Constraint Tolerances for Route Optimization and Scheduling

What this means for distribution businesses

Strict 30-minute delivery windows sound great until they force half your fleet to sit idle between stops. Constraint tolerances let drivers arrive a few minutes early or late when doing so saves an entire vehicle from the road. A beverage distributor serving pubs with narrow morning windows can allow slight flexibility so drivers arriving at 13:05 for a 13:00 slot are still counted as on time. Courier operations handling thousands of parcels daily can use overtime tolerances on heavy days so drivers can finish a few extra stops rather than leaving them for tomorrow. Grocery distributors running early-morning runs can set early start tolerances so drivers begin loading 15 minutes before the official shift when volume demands it.

What this means for field service businesses

When a customer books a 10am-12pm window for a plumber, arriving at 9:50 is far better than forcing the technician to wait in the van for 10 minutes. Set earliness tolerances so early arrivals are still counted as on time rather than flagged as a breach. HVAC companies running packed winter schedules can allow 10-minute lateness tolerances rather than leaving gaps between appointments that waste an hour per technician per day. Pest control businesses managing all-day inspection routes can set overtime tolerances per driver so a technician finishing at 5:15 instead of 5:00 does not trigger route infeasibility. For facilities management teams, early start tolerances let technicians begin their first job sooner when they arrive at the area ahead of schedule.

How it works

• Four tolerance types: earliness, lateness, early start, and overtime, all configured in minutes
• Earliness and lateness tolerances are global and control how on-time status is reported
• Early start tolerance lets drivers begin routes before their scheduled start, set globally or per driver
• Overtime tolerance lets the optimizer schedule past shift end, set globally or overridden per driver
• Earliness and lateness do not change the optimization; early start and overtime do extend what the optimizer can plan