveling to that city, you can allocate that driver for that city.
In the same way, it’s recommended to send the heavy drivers to the heavy or risky routes. In that way, you can ensure that you will get the best delivery speed and ensure the safety of all the drivers. Don’t forget to check the documentation of vehicles and drivers before allocating them to the route.
Further, you also need to ensure that the driver gets proper rest and sleep when they are not at work. In this way, you can ensure the safety of the drivers. So, you need to allocate the work accordingly. Further, if the route is longer, you also need to ensure that there are multiple drivers in the truck to take turns in the route. In this way, they will get proper rest as well as the work will be done with ease.
The driver management should also include employee training.
Communication and Updates
One of the most important parts of making an easy dispatch process is communication. You can have the best driver management and vehicle allocation. However, if they are not in sync, it’s of no use. So, you will have to ensure that they are in proper sync with each other. To do that, you can have the best communication channel.
For instance, if the driver reaches the destination at 3 AM, you need to ensure that the warehouse is open and that there are enough people to take the goods out of the truck. In this way, you can let the truck go for another ride as soon as possible.
In the last step, we will see what things you can do to make the communication and updates a lot better.
Implementing Tech
Now that you know about all the things that are important for the easy dispatch process, you can implement the tech in the entire process. When you implement tech in the process, you are making the entire process easier.
You can send notifications to the customers and have every update to the team. Along with this, it also removes the delay of the work and makes sure that all the drivers and team can properly communicate. Most of the IT software also comes with GPS tracking. So, you can track the trucks and calculate the fuel costs. It gives advanced calculations of the costs. So, it makes your work a lot easier than it is.
The software saves a lot of time as it automates most of the processes. The drivers or the staff don’t need to send the notifications or communicate manually. Instead, the app does it for the drivers and staff. It makes the entire process much easier.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, this was all about how you can make the dispatch process easier and faster. There are multiple things you need to keep in mind. The first thing is that you need to allocate the right vehicle and the right drivers. Once you do it, you can have the dispatch process faster. A tech where scanning of the goods as the dispatch details in the software will be the best way to move ahead.
The last two important parts for an easy dispatch process is to implement tech in the entire transport business. A logistics business needs tech software that does the work for you. The automation will do the work for you. This makes the communication a lot easier. Your drivers don’t need to send updates manually to the team. Instead, it does all the things itself.
That’s how you can make the whole dispatch process easier.
Rishit Bhatt is a content strategist and a professional writer with a keen interest in technology and tech-enabled businesses. He aims to help businesses integrate tech into their on-premises infrastructure with technical documentation and helpful articles.