Improving Productivity and Service in Depot Businesses

Chapter 4 Minimising Non-Productive Hours

DOI: 10.4324/9781003323822-4

Introduction

Every vehicle route in every route-based business comprises either productive time (drop time), when conducting the contracted service at the customer premises, or non-productive time, which is not directly chargeable and this latter element comprises:

1. Road travel time (including stem and radial mileage)
2. Depot time (start and or end of working day)
3. Return to depot mid-route
4. Driver break time(s)

The primary objective when scheduling and planning routes is to maximise productive time (chargeable) and minimise non-productive time. Through the application of Lean type processes to eradicate wasted time, non-productive in-depot time can be reduced with the saved ...