Not replace it. Augment it.
It will show you a way to deliver that reduces miles and time. If you can do better, you should.
Yes, the way you deliver a section will vary. Just like you don't follow EDD 100%, either will it.
If it
truly is nothing more than a guide, that can be overridden as needed by the driver to account for variables or changing conditions or plain old logic and common sense, then it sounds like it might be a useful tool to have.
But you and I both know that it isnt going to be implemented that way.
There will be a metric that quantifies what percentage of your route is being run according to the new program. That metric will be an arbitrary number, conjured up by someone in a cubicle who probably never drove a package car in his life. And generating that metric in order to justify the expense of the new system will become priority#1. Your supervisor
wont care how many extra miles you might rack up in the process and he
wont care if it takes you longer to do the route and he
wont care how many customers get pissed off about late or inconsistent delivery times. The only thing he
will care about....is that you generate that metric so that he wont show up on a report.
24 years at UPS has taught me never to underestimate the absurd and downright stupid lengths that our management people will sometimes go to in their desperate attempts to chase a number. ORIAN is just another number to chase. Im sorry but I have seen this movie many times before, and I already know how it is going to end.