Segment Building - Multi Order Consolidation
- Joanna Miller
Freight Movements are categorized in VIA one of two ways: Either as Orders or as Segments. If your organization uses orders to define the freight movement; you still have the option to group your individual orders into segment movements. In this way you can move multiple orders from together with others in an LTL or Multimode transportation modal.
In order to group your orders together into a segment you will have to have both a segment board and an order board defined. You will also need to have the role permission to access the Segment Builder from the side menu on the orders board. To grant access to this function you will need to have View Segment Builder enabled within your role in the Sidebar section of the role screen:
To begin, you will need one or more orders that you would like to group onto a segment move. If you have multiple orders picking up or delivering at the same location then they can be merged together within this tool. Additionally, if you have terminal stops your would like to use in order to move freight within an LTL environment, you can use the segment builder for that as well.
Once you have your orders created, click on the side menu and select the toolbox option. Within this menu item you should see the segment builder option.
Click on the Segment Builder to expand the tool
There are two options for getting the orders into the segment builder:
Drag individual bills into the segment builder
Press the multi selection button at the top right side of the screen to select the bills you want to add to the segment builder. Click on the boxes for each bill and then drag one of them into the segment builder.
Once you have added all the orders from the board into segment builder, the system will split them out into each of the stops. At the top of the segment builder you will be able to see a summary of how many orders you have in the builder as well as how many stops make up those orders. You can start to optimize the segment using the tool buttons at the top of the segment builder:
Edit Stops - When you press this option, you will be able to Add a stop such as a terminal or border crossing, remove all pickup stops or remove all delivery stops. If this is an LTL Regional pickup for example, you may want to add a terminal stop and then remove the deliveries as they will be added to a different segment when the orders reach the delivery terminal.
Manual Merge - While the system has the ability to automatically merge stops this option will allow a user to manually merge two stops together. For example, if you have two pickup stops that are picking up at the same location but not at the same time the system will not automatically merge them. If you want them merged you can do that using this manual merge option.
Auto Merge - If you have multiple stops occurring at the same location at exactly the same time, they system can automatically merge them together for you. If you find this option does not work, it is possible that the scheduled PU time may be different on the stops.
Clear All - If you want to clear everything you have done and start again, clicking the clear all button will remove all the orders from the segment builder, all the merges will be removed as well as the stops. You can start the process again.
Finalize - Once you are done merging, adding and removing stops, you can press the finalize button. The system will ask you what board and what list you want to create the new segment in. It will them assign the orders in the segment builder to your new segment.
The following video will show how to build a segment
Once the segment has been built the orders display a segment icon on their mini card
Additionally, when you open a card that has been put on a segment, you can see the segment that each stop is assigned to.
You can click on the segment number within the stop to open the segment card. From within the segment card, if there are multiple orders on a segment stop because they were merged together, each bill number will show on the segment stop