Facilities – Create And Manage Depots, Warehouses, Offices, Stores, Distribution Centers, Etc.
Route4Me enables enterprise businesses to add physical locations to their routing system to improve organization planning. By integrating Facilities into your Route4Me account, you can centralize route planning, ensuring that all routes are optimized for proximity to key locations such as warehouses, distribution centers, service hubs, offices, and more. This not only simplifies logistics but also maximizes resource allocation, saving time and money. In this guide, you can learn how to add physical Facilities to your Route4Me account, link drivers and vehicles to Facilities for team and fleet management, plan routes with Facilities, and get Facility statistics and KPIs.
Table of Contents
Create Facilities – Add New Facilities To Your Routing Software Account
To add new Facilities to your Route4Me account, go to “Facilities” from the Navigation Menu to open the Facilities List. Then, click the “Create New Facility” button. On the “Create New Facility” screen, input the address of the Facility, an alias used for finding the Facility in the system, and the preferred Facility type.
Furthermore, Route4Me enables you to set more than one type for each Facility. This way, you can organize the Facilities on your Route4Me in greater detail to more accurately reflect the reality of your business. To do so, select all the Facility Types that apply to the new Facility. When you select more than one Facility Type, you can mark a single Facility Type as the “Primary Type” by clicking the Radio Button next to the preferred type. At least one Facility Type must be selected, and only one type can be the Primary Type. In detail, the Primary Facility Type is the Facility Type used by the system when sorting facilities and optimizing routes with Facilities. Below, you can find a list of the supported Facility Types on Route4Me’s Enterprise Route Planning Software.
NOTE: For your convenience, the following Facility Type names are generic, and you can interpret and use them as you see fit for your specific business type and model. In detail, the following Facility Types enable you to classify Facilities according to your preference and are not associated with specific functionality outside of your settings and preferences.
Facility Type | Description |
---|---|
Depot | Centralized Facility where assigned vehicles can be located and from where routes usually begin. |
Warehouse | Storage Facility for inventory management, facilitating order storage and shipment preparation. |
Fulfilment Center | Specialized Facility handling order processing, sorting orders, and shipping orders directly to customers, optimizing e-commerce operations. |
Distribution Center | Central Facility for receiving, storing, and redistributing goods or products to various destinations, improving supply chain performance. |
Distribution Hub | Facility for sorting and transferring shipments to multiple destinations, enhancing route efficiency. |
Cross-Dock | Facility where inbound orders or parcels are consolidated into the outbound mixed product pallets, streamlining the delivery process. |
Transloading Facility | Location where goods are transferred between different modes of transportation, streamlining multimodal logistics. |
Consolidation Center | Facility where smaller shipments are combined into larger loads for efficient transportation and cost reduction. |
Breakbulk Facility | Facility where large bulk shipments are handled, stored, and broken down into smaller units for easier distribution to final to middle mile or last mile destinations. |
Office | Administrative center for managing logistics operations, including customer service, route planning, team management, and more. |
Retail Store | Physical location where customers can purchase goods directly. Can be used as local pickup points in last mile delivery. |
Retail Shop | Smaller retail location offering direct sales to consumers, integrated into the last mile delivery network for local accessibility. |
Manage Facilities – Edit And Filter Facilities On Your Route4Me Account
Furthermore, you can adjust the same Facility details you set when creating Facilities by clicking the “Edit Facility” button on the Facilities List. In detail, you can change the address of a Facility, rename a Facility by changing its Alias, and change its Facility Type and Primary Facility Type.
Each Facility on your Route4Me account has an associated status. In detail, “Active” Facilities can be used by the system when optimizing routes and are available when assigning users and vehicles to Facilities on the main Route4Me account. Facilities with the “Archived” status are inactive and aren’t used by the software when optimizing routes and aren’t available when assigning users and vehicles to Facilities.
To archive a Facility and set the “Archived” status, click the Arrow Icon next to the “Edit Facility” button and click “Archive Facility“. After you archive a Facility, you can restore it to the “Active” status by clicking the “Restore Facility” button.
Moreover, you can use Facility Type and Facility Status to filter the Facilities in your Facility List so you see only those Facilities relevant to your management needs. To do so, click the “Filters” button and select the preferred Facility Type and Facility Status. In addition to filtering Facilities, you can use the “Search” field to find Facilities by their Alias or address. NOTE: By default, the Facilities List only shows Facilities with the “Active” status. To see all Facilities, including those with the “Archived” status, click the “Filters” button, click “Status“, check the box next to “Archived“, and click the “Apply” button.
Assign Users To Facilities In Your Route4Me Account
Route planners, dispatchers, drivers, and other members of your route completion team work at Facilities that are part of your organization. For your team management efficiency, Route4Me enables you to assign users to Facilities on your main Route4Me account. To do so, go to “Team” and then “Users” from the Navigation Menu. Then, click the Three-dot Icon next to the preferred user and select “Edit Profile” from the menu to edit an existing user or click the “Create Users” button to create a new user.
Next, on the “Create New User” or “Edit User” screen, click on the “Facilities” tab. Then, click the “Assigned Facility” field and select the preferred Facility to which you want to assign the user. Furthermore, you can assign a user to more than one Facility for your team management efficiency. Additionally, learn more about Route4Me User Management.
Assign Vehicles To Your Last Mile Business Facilities
Additionally, you can also assign vehicles to Facilities such as depots on your main Route4Me account. To do so, go to “Team” and then “Vehicles” from the Navigation Menu. Then, click the Pencil Icon next to the preferred vehicle or click the “Add New Vehicle” button to create a new vehicle.
Next, on the “Create New Vehicle” or “Edit Vehicle” screen, scroll down to the “Vehicle Facilities” section. Then, click the “Select Facility” field, select the preferred Facility you want to assign the vehicle to, and click the “Save” button. Furthermore, you can assign a vehicle to more than one Facility for your fleet management efficiency. This enables you to deploy a vehicle from multiple Facilities and more. Additionally, learn more about Route4Me Vehicle Management.
Visit Route4Me's Marketplace to Check out Associated Modules:
- eCommerce
Dynamic E-Commerce Order Dispatch
- Operations
Advanced Team Management Add-On
- Operations
Custom Data Add-On