The importance of the Delivery Cycle to keep your concrete company competitive in the market

April 4, 2024

Overview

The delivery cycle is the time taken by the entire delivery process. It begins when the truck starts loading until the moment it returns to the plant

This KPI may vary between 30 to 180 minutes, according to factors like distance, traffic, unloading time at the client’s site among others.

This is an important KPI in the concrete delivery logistics as it is directly connected with the operation productivity and the number of Mixer Trucks needed in a plant.

Example:

  • 09:00 – Ticked Created
  • 09:20 – Truck left the plant
  • 10:00 – Truck arrives at customer
  • 11:00 – Truck left job site
  • 11:40 – Truck arrived at the job site
  • Loading Time = 20 minutes
  • Driving To Job= 40 minutes
  • Job site Time = 60 minutes
  • Driving to Plant= 40 minutes
Delivery Cycle = 160 minutes
Delivery Cycle time in ten companies around the world

We will analise it in three steps:

  • Loading the truck
  • Driving (To Job Site and To Plant)
  • At the job site

1 – Loading the truck

In the context of this article we are going to consider Loading Time the total time that the truck is available to a customer. It starts when the ticket is created until the truck leaves the plant

In most of our customers, this KPI varies from 10 to 25 minutes, considering a good target less than 20 minutes.


What is included in this time:

  • Time weighing materials and loading it in the drum
  • Concrete’s visual inspection and drum cleaning
  • Some waiting time before it leaves the plant
  • Others
Main factors that affect this time:
  • Batch system
  • Plant loading speed
  • Production planning
  • Driver’s commitment
  • Trucks waiting in line
  • Others

2 – Driving time

Este KPI indica o tempo em rota para ir e voltar do cliente e normalmente varia de 30 a 120 minutos.

This KPI shows the route time driving to and from the Job Site.

Main factors that affect this time:
  • Distance to the job site
  • Traffic
  • Types of roads  (urban, highways and dirt roads)
  • Rerouting (Unknown Address/Location)
  • Unauthorized stops (Extra stops on the way – See it on chart 3)
  • Others
Benchmark
Chart 1 – Driving x Distance

This following chart shows the time and distance in ten customers around the world

The X axis shows the company alias (C01 … C10) and the Y axis shows  distance and time values(Time in blue and Distance in gray)

Chart 2 – Average Speed

This following chart shows the average speed in km/h including all stops ( traffic lights, unauthorized stops, traffic jam … )

Chart 3 – Trips with extra stops

This following chart shows the percentage of trips that have an extra stop.

The extra stops can be authorized or not, however they influence the delivery cycle time.

3 – At Job Site time

This KPI involves all the time the mixer truck stays at the customer’s job site geofence. (waiting authorization to pour, the slump test, pouring time, washing the truck, etc.)

Main factors that affect this time:
  • Unloading  (Manual or Pumped)
  • Construction status (not ready to receive the concrete)
  • Many trucks to be unloaded at the same time
  • Structure type (foundation, pillars, floors etc.)
  • Number of men to unload. (Manual Discharge)
  • Drives goof off after discharge Delivery Cycle Benchmark