Route Planning and Automatic Route Optimization with Logistocat
With Logistocat, you can plan and optimize deliveries, pickups, and service and maintenance calls using browser-based software.
Efficiently plan one-day and multi-day tours—manually, automatically, and according to individual company guidelines.
Whether it’s daily delivery runs, regularly recurring orders, or complex multi-day routes: logistocat supports your scheduling with a clear map view, flexible route profiles, and automatic route optimization. Among other things, it takes into account vehicle capacities, time windows, working hours, driving times, and rest periods—as well as lodging options for multi-day routes.
Your dispatcher decides whether routes are created manually, optimized automatically, or subsequently customized.
Route Planning Directly on the Map – Select and Edit Orders
With Logistocat, route planning begins with a clear overview of upcoming orders.
Select a single planning day or any date range. The delivery, pickup, and service orders available for this period are automatically displayed on a digital map. The orders can be imported from existing systems via interfaces or created directly in logistocat.
Various options are available for subsequent route planning:
– Select individual orders
– Select multiple orders within a geographic area
– Select all displayed orders
– Manually group orders into routes
– Automatically schedule and optimize selected orders
Manual planning allows the dispatcher to edit orders using drag-and-drop on the map view and to create routes based on individual requirements.
Even routes that have already been calculated automatically can be manually adjusted afterward.
In this way, logistocat combines the advantages of automated planning with the ability to respond specifically to operational nuances at any time.
This is based on the centralized administration and processing of transport orders in scheduling and transport management.
Automatic route optimization based on custom specifications
The optimal route planning depends on numerous operational factors. The shortest route is not always the most economical or logistically sound solution.
That is why Logistocat takes into account the available vehicles and the specifications defined in the route profiles when performing automatic route planning.
Tour profiles provide the necessary flexibility.
Key planning parameters include:
– Number and availability of vehicles
– Vehicle capacities and payloads
– Work, driving, and rest periods
– Delivery and pickup time windows
– Service and processing times at individual stops
– Travel times and vehicle-specific speed profiles
– Guidelines for route duration and vehicle range
Automatic route optimization relieves the dispatcher of the burden of time-consuming manual calculations without taking away their control over the planning process.
Automatically Plan and Optimize Multi-Day Tours
Not every shipment and not every service call can be completed within a single workday.
Nationwide deliveries, pickups, and maintenance work often require planning that spans several days. This involves taking into account not only the individual orders but also available working hours, travel time, rest periods, and overnight stays.
With Logistocat, multi-day routes can be planned manually and optimized automatically.
To do this, select the desired planning period and the orders to be included. The automatic route optimization feature then calculates the routes, taking into account the available vehicles and the stored route profiles.
Take into account working hours, driving time, and rest periods
The working, driving, and rest periods defined in the tour profiles are incorporated into the automatic scheduling.
This makes it possible to organize multi-day assignments while taking into account the availability of drivers and vehicles.
Automatically plan accommodations
For multi-day routes, Logistocat also takes into account the lodging options stored in the system.
These can be included as stops in the route as part of the automatic route planning and optimization process.
This allows you to plan individual workdays, including necessary breaks, within a single, continuous multi-day route.
Customize multi-day tours flexibly
Automatically generated multi-day routes can be edited manually as needed.
The software also allows you to reverse the order of routes and lock in planned routes.
Once a route is locked in, automated customer notifications can be triggered.
This makes Logistocat particularly well-suited for companies that handle cross-regional delivery, pickup, or service orders using their own fleet of vehicles.
Automatically Schedule Recurring Jobs and Interval Routes
Many companies deliver to or serve their customers on a regular basis—for example, daily, weekly, monthly, or at individually agreed-upon intervals.
With logistocat, such orders can be automatically generated for future dates.
A unique feature is that recurring processes can be defined not only at the order level but also at the level of individual order line items.
Flexibly Change Interval Rules
If the agreement with a customer changes, it is not necessary to process individually all orders that have already been scheduled for the future.
A real-world example:
A customer has been receiving deliveries every Tuesday. Starting July 15, deliveries are to take place on Thursdays.
With logistocat, this change can be applied to all future orders affected by it.
The new rule can either be permanent or limited to a specific time period—for example, from July 15 to September 15.
The automatically created orders are then available for regular route planning and automatic route optimization.
This allows companies to prepare for recurring transportation and service tasks in the long term while remaining flexible in responding to changes.
Polygon Planning and Route Planning for Fixed Delivery Areas
It is not always necessary to optimize all orders within a planning period together.
Especially for regular deliveries or fixed service areas, it can be useful to specify geographic areas and plan the orders within them in a targeted manner.
With logistocat’s polygon planning, such areas can be defined directly on the map.
Orders located within a polygon can then be selected together and grouped into routes either manually or automatically.
In this way, logistocat also supports the planning of recurring route networks and geographically defined areas of responsibility.
Polygon planning can be combined with automatic route optimization. This allows for fixed regional requirements to be taken into account without sacrificing the benefits of automatic calculation.
Plan Service and Maintenance Rounds with Logistocat
In addition to traditional delivery and pickup routes, Logistocat also supports the planning of service and maintenance calls.
The requirements for these often differ from those of a standard delivery: Individual calls may require different processing times, must be completed within agreed-upon time windows, or require specific materials.
With Logistocat, these requirements can be taken into account as early as the order entry stage.
Time slots are specified in the customer master data or individually in the order.
The estimated service or processing time is specified in the order.
Required materials can be listed in the order line items.
Vehicle capacities and time constraints are factored into route optimization.
Even service and maintenance tours lasting several days that include overnight stays can be automatically planned and optimized.
For more advanced requirements—such as taking specific technician qualifications into account—logistocat can be enhanced through custom development.
This allows transportation and service processes to be organized on a common technical foundation.
On our page about maintenance and service management software, we explain how route planning, recurring maintenance orders, and digital documentation can be integrated.
Our real-world example of route-optimized digital maintenance demonstrates how these features are used in cross-regional maintenance assignments.
Frequently Asked Questions About Route Planning and Route Optimization
Can Logistocat automatically optimize routes?
Yes. logistocat can automatically group and optimize selected delivery, pickup, and service orders into routes. This process takes into account the available vehicles as well as the planning parameters specified in the route profiles.
Can multi-day trips also be optimized automatically?
Yes. logistocat supports the automatic planning and optimization of multi-day routes. Among other things, it can take into account working hours, driving time, rest periods, and lodging options.
Can recurring orders be created automatically?
Yes. Recurring tasks can be automatically created for future dates based on defined intervals. Changes to these intervals can also be applied to specified future time periods.
Can fixed delivery areas be taken into account during route optimization?
Yes. Using polygon planning, you can define geographic areas directly on the map. The orders within those areas can then be planned and optimized together.
Is Logistocat also suitable for maintenance and service calls?
Yes. When planning routes, logistocat takes into account, among other things, individual service times, time windows, and vehicle capacities. Even maintenance and service calls lasting several days can be planned and optimized.
Can I make changes to automatically scheduled tours after the fact?
Yes. The dispatcher can then manually edit the automatically calculated routes and adapt them to specific operational requirements.
Learn About Route Planning and Route Optimization with Logistocat
Would you like to learn how to plan and optimize your delivery, pickup, or service orders with logistocat?
Try out the browser-based software on our demo server and learn about the route planning and route optimization features.