WasteExpo 2018: Improving efficiency through route and driver optimization

Time is money in the waste hauling business, which is why optimizing collection routes is so critical. At a WasteExpo 2018 session titled, “Route Optimization and Driver Performance Optimization,” Calum Forsyth, CEO of Atlanta-based EasyRoute, and Tom Malone, CEO of Portland, Oregon-based Routeware, talked about how operators can utilize route optimization and driver performance optimization (DPO) software to streamline operations and better track driver activity.

According to Malone, route optimization and DPO technologies can be implemented together to patch many inefficiencies of running a fleet and managing drivers.

“If you optimize your fleet, it’s going to help with driver shortages for those that have them, rising costs of running a fleet, it will plug many of your revenue leaks and it will cure what we refer to as ‘route blindness,’ which is what you get when your fleet goes out in the morning and you don’t know where your drivers are, what they’re doing, you don’t know how far into the route they are, how many skips and misses they had, how many extras they picked up, and whether they are on route or off route,” Malone said.

These systems can help operators reduce the number of trucks in operation and the number of hours needed to complete a route, which translates to decreased costs. For every truck taken out of operation, Malone said a business can realize $200,000 per year in savings.

While the benefits of these platforms can be significant, Forsyth said that many operators aren’t maximizing the data that’s available in the waste sector, with upwards of 99 percent of all collected data going unutilized.

“How good are we at using this data? The answer is we are woeful,” he said.

He said that operators typically cite one of four reasons why they aren’t leveraging data to improve their routing strategies: It is difficult to understand, they aren’t incentivized to use it, it requires the right tools or there are misconceptions about its use. However, once operators make the decision to implement route optimization systems, the results can be profound.  

“I can quantify pretty precisely how many trucks, how many routes, how many miles, and how many drivers I need for delivering service that week,” Forsyth said. “And once I decide on this, I can move onto the next stage, which is refining these optimized routes, sharing them with the drivers, getting some feedback and preparing for rollout. And if you use optimization [technology], the rollout phase is much simpler because all the data is in the software and out it comes, whether it’s printed sheets, printed route maps or a data extract that goes into your onboard system, it is much more straightforward.”

While route optimization software can help drivers better map their routes, it can’t be used to measure driver clock-in time, pace of pickups, number of breaks taken during the day, the time it takes the driver to get to the landfill or the time between the end of the route and the driver clocking out. That’s where DPO software comes into play, Malone said.  

“You can optimize the route, but sooner or later you have to optimize the behavior of the driver,” Malone said. “And these behaviors are such that only humans can manage them, but humans need data if they’re going to make decisions and coach these drivers.”

Malone said that DPO software typically pays for itself in nine months or less, but companies have to buy in to get the benefits.

“I’ve seen people use this technology and fail—not often, but I’ve seen it,” Malone said. “Here’s why: This stuff only works if you commit to it. If the owners, general managers and executives don’t buy in, and they don’t understand how to use the technology, if they’re not trained on how to use what is the most invasive thing to do to a fleet, which is to automate it, it doesn’t work. This change happens at the top or it doesn’t happen at all.”

Although onboarding these systems can take a concerted effort from waste management companies, the results can be transformational, Forsyth said.

“There is a lot of data being gathered in the solid waste industry. We’re not using all of it, but there are ways to do it,” Forsyth said. “There are challenges to [implementing this software], but it’s worth it in the end.”

WasteExpo 2018 was April 23-26 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.