What Is the Final Mile?

The final mile – or the last mile – is the last and one of the most expensive steps in the supply chain. During the final mile, the ordered packages are delivered from a transportation hub, warehouse, or dark store to the end customer. Ensuring timely and cost-effective final mile delivery is crucial for customer satisfaction and impacts a business’ bottom line.

What Is Final Mile Route Optimization?

The final mile operations imply visiting several addresses to deliver customers’ orders. Final mile route optimization is the process that ensures that those addresses or stops are visited in the most cost-effective and time-efficient sequence.

The final mile route optimization process is the solution to two of the most difficult logistics problems – the Travelling Salesman Problem and the Vehicle Route Problem.

Final Mile Optimization Software

Final mile route optimization software computes through hundreds of thousands of addresses and creates the most optimal sequence of stops in a couple of minutes. Also known as a delivery route planner, final mile route optimization software should allow you to create, plan, and dispatch the fastest and most cost-efficient routes to your team of drivers while factoring in variables and parameters such as:

• Vehicle loading and carrying capacity (cubic volume, weight, number of pieces)
• Driver availability
• Traffic restrictions
• Maximum route distance
• Service and delivery time windows
• Predictive weather
• Left turn and U-turn avoidance
• Avoidance zones