Why should one measure metrics?
How can fleet KPIs drive meaningful business results? The key metrics you are measuring on your transportation dashboard are based on real-time performance data and one can easily identify the negatives and positives happening in each business function. For transportation fleets that operate in advance booking mode, they have to plan and schedule routes and for those agencies, there are opportunities to reduce cost between 15-20%. Looking annually, these numbers can help you optimize your operations and plug gaps in your operations – helping you increase efficiencies on an annual basis. KPI indicators may not help in cost saving directly however, these numbers tell you a story of what you are doing right and what you are going wrong. Each transportation agency that does scheduling and routing, measures different metrics ranging from safety, compliance and service, but cost saving is the fundamental metric that you should start measuring.Let’s measure your fleet performance:
When deciding on the metrics that you need on your dashboard, start with the transportation dispatch room. Reducing operational expenses and the carbon footprint, improving the customer experience, can be some of the goals that you want to achieve by measuring the transport key performance indicators. If there is a discrepancy in one of the key metrics then there is a chance that will maximize the performance of another unrelated metric. Understanding the balance in setting it up makes a huge differenceKPI’s for your fleet dashboard:
Before you start measuring these KPI’s, you need to understand these KPI’s are relevant to different roles.- Dispatchers and drivers.
- C level executives
- Logistics staff and managers.
Here are a few transportation KPI’s that needs to be followed on each level
Dispatchers and Drivers:
● Planned vs. actual performance
○ Miles driven
○ Drop sequence
○ Number of stops made
○ Time at each stop
○ Arrival and departure times
● Safety-related metrics
○ DOT reportable safety incidents
○ Speeding incidents
○ Harsh acceleration or braking incidents
○ DOT violations
● Compliance-related metrics
○ Available hours of service (HOS)
○ HOS violations
○ Unassigned mileage by vehicle
C level Executives:
○ Transportation cost as a percent of company revenue
○ Recordable safety incidents over time
○ On-time delivery over time
○ CO2 emissions over time
Logistics Executives:
○ Cost-per-mile
○ Revenue-per-mile
○ Cost-per-stop
○ Revenue-per-stop
○ Miles per gallon
○ Vehicle idle time
There are several transportation key performance indicators mentioned here and it varies from agency to agency based on the strategy they follow and their performance goals. At some point in time, one should look at all of these metrics. Your KPI dashboard is what will help you align better with you company’s objectives and you can use all your metrics to transform your operations.