Your supply chain can benefit in many ways from the new innovation of driverless trucks. Here are some of the ways that your network design strategy may improve.
Transportation Costs Will Come Down
Human drivers need rest, which costs your company money. The driverless truck gives you the ability to maximize the revenue potential of each truck. Because of this, driverless trucks can sometimes exceed the 400-500 mile per day range that drivers normally achieve. Companies also need less warehousing volume, which is another huge cost savings.
Once driverless trucks are built with different loads, they will begin to use less fuel. Load size will become more efficient as well, reducing the cost of inventory. Companies are already starting to size their fleets and warehousing for just in time processing. These extra warehouses are sized to be as productive as possible, as are the trucks.
Lead Time Improves
Your warehousing and transportation costs may actually go up if you increase total business volume with driverless trucks. However, the trade-off is that you reduce your lead time to cover those costs, giving you a net gain for the business. Properly done, there will be a minimal impact on your inventory. If you are already sending trucks to a customer warehouse, having inventory local to specific areas gives you the ability to deliver to stores directly.
The driverless technology gives you the ability to improve lead time drastically, sometimes by as much as 80%. This will pay for a lot of business volume, which gives companies the ability for exponential levels of expansion.
Overall, driverless trucks open up your supply chain to many new possibilities. When you can focus on things other than your drivers, you have more resources to devote to optimizing other areas of your supply chain.
Softeon is here to help you with your transportation management needs.
