The Global Framework of the Traffic Planning Function...
The traffic planning function consists in organising and implementing " transport solutions " commissioned by the commercial actors of the company. It provides assurance of all the operations related to the management and mastery of the flows of goods and of the corresponding flows of information, by organising transportation according to the progress of on-going deliveries, to the various constraints related to the exercise of the transportation activity, and in particular to the constraints related to the job of driver, the requirements put forward by customers, and eventually offers of sub-contracting.
The traffic planner must take into account the needs of shippers and of consignees, sometimes through the contractors, by organising through different modes of transport (types of road vehicles), the transit of their goods, with an eye to commercial, financial, administrative, and technical efficacy. For that purpose, he/she must strictly adhere to terms of the contract of carriage and to the legislation governing transport, and organise operations according to the constraints of the transport operation itself, of the characteristics of the goods, of the availability of drivers or again of sub-contractors.
The traffic planning function includes a managerial activity (management of human resources and of organisation, cost consciousness, detection and adaptation to the various contextual emergencies...). It also requires a proper understanding of all that is at stake in the use of information systems and technologies in the transportation activity in general (optimisation and allocation of software, on-board systems). This function includes also a role of technical support and advice for drivers, to improve the different man/machine interfaces.
The operator bears significant responsibility and must be relatively receptive in order to deal with the unforeseeable nature of the situations he/she will have to manage.
Evolutions and trends for the future are seen as being Information Technologies and accountancy related. An increased cost consciousness is going to be of greater importance and that greater astuteness in the world of recruitment is going to be crucial.
Fields of activity related to the traffic planning function
Six fields of activity have been identified to consider the traffic planning function. They can be classified into 2 interdependant categories :
The characterisation of the traffic planning function through its corresponding tasks is all the more complex since one can find multiple and multidimensional definitions of this function within companies. One of the main difficulties consists in identifying the limits and exercise conditions of this activity. The chosen approach is the broadest one and combines the identification of structuring fields of activity and the related tasks.
The frames developed in the framework of the INNOTRANS project could be used for training purposes. That's why it is equally important to find a way to organise / rank information. Since the traffic planning function covers different hierarchical levels such as head of traffic planning, traffic planner, traffic planning agent, freight forwarder, etc, it seemed more convenient to distinguish several levels of professionalisation.
Working in synergy with different transport companies has lead to point out at two levels of professionalisation, which might correspond to different educational / training levels :
DEVISING A TRANSPORT OPERATION
The "Devising" field recovers all the activities aiming to taking on / planning a transport operation :
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RELATED TASKS |
LEVEL
1 (High
Level)
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LEVEL
2 (Technical
Level)
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Understanding customer requirements, analysing the various components of an order |
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| Taking sales terms into account | ||
| Evaluating the characteristics of the product(s) to be forwarded and its/their technical constraints | ||
| Selecting the suitable means of transport in terms of capacity and specificity of the product(s) to be forwarded and the additional equipment (Vehicle / Trailer) | ||
| Taking into account the load units (bulk, pallet, ...) | ||
| Selecting and using itineraries depending on traffic and safety regulations, access to loading and unloading areas, geographical, economic constraints and time constraints. | ||
| Verifying the availability of "staff-drivers" and of technical means | ||
| Combining human and machine resources | ||
| Combining the transport operations already underway depending on resources and deadlines |
MONITORING A TRANSPORT OPERATION
This field recovers all the activities linked to running and conducting transport operations in process :
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RELATED TASKS |
LEVEL
1 (High
Level)
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LEVEL
2 (Technical
Level)
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| Drawing up a schedule of activities depending on the constraints generated by requests |
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| Contacting / informing the various correspondents (consignors, consignees, customers) | ||
| Monitoring flows and circuits by means of computerised decision-aid systems (amongst others) | ||
| Avoiding / Managing any traffic planning incidents | ||
| Co-ordinating and possibly re-deploying transport operations underway to cater for new requirements, or depending on man or machine availability |
The "Management & Organisation" field recovers all the activities linked to the organisation and to the management of resources (human, material, finacial, ...) and means (management tools and devices) likely to contribute, directly or indirectly, to the progress of the transport operation in general :
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RELATED TASKS |
LEVEL
1 (High
Level)
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LEVEL
2 (Technical
Level)
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| Participating in designing systems for collecting, entering and using information on the transport activity performed or to be performed | ||
| Defining steps and a schedule for traffic planning operations | ||
| Participating in the design/ implementation of systems and tools enabling the spatial and temporal piloting of transport operations as well as their management (forecasts, simulation, means management, management of transport orders) | ||
| Maintaining means in terms of equipment (fleet of vehicles, information technology systems,...) (1)· Helping the design of an information technology project | ||
| Participating in the design (parameters) and implementation of computer tools and software assisting the transport monitoring activity | ||
| Taking into account financial decisions and budgets | ||
| Managing the human resources and driving teams (training, administrative questions…) | ||
| Managing / organising the information required to perform the activity of the traffic planner (documents, insurance contracts...) | ||
| Avoiding / managing traffic planning incidents | ||
| Contributing to the prevention plans development with a view to safety / quality | ||
| Contributing to the implementation of indicators making it possible to observe the development of corporate service quality |
All the activities aiming at finding and taking into consideration the various statutory constraints likely to have an effect on the organisation of transport (technical, labour, customs regulations,...) :
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RELATED TASKS |
LEVEL
1 (High
Level)
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LEVEL
2 (Technical
Level)
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| Identifying, taking into consideration various regulatory constraints inherent to the road transport of goods |
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| Identifying, processing economic or legal information linked to the field of activity, or to the market segment on which the company is placed | ||
| Identifying, taking into consideration customs systems and customs procedures for goods | ||
| Staying up to date on the social regulations | ||
| Ensuring the compliance with safety regulations |
INFORMATION PROCESSING / COMMUNICATION
This field recovers all those activities linked to finding, processing, memorising, and disseminating information likely to promote the management and driving transport operations (management of documents, use of different means of communication available in the company, oral or written expression in foreign languages...) :
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RELATED TASKS |
LEVEL
1 (High
Level)
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LEVEL
2 (Technical
Level)
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| Identifying/ making use of economic, legal or statutory data |
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| Staying up to date on the trends in the sub-contracting market | ||
| Staying up to date on the trends in customer requirements | ||
| Compiling / managing technical and economic documents | ||
| Drawing up transport or accompanying documents | ||
| Keeping eventually administrative files | ||
| Devising information technology applications to assist in running activities | ||
| Providing information concerning the products, deadlines and possibly prices to customers | ||
| Providing information concerning transport operations to the commercial actors of the company | ||
| Explaining the functions and objectives of the different management systems and tools developed to facilitate the traffic planning activity to corporate actors | ||
| Professionalising / advising drivers in their use of information and communication systems and techniques used by the company (on-board computers, telephones...) |
RELATED ACTIVITIES (Logistics)
This field recovers all those activities likely to be performed as a complement to a transport operation :
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RELATED TASKS |
LEVEL
1 (High
Level)
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LEVEL
2 (Technical
Level)
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| Taking into account the logistics chain as a whole in the organisation / monitoring of the transport operations |
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| Handling | ||
| Performing loading plans |