Route Stop Weight – Route Planning Business Rule

With the Route4Me route optimization software, you can effortlessly account for all vehicle payload and weight parameters on your planned routes with just a touch of a button. Even though the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and the Vehicle Route Problem (VRP) become increasingly difficult to manually solve as new variables are added to the equation, Route4Me’s proprietary route optimization engine effortlessly finds the solutions to these complex routing problems in seconds. Moreover, when planning and driving your optimized multi stop routes, Route4Me enables you to track the dynamic amount of weight loaded on your vehicle fleet so that you can always be aware of the vehicle payload and current carrying capacity of your vehicles. Whenever your drivers have to visit and service multiple stops of different types to deliver or pick up packages of different sizes, you can make sure that your vehicles always have enough reserved weight capacity and space onboard. Moreover, with Route4Me’s near real-time data synchronization, managers and dispatchers back at the office can make changes to the weight parameters of any order, and the drivers who are out in the field can receive instant live updates on their mobile devices using Route4Me’s Android and iOS Route Planner apps.

Viewing and Modifying Weight Parameters on the Route4Me Web Platform

To view or change the vehicle payload and weight parameters of a particular stop, first, open the route that contains this stop in the Route Editor and then click on the corresponding stop to open it. In the Order section of the opened stop, you can view its weight parameters in the Weight field. Depending on the stop’s type (Delivery, Pickup, etc.), the weight parameters defined in the corresponding field can be set to be either picked up or delivered at the customer’s location associated with the stop. To modify the Weight value, click on the corresponding field and then input a new value respectively. To apply the same weight value to all stops on the route, first, click on the gear icon in the Weight field and then select the corresponding option.

Learn more about different stop types.

Adjusting the Summary Table to Display Weight Parameters

To view the weight parameters for the entire route, you can use the Summary Table. To do so, first, click on the gear icon next to the route’s name.

After that, go to the Vehicle Utilization tab and then check the following boxes:

Weight: Displays the total weight being picked up or dropped off on the entire route;
Weight Maximum: Displays the vehicle payload or maximum weight capacity permitted for the entire route;
Weight Utilization: Displays how much weight is actually utilized throughout the entire route based on the aggregated data of all route stops (in percentage).

For the Summary Table to display the Weight Maximum and Weight Utilization parameters, you need to define the Maximum Weight per Route value in the route’s Optimization tab when planning the route or when the route is already planned.

Once enabled, the Weight, the Weight Maximum, and the Weight Utilization values of the entire route are aggregated based on the weight data of all route stops and displayed in the Summary Table at the bottom of the interactive map.

Learn more about how to use and customize the Summary Table.

Viewing Dynamic Weight Parameters in the Route Manifest

To track the dynamic weight capacity for the entire route, you can use the Route Manifest. To do so, in the Route Editor, first, go to View and then select View Manifest respectively.

Next, in the Route Manifest, check the Weight box in the Order tab and Remaining Weight box in the Operations tab. After that, you can track how the weight capacity changes throughout the route, after each stop. Depending on the stop type (Delivery, Pickup, etc.) the weight capacity can increase and decrease accordingly throughout the route.

Learn more about how to use and customize your Route Manifest.

Exporting Weight Parameters

To export all weight data for the entire route, first, go to File, then select Download as from the list and after that select Export CSV respectively.

Next, check the Weight and Remaining Weight boxes to add the corresponding data into the export file and then click on the Export button to download the file to your device. You can use the Field search to find the corresponding boxes.

Learn more about how to export your route data.

Viewing Weight Parameters on Route4Me’s Mobile Apps

To view the weight parameters of a particular stop from Route4Me’s iOS and Android mobile applications, first, you need to open the route that contains the corresponding stop. Next, tap to open the stop you want to check and then select Destination Info from the stop’s menu. The example below shows how to view the weight parameters of a particular stop using Route4Me’s iOS app. To view the weight parameters of a particular stop from an Android device, repeat the similar process using Route4Me’s Android app.

Route4Me provides near real-time data synchronization across all associated computer and mobile devices so that any changes made from the Route4Me Web Platform can be effortlessly synchronized with Route4Me’s iOS and Android mobile apps in a matter of seconds. Thus, managers and dispatchers back at the office can modify the weight parameters of any stop/order and instantly synchronize these updates with the mobile devices of the drivers who are out in the field.