Manage Segments and Stops

Overview

A segment is a leg in the overall route of a load, or the part of the load that happens between two stops. Optimiz automatically generates segments each time the user adds a shipment to the load.

A load will have multiple segments if there is more than one stop. Typically, there are one or two stops per shipment, one for the origin and one for the destination. There may be fewer when the origins and destinations of multiple shipments overlap. One reason a load might have more than one shipment is if the load were doing a milk run.

What's a Milk Run?

A milk run is a strategy in the 3PL planning process to reduce costs and improve supply chain performance. In a milk run, a carrier stops at multiple destinations to gather components before delivering to a customer. This is more efficient than sending one truck per supplier to the customer.

The Sutcliffe Enterprises Sangren Plant receives regular shipments from Sangren Tool and Die, Adrogas Inc., and Black Mantis Packaging. When ProTrans analyzes the best way to move these shipments, they determine a milkrun is most efficient. A single logistics plan is created that picks up freight at Black Mantis Packaging, continues to Adrogas Inc. to pick up more freight, stops again at Sangren Tool and Die to pick up the final shipment, and finally delivers all three shipments to the Sutcliffe Sangren Plant.