Saving miles does not always equate to saving time.
All roads look flat and paved and traffic-free when you sit behind a desk and look at them on MapQuest. They arent always that way out there in the real world where the packages are actually getting delivered.
I dont know anything about ORIAN. Heck, it could very well be the greatest thing since sliced bread. What I do know....is that UPS has a long history of implementing new programs on the cheap, and then drowning them in an ocean of conflicting quotas and metrics and micro-management. Will we be thorough and patient and flexible in our thinking when we implement ORIAN? Will we take the time to work the bugs out of it? Or will we do it half-assed and then chase an impossible number off of a cliff so that we can pretend that it is working the way we want it to?
I am not an expert, but I do know that it will be plagued with the same issues that every other system ever developed by any company has had.
It will be imperfect. As far as I know a perfect one does not exist.
The question remains. Can it improve what you are doing? Can it show you a better way to reduce miles (and time). Yes, I asked that question. It does not only look at miles....
The bottom liine is this... If you are already as efficient as possible in determining how to deliver (order of delivery), the system will find no savings.....
If the system sees a better way, why would you not try it?
Will it be perfect? Of course not. I'm certain it was imperfect in the sites that tested it. They showed large gains.... Why?
Remember where this started. With an incorrect statement that the system showed no benefit. That was an untrue statement.
The system they used will be more imperfect than the one you will have....