Use Case
As fleets grow, more and more variables come into play and route optimization becomes more than just finding the most efficient route from source to destination. Route optimization models combine external data, geospatial analysis, and internal business requirements to reduce travel time, vehicle wear, and the costs of fuel and labor.
Efficiency Gains
Automate route optimization process and better forecast total drive time
Bottom-Line Returns
Dramatically reduce cost of operations and labor costs for vehicle fleets
Customer Experience
Better predict time of arrival and automate systems to notify customers
Business Problem
How do you know that your drivers and field workers are using the most efficient delivery routes? Minutes shaved off of a route can become a competitive advantage, so route optimization is the key to balancing high delivery volume with low delivery costs. Every route is an exercise in trade-offs among variables like driver availability, delivery volume, load/unload time, fulfillment promises, vehicle size, road conditions, and traffic. It’s not a set-and-forget calculation, because most of the variables change from one day to the next. Small companies can optimize routes manually, but as soon as they have more than a few drivers, it becomes apparent that the process doesn’t scale well.
Analytics Solution
When your company outgrows the use of spreadsheets for manually creating records, blending data sets, and consolidating reports, it’s time to use route optimization models based on geospatial analysis. Drive-time optimization workflows take pre-built packages (or the APIs offered by map providers) to transform data on latitude and longitude into spatial objects for both source and destination. Parsing tools extract relevant data points, then spatial tools build a turn-by-turn route to the destination. The APIs estimate distance and time to complete the trip. By combining external data on drive time with internal data on deliveries and fulfillment, you can allocate workloads to drivers according to capacity, seniority, and geography for more efficient logistics.
With Alteryx, you can:
- Automatically connect to multiple sources of geolocation and spatial data using APIs like the MapQuest API
- Download the Spatial Analytics Starter Kit and use tools like the ‘Create Points’ tool from the Alteryx Spatial tools to transform longitude and latitude into spatial objects
1 – Data Connection
Where geographic data is not readily available, create a batch process to load location data
2 – Advanced Analytics
Automatically connect batch data to existing optimization workflows using the Macro Tool
3 – Data Visualization
Export optimized routes and connect to dashboards or to supply chain software
Customer Success Stories
Customer Story
London North Eastern Railway Builds a Fast Track to Insights with Alteryx + Tableau
How a railway company gets fast-paced data insights to match a fast-paced train service with Alteryx.
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Customer Story
Pickup Super-Local Solutions for Personal Deliveries
Thanks to geomarketing studies, Pickup is adapting its network based on population density, to offer the closest and most practical pickup shipping service for consumers.
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Customer Story
Copa Airlines Takes Data to Cruising Altitude
Copa Airlines automated the analysis of 115 million rows of data every day.
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