fficiency—by Computer
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;GER SAVING FROM DAY-BY-DAY ROUTE PLANNING By S. Buckley, Assoc Inst T
distribution was undergoing a revoution it was essential that every means, ding the use of computers, should be ed in an endeavour to improve efficiToday every company had to shake • dl the fat in its organization and transoperation was no exception.
I commented Mr. Philip H. Shirley, chairman, British Railways Board, ding at the opening session of a two-day iar held in London this week. It was ed: "Transport Planning and Schedulfor Efficient Distribution" and was nized by Computer Communication in co-operation with English Electric Marconi Computers Ltd.
any efficient companies knew their ;port delivery costs but how many knew cost of transport included in the nditure on their incoming raw materials, Shirley wondered. There was unlimited e for the effective use of computers in whole field of transport.
resenting the opening lecture, Mr. M. H. /ebb, Fellow in Management Studies, ion School of Economics, stressed the tantial change in the use of computers ke last four years when applied to transproblems. Greater efficiency could be eyed by "on-line" or day-by-day fling by computer in appropriate conns compared with yearly or periodic Lfling coupled with daily adjustment for random orders received. But if 5 per of random orders needed to be rimposed on a basic plan it could reduce iency by 10 per cent.
ecause it was necessary to arrange for dies not to return with part of their iard load, load planners were under sure to take a conservative view of what itituted a reasonable day's work. But :taking up a journey it was extremely cult to define what was reasonable.
ailability the key
was important to appreciate that the Dr cost of transport was having drivers vehicles available while the actual cost naking deliveries was the minor proion. As a result, the cost had been ely fixed before the journey planner ted to organize his daily runs.
Vhen orgariizing a group on a manual s the planner could only have an ression as to what constituted a reason; day's work. In fact some margin been an agreed reasonable day and the timum a driver could in fact achieve viably existed.
lecause of commercial pressure the iner wanted to deliver the maximum tin a given period so that any agreement, ten or implicit, with drivers should be ible. Mr. Webb said he had found that in ly organizations there was a lot of vay which could be put to better use. In context reduced driving time would nit increased delivery time which was main object of the exercise. Sources of saving that could be achieved by the application of computer planning were threefold—idle time, reduced mileage and a better fit of orders. These three factors would be dependent on particular organizations but the first, idle time, applied to most.
One approach to this problem was to assess what level of computer cost would be accepted as reasonable. If 5 per cent would be considered as a possible saving on total transport costs, assessments could then be made relative to the type of vehicle operated, for example, whether it cost £40 per day, £10 or £5 to operate. Mr. Webb then demonstrated on a graph the number of drops per day at which it was considered reasonable to apply computer scheduling but in the field of parcels delivery it was doubtful if its use could be justified.
In addition to the saving of transport costs by the use of computer, administrative problems could be relieved at depots when the whole of the system was integrated right through from receipt of order to final delivery.
The capital cost
In relation to likely savings by computer scheduling, Mr. Webb said that the expenditure involved could include a capital cost on the computer of £120,000 with an annual operating cost of £70,000. Additionally where a large machine was used in association with a data transmission service, the cost of the latter could range from £500 to £2,000 a year. He again illustrated by graphs that where the number of vehicles dropped below, say, 20 per depot, the data transmission cost became too great, but there were well defined areas where data transmission would not be unduly expensive.
Outlining practical problems associated with the application of computers to transport operation, Mr. Simon P. Jones, consultant in Management Services, EELMC, stressed the distinction between off-line and on-line planning. The problems associated with off-line planning were experimental in that one was simulating the varying conditions. But in on-line planning the aim was to get a completely real situation so as to obtain a solution which was practical.
When commencing daily planning by computer one had problems in two areas, simulating delivery by present manual methods and then by using a computer to see what economy could be achieved. In this latter exercise the problem of collecting all the data necessary was considerable and in one example it was found that 1,000 customer records could be examined by one driver and one clerical worker so as to determine all relevant factors such as local congestion, early closing, ease of access, restriction on delivery times or days and so on.
There was also the problem of educating customers, particularly as regard late ordering as it was a prerequisite of computer scheduling that one should have the whole of the data available before planning commenced.
Drivers also had to be educated as by manual methods they had become conditioned to think in terms of existing geographical areas. But computer planning would create new areas and unless drivers were forewarned there was likely to be opposition to any resulting changes.