Behind the Scenes
Every day, hundreds of vehicles navigate our cities, collecting waste materials in a seemingly effortless routine. This is far from a simple endeavor. This complex exercise in logistics and planning, playing out quietly in the backdrop of urban life, starts at sunrise and doesn’t stop until every waste container has been serviced.
Fleets of vehicles are consistently in motion, waste materials are picked up from numerous customer locations, and transport planners strategically orchestrate the entire operation like a well-oiled machine. This is an environment where efficiency is king and where success hinges on transport planners' ability to balance numerous constraints and execute seamless planning.
Spotlight on Transport Planners
Transport planners and dispatchers form the crucial connection between customers, drivers, and internal departments. They manage the journey of waste from your bin to processing plants and eventually to recycling or disposal. They handle the day's operations while planning for the week, month, and even the year ahead.
Beyond their daily tasks of planning and optimizing routes or managing drivers, transport planners have a multitude of responsibilities. They tackle rush orders, coordinate equipment maintenance, conduct regular audits for compliance, and ensure the smooth execution of evolving regulations. It’s a delicate, high-stakes game of logistics, where each decision carries weight, and every minute counts.
Transport planners are the first point of contact for drivers, offering clear instructions and support when things deviate from the plan. Their role also extends into the realm of data and analytics, where they use technology and data to guide decision-making and shape sustainable, efficient waste management practices.
New Features to Boost Productivity
A deep understanding the essential role of transport planners based on years of feedback has inspired AMCS to develop a suite of features designed to enhance their productivity and decision-making capabilities.
First, the Unassigned Job Manager is a capability that transforms the way transport planners view and group jobs. Imagine a full-size grid providing an eagle-eye view of all tasks, organized by material and container type. Equipped with robust filtering and sorting capabilities, planners can now strategize and schedule with a level of precision that was previously unattainable.
Next, we the Lasso Function, a tool that revolutionizes job assignment and route planning. Akin to corralling jobs on a digital map, this function allows dispatchers to select and allocate multiple unassigned jobs with a simple, visual selection gesture. It's the equivalent of swapping a manual, time-consuming task with a streamlined, user-friendly solution.
By providing a visual interface for job selection, the Lasso Function not only speeds up the dispatching process but also enhances strategic decision-making. Dispatchers can visually assess the geographical distribution of tasks, optimizing route allocation based on proximity and urgency. The benefits? Reduced fuel costs, quicker response times, and a tangible boost in operational efficiency.
The Route Allocation Dialogue facility automates job-to-route assignments, showing only compatible routes and suggesting the nearest stops. For businesses managing round and roll-off schedules, the new Multi-Shift Scheduling support simplifies the addition of drivers for Roll-Off work.
The AMCS pursuit of Innovation doesn't stop with dispatch efficiency. We've integrated AMCS Vision AI to leverage automated revenue generation for overfill and contamination events. This capability, along with two new dashboards that offer a granular overview of such events, provides invaluable insights for informed decision-making and follow-up actions.
Creating Business Value and Enhancing User Experience
These enhancements and capabilities improve productivity for planners and can lead to better utilization of fleet and staff resources. This enhances customer service. Higher fleet utilization means more service capacity, offering the potential for increased sales revenue and margins.
The upcoming refreshed UI for AMCS Fleet Maintenance promises to deliver a modernized user experience in line with the AMCS Platform, improving navigation and reducing training costs. It’s more than a facelift; it’s about harmonizing the Platform’s look and feel, promoting usage with fewer calls for support, and streamlining business processes.
AMCS enables transport planners to master the art of logistics and drive their companies toward unprecedented efficiency and growth. This is our commitment to redefining efficiency in the waste & recycling industry.
Shaping a Cleaner, Greener Future
The next time a waste collection vehicle passes by, remember the vital role of the transport planner. They may work behind the scenes, but the impact of their work resonates across our urban landscapes, within the waste & recycling industry, and our planet.
By enhancing their productivity and supporting their complex role, we are not only improving their work, we are also reshaping the face of waste management and contributing to a cleaner, greener future.
For more in-depth details about the new features and enhancements, we invite you to explore our release highlights document (download below). This resource provides a comprehensive look at how our latest innovations are transforming the transport planning process in the waste and recycling industry.
AMCS Platform Summer 2023 Release Highlights brochure
Discover the key feature highlights and business value drivers of the latest AMCS Platform release