Lane-by-lane planning gives each depot its usual plant and cheapest quote. Network planning asks what the whole map costs, and decides all lanes together.
| Lane-by-lane planning | Network planning | |
|---|---|---|
| How a depot is served | Usual or nearest plant, cheapest quote | Plant, carrier and truck chosen together for all depots |
| Plant output limits | Checked later, by phone | Respected in the plan |
| Fleet limits | Assumed available | Counted in truck-days, by lane length |
| Carrier policies | Applied by habit | Written as rules and priced |
| Truck size | Habitual per lane | Chosen to fill trucks and cut trips |
| Effort | Low, in a spreadsheet | Needs clean masters and a solver |
| Explaining the gap later | Hard; no consistent formula | Same formula prices plan and actuals |
A bakery brand with two plants serves its eastern depots from the nearer plant by habit. That plant also runs out of output late in the month, triggering spot trucks from the other plant. A network plan moves part of the volume to the further plant from the start, in larger trucks, and avoids the late-month spot trips. See freight network optimisation and spot vs contract rates.
FreightPlan loads your masters (plants, depots, lanes, carriers, fleet, rate cards and demand) from CSV, validating every row: a bad row is rejected with the reason and the fix, and the rest of the file loads. It prices every option with one landed-cost formula (billable load × rate × (1 + fuel surcharge) + toll + handling) and uses a Google OR-Tools optimiser to choose the plant, carrier and truck type for every depot, in whole trucks, within 1% of optimal, subject to six written rules: demand, plant output, fleet truck-days, carrier share, contracted commitments and whole trucks. Unserved demand is reported, never hidden. At month-end the same formula prices the trip log, the gap is split into volume and rate so the two add up exactly to the total, and the rate gap is split into five causes (empty truck space, rate card, unplanned trips, detention and service), each with an owner and an action.
Planning each depot on its own, usually with its usual or nearest plant and the cheapest carrier quote, without considering the rest of the network.
Because it accounts for plant output, fleet, truck size and carrier policies together, avoiding late spot trips and part-full trucks that lane-by-lane plans create.
Usually not; with one plant and few options, lane-by-lane planning is close enough.
See it on your own data. FreightPlan — Budget freight, explain the gap. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.
