The importance of scheduling in the logistics industry

Scheduling is important in all manner of different industries and walks of life.  Planning and proactive and effective scheduling are one of the cornerstones of the award-winning service we provide here at Masters.  We take it very seriously.

Its importance shouldn’t be taken for granted.  Just look at Northern Rail. 

Timetable changes were originally brought in in May to introduce faster trains.  The original aim was of course to improve overall service.  However, as things stand, as we are about to go into August, the opposite has happened.

An emergency timetable had to be introduced in June cancelling 168 services a day, it is estimated that this has cost the economy £1million per day due to commuters losing so many hours to delays.

This week Northern Rail is reintroducing 75% of the trains that were removed from the schedule, however even this hasn’t gone smoothly, with, according to the Times newspaper on Monday 30^th July, the first day of the reintroduction of these services…

“…a fifth of trains operated by Northern Rail were delayed or cancelled…despite the reintroduction of dozens of services designed to ease pressure. Seven per cent of trains operated by the company across northern England were cancelled or delayed by at least half an hour. A further 14 per cent were delayed by between five and 29 minutes.”

We understand that Northern Rail blamed unforeseen delays to electrification projects that resulted in driver training issues as the cause of this chaos.

Whatever the cause, we sincerely hope for all concerned that it gets sorted out swiftly.

As for the logistics industry…planning and communication are key elements as to how we achieve scheduling success.

Working closely with the customer so that collection and drop off times are smooth and seamless with loading and unloading times kept to a minimum, and efficient route planning adding to the effectiveness of our scheduling system.

If you have any questions or concerns about your existing scheduling, please get in touch today on 01353 648222 or email us on [email protected].