I am a first year student at Klaipeda State University of Applied Sciences (KVK). I am studying logistics management and was given an assignment which requires results from a questionnaire on logistics topic. I made one about European truck drivers’ views on road transport logistics.
I would appreciate if you could take a minute of your time and answer it here:
It is anonymous and results will be used only for educational purposes.
Since this is a first time that I am doing something like this, you may notice errors, so some feedback would also be appreciated. I will, of course, answer any questions you have so feel free to ask.
Sincerely,
Donatas
Edit:
Since I gathered enough responses the questionnaire part is done. I just wanted to thank everyone who answered it and shared their opinion and/or a story. Good luck on your travels!
How helpful would an artificial intelligence, which can create, correct and convey a delivery route in real time, be?
There’s already one out there, it’s called sat-nav. Don’t know the scientific term for it, sorry.
How would you rate your company’s ability to plan a delivery route?
I’ve worked for over a dozen different companies, not once have I ever been given a “route”. They give me a destination (address) and I make my own route whether it’s one destination or 15…
WhiteTruckMan:
So what was the assignment, and whats your methodology?
The assignment is to collect data by making a questionnaire (at least 30 responses) on a desired subject (preferably related to logistics) and then using a program SPSS analyze it according to given tasks (for example: find mean, mode, median, average, correlations…). Then write a short paper of sorts.
When it comes to methodology, I guess it is pretty straightforward: make a questionnaire, find people to answer it, put that data into SPSS and analyze.
ETS:
There’s already one out there, it’s called sat-nav. Don’t know the scientific term for it, sorry.
Will have a look, thank you.
ETS:
I’ve worked for over a dozen different companies, not once have I ever been given a “route”. They give me a destination (address) and I make my own route whether it’s one destination or 15…
Interesting. I was given an impression that every logistics company has people whom get assigned drivers and make the routes for them. I remember at one company they showed how they do it with LocTracker.
In all of my 55 years in this industry, i have never been given a route, they have all left it to me to decide, however i do believe that supermarkets give routes to their drivers, or at least they have pre planned routes for those who dont know them ( agency/ casual drivers ) and give them out when needed, as some stores have a special route into them for deliveries.
WhiteTruckMan:
So what was the assignment, and whats your methodology?
The assignment is to collect data by making a questionnaire (at least 30 responses) on a desired subject (preferably related to logistics) and then using a program SPSS analyze it according to given tasks (for example: find mean, mode, median, average, correlations…). Then write a short paper of sorts.
When it comes to methodology, I guess it is pretty straightforward: make a questionnaire, find people to answer it, put that data into SPSS and analyze.
Hope this answers your questions.
Not really. It appears to me, that you have plucked some questions at random based on perceptions of continental road transport rather than the UK logistics industry.
Also, I believe you are confusing method with methodology.
This looks more like an exercise to tick some boxes for course credits rather than actually achieving anything of any practical use. In fairness though, I think my last sentence is an indication of UK management practices anyway.
truckyboy:
In all of my 55 years in this industry, i have never been given a route, they have all left it to me to decide, however i do believe that supermarkets give routes to their drivers, or at least they have pre planned routes for those who dont know them ( agency/ casual drivers ) and give them out when needed, as some stores have a special route into them for deliveries.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
you have never been given a route because you are one of those dying breeds called “a driver”.
if you are employed as a paid from the neck down piece of kebab meat in a seat steering wheel attendant working for the likes of tesco where it is forbidden to think for yourself or show any initiative whatsoever then you will be issued with a route plan for every delivery which has been “risk assessed” by some shiny shoes in the office.
this most applies to flipflops agency and direct employed drivers.
irrespective of logic or common sense,then you just chug along and do not ever deviate no matter how time consuming this route is.
sad but true as the job gets dumbed down to ■■■■■■ level.
WhiteTruckMan:
Not really. It appears to me, that you have plucked some questions at random based on perceptions of continental road transport rather than the UK logistics industry.
Also, I believe you are confusing method with methodology.
This looks more like an exercise to tick some boxes for course credits rather than actually achieving anything of any practical use. In fairness though, I think my last sentence is an indication of UK management practices anyway.
Alright. So your assessment that this is more like an exercise to tick some boxes would be sort of correct. The questionnaire is just to get data that I could then analyse. Lecturer even told us that if we do not manage to get at least 30 responses, I could just fill them as randomly as possible myself. The main point of my assignment is to show how well I can work with SPSS and my understanding of statistical data. I do not know why she did not give us the data to work with and instead asked to collect it ourselves but it is what it is.
However I can not say that I did this questionnaire just to have data to work with. I really did think them through, I picked a more unique and interesting topic than other students. From my point of view the questions seemed Ok and the lecturer herself gave the green light on them. But once you pointed out that they appear quite random, I must agree so thank you for that. Also, when making the questions I was not really basing them on UK logistics industry. I was, in truth, basing them on perceptions of continental road transport.
In all fairness, this was doomed to be a weak attempt at a research since the classes that talk about applied research methodology will only start in next semester so I really have no idea how to do it properly. I also understand that I should have did some research on how to make a proper questionnaire on my own, but I am more of a do first, fail miserably, analyse the mistakes do it right after a while kind of guy when I can allow myself to make mistakes. This is one of those times, because I will still get data and be able to complete my assignment.
But really, thank you for your input. It is very appreciated!
WhiteTruckMan:
Not really. It appears to me, that you have plucked some questions at random based on perceptions of continental road transport rather than the UK logistics industry.
Also, I believe you are confusing method with methodology.
This looks more like an exercise to tick some boxes for course credits rather than actually achieving anything of any practical use. In fairness though, I think my last sentence is an indication of UK management practices anyway.
Alright. So your assessment that this is more like an exercise to tick some boxes would be sort of correct. The questionnaire is just to get data that I could then analyse. Lecturer even told us that if we do not manage to get at least 30 responses, I could just fill them as randomly as possible myself. The main point of my assignment is to show how well I can work with SPSS and my understanding of statistical data. I do not know why she did not give us the data to work with and instead asked to collect it ourselves but it is what it is.
However I can not say that I did this questionnaire just to have data to work with. I really did think them through, I picked a more unique and interesting topic than other students. From my point of view the questions seemed Ok and the lecturer herself gave the green light on them. But once you pointed out that they appear quite random, I must agree so thank you for that. Also, when making the questions I was not really basing them on UK logistics industry. I was, in truth, basing them on perceptions of continental road transport.
In all fairness, this was doomed to be a weak attempt at a research since the classes that talk about applied research methodology will only start in next semester so I really have no idea how to do it properly. I also understand that I should have did some research on how to make a proper questionnaire on my own, but I am more of a do first, fail miserably, analyse the mistakes do it right after a while kind of guy when I can allow myself to make mistakes. This is one of those times, because I will still get data and be able to complete my assignment.
But really, thank you for your input. It is very appreciated!
Fair comment, and I respect your position more for it.
I would have filled in your questionnaire DonSal if I felt qualified but I have been out of the game for quite a few years.
However, I remember setting off for one trip many years ago with only a Readers Digest World Atlas & the whole of the Middle East on one page & no roads marked.
I filled in the roads as I found them with a ball point pen - still have it now in case any of my friends need to go there.
If you have a reasonable sense of direction it’s amazing how close you can get to your destination before you need to ask (often In Sign Language)
Not that long ago that was how it was done - right across Europe & beyond by all nationalities
Of course that was long before we had the luxury of people studying it in University to tell us how to get there
whisperingsmith:
I would have filled in your questionnaire DonSal if I felt qualified but I have been out of the game for quite a few years.
However, I remember setting off for one trip many years ago with only a Readers Digest World Atlas & the whole of the Middle East on one page & no roads marked.
I filled in the roads as I found them with a ball point pen - still have it now in case any of my friends need to go there.
If you have a reasonable sense of direction it’s amazing how close you can get to your destination before you need to ask (often In Sign Language)
Not that long ago that was how it was done - right across Europe & beyond by all nationalities
Of course that was long before we had the luxury of people studying it in University to tell us how to get there
That must have been challenging and interesting at the same time, I imagine!
I do understand how a person that tells you the route to your destination might seem unnecessary. But a competent logistics manager finds the fastest and cheapest route to the destination so the company would get a highest profit from the delivery. And it is just one of many things people of this profession do. Of course, all of this stems from what I learned in classes and was told at the companies that we visited. It might be a different story once I start working.
So Thank You for your answer. It is always interesting to hear some real world stories be they modern or from the past.
DonSal:
I do understand how a person that tells you the route to your destination might seem unnecessary. But a competent logistics manager finds the fastest and cheapest route to the destination so the company would get a highest profit from the delivery. And it is just one of many things people of this profession do. Of course, all of this stems from what I learned in classes and was told at the companies that we visited. It might be a different story once I start working.
Sorry but that bears little resemblance to my experience. In my experience a company would expect a competent driver to be aware of conditions that will impact an “advised” route and if necessary divert. Your “no deviate” template would see vehicles stopped in accident queues rather than divert, likewise weather affected roads & those having works requiring closures be they full or partial.
There are companies which issue drivers with route maps, primarlily supermarkets and of course those who have to deliver into the London Night Time Lorry Control Area. The London deliveries are mandatory routes with a requirement to report to management any necessary deviation. When there are multiple deliveries within proscribed hours the driver is given the routes to each store along with instructions to return to permitted roads - if necessary the M25 - and to start again from there. This will involve very significant extra mileage. There have been occasions when routes have been very extensively altered because it has been found that the section of banned road needed is a couple of hundred yards shorter than the existing route, even though the total mileage involved increased by not far short of one hundred miles. This lasted for about a fortnight. The supermarkets are particularly sensitive to the need to take into account the effect of the volume of traffic they generate on particular roads, in some areas where there are several distribution centres within a fairly small radius all serving the same geographical area, there seems to have been an arrangement that they will not all use the same route to reach a particular distant area. Sometimes this involves quite considerable extra mileage in order to avoid a Town or a stretch of road. Conversely there are sometimes arrangements to enter otherwise banned sections of road to reach a particular store because the vehicle is never heavy enough to exceed the weight limit. There are also efforts to use smaller vehicles to service some shops.
There are consultancies which specialise in route planning, DCPC discussions revealed a story about a company which had always run two regular routes involving delivery and collection. IIRC there were three deliveries and one collection on each route. It was found by analysis and computer modelling and trial that what appeared to be a completely illogical transfer of one delivery and one collection between the two actually saved time and fuel. Since one of the collections returned to the depot to be sorted earlier and avoided a peak in warehouse activity it was greatly beneficial.
There are deliveries which have recognised approach routes, maybe for the last few miles, which must be strictly adhered to or mega fines can result (not always what the official guidelines would suggest either), usually in Godforsaken dumps like Hell, sorry typo, London.
Rest of the time lorry drivers use their own routes and always will, and not routes planned by a toy box of electronics either.
Yes there are some places who strictly route their vehicles, these places don’t really want lorry drivers as such and luckily most decent drivers won’t work there, they prefer robotised people incapable of finding their way out of a paper bag, and for some reason can’t work out why half the fleet is smashed up or VOR at any point in time and the entrances to places they deliver to every day are being demolished regularly by their own vehicles, so everyone’s happy
A competent logistics manager doesn’t route his vehicles, he doesn’t need to, if he has any sense he employs lorry drivers and leaves them to choose the best route for the time of day, depending on the day of the week weather traffic delivery time required etc.
If you work for an efficient sensible transport manager you will never ever be questioned about a route used, so long as the job is done he’ll leave his drivers alone to do exactly what he pays them for, be a daft manager otherwise, like having a dog and barking yourself.
If you can’t work your own route out taking into account sensible requirements, you’re a steering wheel operative.
There is definitely two different worlds at odds here - if you expect drivers from relatively small british hauliers to see the world like you after you’ve visited some lithuanian hauliers with a four-digit number of trucks, you’re going to have a bad time.
This survey has been OK’ed and stickied. dd.
