Vehicles

FOUR SUPPLY CHAIN ENTITIES: Products –> Facilities –> Vehicles –> Routes

 Vehicles move products from one facility to another to meet demand. A vehicle can be anything that moves products – truck, train, airplane or ship. Or a donkey, an ox cart or a person. A vehicle such as a train, airplane or ship is usually defined as one or more standard sized freight containers such as 20 foot or 40 foot containers for ships and trains, and smaller sizes for standard air freight containers.

To create a new vehicle first select a facility (in the Facility menu on right side of screen) where the new vehicle will be based, then click on “Vehicles” in the menu on the right side of the screen (1) as shown below, and then click the “New” button (2).

[ Access this Online Guide — click “Help” button in upper right of any SCM Globe application screen ]

(click on screen image for bigger picture)

A dialog box (3) for vehicle opens up. Enter vehicle name. Select vehicle type from drop down list under vehicle name. Depending on type of vehicle you selected, default values will appear. Accept the default values or type over them with more accurate numbers. Click “Update” button (4) when finished:

• Name: Vehicle name – can be any combination of letters and numbers
• Vehicle Type: different size trucks, airplane, ship, train
• Carry Volume (m3): Number of cubic meters of cargo space for carrying products
• Speed (km/h): Number of kilometers per hour traveled by vehicle
• Operating Cost: cost per kilometer to operate vehicle – labor, fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc.
• Carbon Generated: field to track the vehicle’s carbon output in kg per kilometer (can be 0)
  
• Delay Between Departures (hours): Number of hours a vehicle will wait after returning from its last route before departing on its next route. Can be any number of hours.

Always click the “Update” button in the vehicle dialog box after entering or editing data or the changes made will not be saved.

“Speed (km/h)” is the average speed of this vehicle on the route it is traveling. That means the speed should be adjusted to reflect the condition of the route, the amount of traffic on the route, and the times it takes to unload products at the various stops on the route.

“Operating Cost per km” for a vehicle includes costs such as labor cost, fuel cost, insurance cost, etc. It can also include standard cost allocations for costs such as vehicle taxes, maintenance and repair and related costs.

“Carbon Generated” Carbon generation numbers are always changing as technology changes, so do a little research and see what you can find. Here are some basic estimates you can use to get started. These numbers are already entered as default values when you create new vehicles (the numbers are conservative and may be lower than actual emissions):

Large Diesel Truck (110 m3) – 0.9 kg carbon per km
Medium Truck (60 m3) – 0.7 kg carbon per km
Small Truck (40 m3) – 0.5 kg carbon per km
Train 40 ft freight container (65 m3) – 0.1 kg carbon per km
Ship 40 ft freight container (65 m3) – 0.02 kg carbon per km
Jet Airplane freight container (6 m3) – 1.2 kg carbon per km

“Delay Between Departures” is not for delays at each stop, it is the delay between when a vehicle returns to its home facility and when it departs again on another route. The less the delay between departures, the more frequently the vehicle will run its routes. For instance, if a vehicle has a delay between departures of 20 hours and you want it to run twice a frequently then divide that number by 2, etc. If you want a vehicle to leave every 24 hours and the vehicle’s route takes 4 hours to travel, then make the delay between departure 20 hours.

Change specifications for an existing vehicle by highlighting the facility where the vehicle is based (in the list of facilities in the Facilities menu), and select the vehicle you want to change (in the list of vehicles in the Vehicles menu). Then click the “Edit” button (next to the “New” button).

Vehicle Routes depend on Vehicle Type – vehicles defined as trucks or trains will follow a road route between two facilities – vehicles defined as airplane or ship will follow a straight line route between two facilities. These routes can be modified as needed (see more in Tips for Building Supply Chain Models – scroll down to “Routes”)

Remove a vehicle by highlighting the facility where the vehicle is based (in the list of facilities in the Facilities menu), and select the vehicle you want to remove (in the list of vehicles in the Vehicles menu). Then click the “Remove” button (next to the “Edit” button).

Every vehicle must have one or more routes assigned to it our the simulation will not run. When the click the “Simulation” button to run the simulation an error message will appear and the simulation screen will remain grayed out.

NOTE: As you edit one vehicle and its route(s), other routes will disappear. If you want to see all the routes again, click browser refresh.