Transport services
We are providing quick and safe transport for our machines to the work site. For this purpose, we have the support of 8 special transportation and long-distance service providers, other than our own transport vehicles. We also provide on-site detailed briefing for the operators about the given machine’s operation.
Route planning, or how the mateco lifts get to the given site.
In the last couple of decades, the increase of fuel prices has forced the logistics and distributor companies to make the planning of their transport route and schedule more effective. The traditional methods of route planning do not consider the real time occurrences that are happening daily with effects on the companies. In this article we consider the most important condition of transporting lifts and other work machines: the domestic route planning.
Why is route planning important?
Our clients want the quickest way to get their desired lift on the worksite, which is understandable, since the construction contractor is not the only one bound by deadlines. The burden of penalty affects every member of the industry. Route planning should be able to adjust to every occurrence fast and with small changes in transportation costs.
A tow truck cannot simply be sent on its way, with a trolley, spider crane or scissor lift:
The quality of the road,
The height of bridges and overhead crossing,
Permanent or temporary traffic restrictions in certain areas specifically on heavy vehicles, trucks or tow trucks,
all of these affect the length of the route.
On this note, from start to arrival the route must be accurately planned. Route planning software is the best choice for this matter or hiring a logistics company and having them handle the whole procedure – for example, when renting from mateco our own professional logistics coordinator colleagues will ensure the best of quality in planning.
The basics of route planning, or why is outsourcing not always a good option?
The transport tasks could be complicated in the case of the route, including:
the weight’s physical and financial insurance (responsibility insurance)
the necessary equipment for safe transport,
the professional members, and
the surfacing problems considering the switches between different transport methods.
The logistics companies, operating their own transport vehicles, tend to use route plans that end at the same place where they started from:
This is understandable, since it is incredibly complicated to work out a route plan that covers all of the transport and takeover from several clients,
The most effective route plans are getting harder to make,
Many route planning softwares are capable of making an efficient route, however the length of the route is still affecting even the most optimal solution.
Why involving a professional is useful: in our case it is cost-efficient, because we try to optimize the routes within our own processes, avoiding the empty kilometers, which is useful for everyone on the matter of cost.
Strict regulations exist on the matter of:
How much time a driver can drive at once,
How much time they have to spend resting,
Moreover, often many roads are closed on the weekends for heavy vehicles.
In these cases, to avoid time waste, the truly efficient route is not the most optimal one.
Route optimization
The base of route optimization is the use of models describing the planned route. When structuring a model, we first have to determine the scope of the whole route network, ensuring that every data is stated within, for instance the regulations – weekend regulations, weight regulations -, or freeway complications as well. The model contains several components, for instance, products, vehicles and staff.
Products:
- If a product were to get from one geographical location to another, the place of origin and destination could differ.
- The weight and volume decide the product, which are important factors in the matter of transport.
- (The products, in this case, are obviously the rented lifts from Mateco.)Vehicles:
- The modeled route network is divided into several sectors, each represented by one vehicle, that is moving between a starting point and a destination.
- Each vehicle has different attributes, for example its volume or weight capacity, loading time, cost per kilometer and the basic limits of the vehicle, e. g., its speed.Staff:
- The staff assigned to the vehicles have characteristics that are regulated by the type of work they do.
- For example, if we were to send a tow truck on its way with a chauffeur, it could possibly restrict the achievable driving time according to the regulations, determining the time of continuous driving and mandatory breaks.
Mateco’s solution to transport?
In recent years we have achieved a dynamic solution regarding the transportation of lifts and work machines to our domestic clients, considering that we have our own transport vehicles and staff for that purpose, and we also partially plan the transport.
We request the help of subcontractors in view of the increase in customer demand – 18-20 companies countrywide, with about 40-45 trucks – who are also actively participating in our machines’ transportation.
We mostly serve our customers from the headquarters, which is where we need the presence of most subcontractors.
The fleet of mateco’s own vehicles and personnel has expanded for the year 2022, as follows:
6 new trucks and 7 drivers at Szigetszentmiklós
Debrecen and Győr each got 1 truck and 1 driver
to satisfy our clients.
In terms of distribution:
3 x 40 tons,
2 x 26 tons,
1 x 36 tons, and
1 x 12 tons, also
1 x 3,5 tons trucks are in service supporting us.
except for one, these all belong to the EURO6 environmental protection class.
All our trucks are badged with Mateco logo, that fits with the company’s unified image.
Having our own transport vehicles on our bigger sites comes with advantages:
Above the basic transport processes, the extra demands can be handled with more flexibility
To solve the unexpected transport tasks every member of our team works as one.
All our drivers have the necessary driver’s license, machine operator exam, that are basic conditions for safe and legal work.
The acquired experience of driving and operating machines through the years will pay off later for work.
The necessary occupational safety equipment is always provided and thoroughly examined as well as supplemented later.
The planning of our drivers’ daily tasks is done by an experienced and well-oriented logistics team, who monitor and optimize the ratio of the running/put on kilometers and are also looking for optimal solutions for the growing demand.