Improving the quality of operations in truckioad trucking

Addressing freight imbalance in the truckload trucking industry through hierarchical planning.

“…Two ofthose times have been in the 4th quarter of2004 (136%) and the 1 st quarter of2005 (120%). The turnover can be partly attributed to driver dissatisfaction (Taylor and Meinert 2000) and due in part to the inability of the truckload carriers to provide regular driving tours (Kutanoglu et al 2001, Hall 2004. With an estimated 403,000 hires per year (Christenson et al 1997), the exorbitant turnover rates cost the truckload trucking approximately between $2.4 billion and $2.8 billion annually (Rodriquez et al 2000).…”

“…Taylor and Meinert (2000) claim that a carrier's ability to recruit and retain drivers is a highly desirable quality trait. According to Cox (2004), carriers who improve pay and keep miles high will have a large pool of drivers to choose from.…”

“…Taylor and Meinert (2000) state that the primary difference between LTL and truckload carriers from a driver perspective is tour design. From a driver viewpoint, they claim that a driver is primarily concerned with three issues: (i) pay; (ii) tour length; and (iii) job quality while on the road.…”

“…Within the truckload trucking environment are a number of research efforts introduced by Taylor and others (Taylor et al 1999a, Meinert and Taylor 1999, Taylor and Meinert 2000) that used computer simulation and were shown to have consequential domicile effects. None of these works address domicile issues directly.…”

“…If empty travel is required for a domicile return, the move was probably small due to the geographical restrictions placed on the drivers. This work was preceded by Taylor and Meinert (2000) which focused on clinical trials and Taylor et al (1999a) which was limited to a single-zone implementation. A historical perspective of dispatching methods used in attempts to regularize truckload freight was summarized by Meinert and Taylor (1999).…”