Routing

Routing is the order that the work is to be completed. Typically, the trick is to set the order so the travel time between jobs is kept to a minimum and all the players are at the job at the same time. With "regular" service or trash pickup routes, the plan is to select customers in a tight area or who are along major highways to keep travel time lower. For demand routing, like septic or sewer and drain where a significant number of jobs are called for immediate or next day service, the idea is to have a good handle on where you have already committed your drivers so that you can minimize travel time by dispatching to the driver who will be closest to the job to minimize the driver’s travel time.

You can see that scheduling, dispatch and routing are all closely tied to one another. When a job is to be done, who does the job and the order that the jobs are to be completed all have to be answered before the actual work can be completed. To bring together each of these activities requires good communication skills, an excellent memory and excellent interpersonal skills when dealing with frustration, anger and resentment not to mention the feeling of the customers whose work is not being completed. Not an easy job even if you know what you are doing.

Next time, we will review some of the tools available and their special features to help with scheduling, dispatch and routing.