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How can a logistics company use forecasting to plan capacity and routes?
Forecast shipment volumes, parcels or orders by day, region and service type, then convert them into vehicles, drivers, warehouse labour and storage needs. Account for peak seasons, promotions by clients, public holidays and delivery time windows. Good short-term forecasts reduce overtime, idle capacity and missed deliveries.
Volumes from large clients may be known in advance through their promotional calendars, so sharing information improves accuracy.
Consider:
- Forecast at the level of the dispatch decision, such as depot and day.
- Error at peak days, which drives service failures.
- Separate forecasts for weight, volume and number of stops where they constrain different resources.
- Fall-back capacity such as temporary labour or subcontractors.
Routing itself is an optimisation problem that uses the forecast as an input.
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