Materials Dispatch
Introduction
Dispatch is a process through which human resources or vehicle units are assigned to the different requirements of clients. This procedure is essential in various service-oriented industries such as passenger transportation (taxi), courier, emergency response, as well as in domestic and commercial sectors including cleaning, plumbing, HVAC systems, pest management and electrical services.
In vehicle dispatch, the assignment to customers is made considering the order of request and the proximity of the units to the collection point. The process begins when telephone operators receive calls from customers, record the information in a computerized system or manually, and then deliver it to the dispatcher. In certain situations, the operator can assign a priority level to requests, allowing urgent calls to be answered before others on hold.
There are two common scenarios in this process: in the first, a centralized system communicates directly with mobile data terminals installed in vehicles (known as computer-assisted dispatch); In the second, the dispatcher communicates with drivers via two-way radios.
In the case of dispatching residential or commercial services, clients usually schedule services in advance, and the assignment of personnel takes place on the same day of the service, generally in the morning. Depending on the nature of the service required, workers can be assigned individually or in teams made up of two or more people.
The dispatcher must coordinate multiple factors, including the availability of personnel, their technical skills, travel times, and the availability of necessary materials or spare parts. The use of specialized computer aided dispatch software (see computer aided call handling) significantly improves the efficiency and precision in the execution of these tasks.
Manual dispatch systems
Contenido
A continuación se presentan algunos ejemplos de sistemas manuales utilizados para rastrear el estado de los recursos dentro de una flota despachada:.
Cards
Perforated tag systems use a set of pins, each corresponding to a unit of the dispatched fleet. Each pin contains labels that represent the current state of the vehicle or resource assigned to the shift. These tags are updated manually and marked with a time clock, similar to that used to record work hours on a time card.