Help Please... Orion Tips, Tricks and Hacks...

[brown metal coffin]

First, let me start off with an apology to my brothers and sisters... I thought that some of the orion problems that have been mentioned could have been extremely exaggerated. I thought to myself how bad could it really be; and then.... I got on it... Let me just say you guys were right hands down... The inmates are running the asylum and I have never seen such craziness.

Orion was suppose to efficiently take the thinking out of delivery and I have never been more confused in what it wants me to do. Backing is through the roof in our center because it wants you to do a complete 180 at stops and head in the other direction but let me just say that orion does not trump safety. Every day in the pcm they say lower your backs and stay out of the driveways but still want you to follow orion to the tee. Thats a complete contradiction.

Regardless, i hit their percentage mark but Im over on the miles because I'll drive around the block or find a safe place to swing around without backing and they pull their hair out over that. Actually i find that part funny.

All that being said... Does anyone have any tips on how they deal with orion? And yes I know the most popular answer will be to turn it off... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks...

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Orion is a tool not meant to be followed stop for stop. 85% trace means you can break trace 15 times and still be in compliance.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

First, let me start off with an apology to my brothers and sisters... I thought that some of the orion problems that have been mentioned could have been extremely exaggerated. I thought to myself how bad could it really be; and then.... I got on it... Let me just say you guys were right hands down... The inmates are running the asylum and I have never seen such craziness.

Orion was suppose to efficiently take the thinking out of delivery and I have never been more confused in what it wants me to do. Backing is through the roof in our center because it wants you to do a complete 180 at stops and head in the other direction but let me just say that orion does not trump safety. Every day in the pcm they say lower your backs and stay out of the driveways but still want you to follow orion to the tee. Thats a complete contradiction.

Regardless, i hit their percentage mark but Im over on the miles because I'll drive around the block or find a safe place to swing around without backing and they pull their hair out over that. Actually i find that part funny.

All that being said... Does anyone have any tips on how they deal with orion? And yes I know the most popular answer will be to turn it off... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks...

Being expected to follow ORION and keep your backs down are contradictory instructions. Work mainly out of EDD and only use ORION when it puts your stops in the same order you were planning on running them in anyway. Thats rare though. I have gone weeks without using ORION. It just sucks and can't be trusted.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Breaking trace is one of the most misunderstood parts. The worst thing you can do is deliver part of a section and then come back to deliver the rest. If you have to break trace for whatever reason it is best to skip entire sections and deliver those stops later in the day.

As I said above, 85% trace compliance means you can break trace 15 times.

 

[slappyhappy]

As I said above, 85% trace compliance means you can break trace 15 times.

15 times if you have 100 stops. About 25 times for a 180 stop route.

 

[JL 0513]

My center is being hammered to follow it again, following peak when it can't be used. Center mananagent gets called every morning telling us we suck at compliance and must comply.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

Breaking trace is one of the most misunderstood parts. The worst thing you can do is deliver part of a section and then come back to deliver the rest. If you have to break trace for whatever reason it is best to skip entire sections and deliver those stops later in the day.

As I said above, 85% trace compliance means you can break trace 15 times.

15 times if you have 100 stops. About 25 times for a 180 stop route.

Or how about.........lets just make our own decisions based on real world conditions and not worry about a compliance metric that was created by an overeducated idiot in a cubicle in Atlanta.

 

[PrimeUPS]

First, let me start off with an apology to my brothers and sisters... I thought that some of the orion problems that have been mentioned could have been extremely exaggerated. I thought to myself how bad could it really be; and then.... I got on it... Let me just say you guys were right hands down... The inmates are running the asylum and I have never seen such craziness.

Orion was suppose to efficiently take the thinking out of delivery and I have never been more confused in what it wants me to do. Backing is through the roof in our center because it wants you to do a complete 180 at stops and head in the other direction but let me just say that orion does not trump safety. Every day in the pcm they say lower your backs and stay out of the driveways but still want you to follow orion to the tee. Thats a complete contradiction.

Regardless, i hit their percentage mark but Im over on the miles because I'll drive around the block or find a safe place to swing around without backing and they pull their hair out over that. Actually i find that part funny.

All that being said... Does anyone have any tips on how they deal with orion? And yes I know the most popular answer will be to turn it off... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks...

Sit down with a sup and look at your route. Blocked streets, one ways, construction zones, new and modified roads, even how a SNAP is placed on a road can affect your ODO. When you first get ORION nobody has really tinkered with all that. It's like when Apple tried to replace Google Maps a few years ago and driving instructions to the White House put you in the Potomac. We had a bin next to the DIAD rack labeled "fix my route" for us to put in modified pick up runs and times, preferred path to area, map issues etc. Hitting big problem areas like apartments, divided roads, parking lot paths at strip malls, roundabouts, and cul de sacs can help dramatically for your trace, miles, and backing.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Sit down with a sup and look at your route. Blocked streets, one ways, construction zones, new and modified roads, even how a SNAP is placed on a road can affect your ODO. When you first get ORION nobody has really tinkered with all that. It's like when Apple tried to replace Google Maps a few years ago and driving instructions to the White House put you in the Potomac. We had a bin next to the DIAD rack labeled "fix my route" for us to put in modified pick up runs and times, preferred path to area, map issues etc. Hitting big problem areas like apartments, divided roads, parking lot paths at strip malls, roundabouts, and cul de sacs can help dramatically for your trace, miles, and backing.

All of the above should have addressed during your Orion ride.

 

[Richard Harrow]

One easy way to gain a mile back is to round up starting mileage during your pretrip.

For example If your starting mileage shows "36187.3" round it up to 36188. The DIAD doesn't have the ability to account for tenths of miles while Orion literally measures to hundredths of miles.

That .7 miles will cost you 1 mile on their precious reports.

Overtime you will find that all management cares about when it comes to ORION is the miles. They wont care if you run 60% trace so long as you manage to hit the miles.

It's a very detailed and high maintenance system. When it was first rolled out in my center there were streets on my route map that haven't existed in years due to development. UPS was in such a rush to roll it out that they didn't think about these issues ahead of time. Shocker, right?

 

[Richard Harrow]

All of the above should have addressed during your Orion ride.

Do you even have Orion in your center yet?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Do you even have Orion in your center yet?

Yup.

To add to your miles tip, you should round down on the ending odometer reading. This will save up to 2 miles per day. The one thing you don't want to do is round up on the ending today and round down on the starting tomorrow as that will generate a report.

 

[Billy Ray]

Yup.

To add to your miles tip, you should round down on the ending odometer reading. This will save up to 2 miles per day. The one thing you don't want to do is round up on the ending today and round down on the starting tomorrow as that will generate a report.

What about just recording the actual mileage, and quit playing games with rounding up, or rounding down.

 

[jaker]

Yeah I went trough and hit disagree with a few of the post above

Orion is a all or nothing not 85% , I am not going to keep track how many times I break or even figure if I should break

If everybody who had Orion ran it at 100 everyday then they would be forced to make it work or get rid of it , you guys who decide to help them are doing nothing but making a bad program worse

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

What about just recording the actual mileage, and quit playing games with rounding up, or rounding down.

Does your DIAD allow for tenths?

 

[jaker]

Yup.

To add to your miles tip, you should round down on the ending odometer reading. This will save up to 2 miles per day. The one thing you don't want to do is round up on the ending today and round down on the starting tomorrow as that will generate a report.

I remember we had 15 guys fired for that reason , it's called dishonesty

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

What about just recording the actual mileage, and quit playing games with rounding up, or rounding down.

Yeah really! Why are people so worried about these reports?

 

[soberups]

Orion is a tool not meant to be followed stop for stop. 85% trace means you can break trace 15 times and still be in compliance.

I can give them 90% compliance and be 20 miles over or 70% compliance and be 20 miles under. Or anything in between. Compliance percentage is just another number that they are chasing. It doesnt mean anything.

 

[Billy Ray]

Yeah really! Why are people so worried about these reports?

I just don't know why.

No late, no missed, got back safely = Perfect day

 

[soberups]

Sit down with a sup and look at your route. Blocked streets, one ways, construction zones, new and modified roads, even how a SNAP is placed on a road can affect your ODO. When you first get ORION nobody has really tinkered with all that. It's like when Apple tried to replace Google Maps a few years ago and driving instructions to the White House put you in the Potomac. We had a bin next to the DIAD rack labeled "fix my route" for us to put in modified pick up runs and times, preferred path to area, map issues etc. Hitting big problem areas like apartments, divided roads, parking lot paths at strip malls, roundabouts, and cul de sacs can help dramatically for your trace, miles, and backing.

When UPS demands that I follow ORION, what they are telling me is that I am no longer competent or trustworthy enough to decide what my next stop should be.
If that be the case, then how can I possibly be competent or trustworthy enough to help them fix the flaws in a system that decides what my next stop should be?
If they think they are so fuxxxxg smart, let THEM fix it.