Planning building material transport: When the effects continue for 20 minutes

A vehicle remains at the construction site 20 minutes longer than planned. This delays the return trip to the factory, the next loading begins later, and another order is put under time pressure.

In construction material logistics, loading times, unloading, construction site conditions, and short-notice schedule changes directly impact vehicle productivity. Especially with concrete mixer trucks, the plant, the vehicle, and the construction site time are closely intertwined.

Where waiting times occur in the daily routine

Waiting times can occur at several points: during loading at the factory, on the access road, while waiting at the construction site, or during unloading.

The problem for dispatching is that these minutes rarely remain with the affected order. A later return alters the next loading and thus also the subsequent delivery times. The tighter the daily schedule, the greater the impact of such delays on other vehicles and orders.

Disposition with current status

A static planned time only shows when a vehicle is scheduled to arrive. For ongoing concrete mixer scheduling, current information is more meaningful.

• Where is the vehicle located?
• Has the unloading already been completed?
• What is the current ETA to the factory or the nearest construction site?
• What follow-up orders are linked to this vehicle?
• What other resource could take over a mission at risk?

If this data becomes centrally available, scheduling can identify earlier when a time window is shifting.

Consider ETA and follow-up orders together

A digital dispatching solution can link live positions, ETAs, vehicle status, and planned follow-up orders. If a concrete mixer truck is rerouted, it becomes clear which other transports are affected.

The documents explicitly mention ETA and ongoing deviations as a basis for dynamic replanning. New arrival times can be used to identify impacts on subsequent orders and to examine alternative vehicles or sequences.

For ready-mix concrete scheduling, this means that waiting times are not only evaluated afterwards, but can already be incorporated into the planning during the day.

Waiting time as a key performance indicator for fleet productivity

In addition to punctuality, it's worth looking at the waiting time per job. Together with vehicle utilization and ETA deviation, this reveals where capacity is lost in the daily routine. This makes it possible to identify whether delays primarily occur at individual construction sites, during loading processes, or due to the sequence of planned assignments.

Together your View the layout

Together we will look in a 30-minute demo, how Comitas can digitally combine concrete mixer trucks, ETA, vehicle status and follow-up orders in your dispatching.