There are a number of issues that can make it difficult for a traveler to develop their service. From calculating the most efficient route between several cities, to many others. These issues can be incredibly costly for any service, delivery or transportation company.
Solving these traveling salesmen's problems requires robust algorithms and serious computing power. However, companies sometimes don't want to invest money in an in-house team of expert mathematicians and engineers. Instead, they need a third-party solution.
In this article, we'll explain what makes the traveling salesman problem so difficult and how business owners can use smart software solutions to solve it, reduce mileage, and improve fleet efficiency.
What is the traveling salesman's problem?
The traveling salesman problem is typically a problem that asks you to list your stops and the distances between them. What is the shortest route? What is the best route to visit each location and return to the origin? And for decades, the traveling salesman problem has been a challenge for many businesses that rely on route planning, both for delivery , shipping, and field service companies.
With just one starting point and a few stops, planning a route can seem quite complicated. However, once you start planning routes across the country, it reaches a level of complexity that is almost unthinkable. With endless potential route options between different stops, identifying the shortest and most efficient route is a huge challenge.
Why is the traveling salesman problem still difficult to solve today?
service companies and basically in industry for many years . There have been many solutions and algorithms suggested, however, these often struggle on a large scale, as the number of possible sales routes increases exponentially with each new stop.
Planning real routes for real businesses is more complex than just a list of stops. There are various details that make things even more complicated. In the real world, it's not as easy as just finding the shortest route, and it's not just about destinations and distances - there are many other factors at play. It's not as easy as just taking a list of addresses and creating a route.
A field sales rep, delivery driver, or technician must also consider many other factors, such as time windows, vehicle capacities, and more.
Required vehicle capacities
For deliveries, each package you plan may have specific requirements in terms of shipping and handling, from refrigeration to unloading dimensions. The total load capacity of each vehicle must also be taken into consideration. Although for field service and maintenance companies, the unique qualifications of each technician and whether they are a match for a job must be considered. This is also known as the Skilled Vehicle Routing Issue.
Planning efficient routes that include both pickups and deliveries
If your business is a delivery service or any type of reusable packaging or recyclable materials company to your customers, chances are reverse logistics is a big priority. To maximize the efficiency of your business, you want to integrate both pickup and delivery into all planned routes.
This adds another dimension and level of complexity that most route optimization tools cannot handle. This is also known as the pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem. Especially when you take into account the priority of potential customers, existing customers, and deliveries.
To run a business efficiently and keep customers happy, you also need to make sure your staff prioritizes things in the right way. It is worth noting that if your routes do not consider priority, all customers will be treated the same. Therefore you risk alienating your most loyal customers. On the other hand, if you switch to an automated solution that can handle that, you are unlikely to lose customers.
Balance workloads across multiple drivers
When planning routes for multiple drivers, you also need to consider their workload. Drivers are only human and have a maximum shift length of 14 hours and mandatory breaks.
With good workload balancing tools, you'll be helping to reduce overtime and driver costs. Plus, this will ensure that all drivers are HOS compliant at all times.
Bulk order import and fast automatic route planning
With ToolRides you can create a software where you don't need to add stops or addresses individually, or plan routes for just one driver at a time. You can have them import their order list into an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file.
With ToolRides you plan routes automatically, adjusting for real-world constraints like delivery times, plus driver service areas, driver schedules, and more.
The last thing a business owner wants is to waste time sitting on Google Maps trying to plan routes and not get optimal solutions. Fortunately, with ToolRides you can make your service company offer a professional experience.
