Questions for those that HAVE EXPERIENCE with orion

[By The Book]

I think I've heard that there are 4 phases. This is Phase I.

My sup said there are 4 phases as well. EDD, PAS, Orion, Turn by turn.

 

[By The Book]

There are no 99%'s

Sorry, it's unrealistic then. Just follow it, don't make service failures, and let them fix it.

 

[selfcancelsignal]

Why do they care so much about miles saved anyway? You or your 22.3 guy are still gonna have to make sure your PC is filled with whatever kind of fuel for the next day anyway. Just don't really see how this penny pinching saves much money I guess.


Sent while driving from my flip phone via T9 word.

 

[Wally]

Were now told not to back, so saving miles is out the window.

 

[TooTechie]

Why do they care so much about miles saved anyway? You or your 22.3 guy are still gonna have to make sure your PC is filled with whatever kind of fuel for the next day anyway. Just don't really see how this penny pinching saves much money I guess.


Sent while driving from my flip phone via T9 word.

Because that is how it was sold to Wall Street. The day the company gave a presentation of the Orion software and rattled off some BS aggregate mileage figures our stock went up $3 a share.

 

[porkwagon]

So are you claiming you can run your NDA in any order...or only any order if you only run NDA?
Whenever you deliver an air, it will not be a break in trace. Since multiple stops on the same street will not break trace, you can dump off ground with airs at same location or street without breaking trace.
Just Curious.

Why is the OP freaking out?

For me ORION is not the demigod that people make it out to be. It's actually kind of impressive in that when I was in college The Traveling Salesman Problem was intractable, meaning add just a few more data points and computers take years to come up with what it takes a human just a few minutes. So over the past 10 years or so Google and a lot of other companies have come up with some pretty cool tricks.

UPS's problem is they suck and we don't drive magical U-Turn trucks. The real world is constantly changing. They used to harp on safety and service, right now it is mileage to satisfy their charts for corporate profits. My center, because we are still newly ORION, raised the bar to 95%. This only increases miles and raises OT.

 

[kingOFchester]

Were now told not to back, so saving miles is out the window.

We are told the same thing. Don't back, follow Orion regardless of miles. Hitting the 85% or better is all that matters. Setting aside driving off area for lunch or whatever. My team would rather have me be miles over then under 85% trace.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

I don't follow Orion because after my 3 rides with the Orion geeks, they can't work the software to fix the issues that we all agreed needed to be done. I still save more miles than expected because I'm self-aware of saving miles, not because Orion did it for me.

 

[toonertoo]

I am held to Orion, I have been 94% in trace, as I dont change a thing unless its going to be a service failure. But I am miles over.
As of today I am on the 9.5 list.

 

[IVE GOTTA PACKAGE 4U]

I am held to Orion, I have been 94% in trace, as I dont change a thing unless its going to be a service failure. But I am miles over.
As of today I am on the 9.5 list.

You go girl!.....Tell them to pick a cheek and kiss It!

 

[DRamsey10]

I guess I should point out that I don't hate everything about it. I see it's potential and what they are trying to do. I just feel it's implementation was a little premature. We're being forced to use something that still has many issues.

 

[ArcherUTR]

First, take the opinions of drivers who ACTUALLY have to use Orion. Anyone else is simply giving you the B.S. that they hear from the managers in their centers.

Take DAVE for instance. He has ZERO experience with ORION in a practical working environment, yet he will comment on it as if he knows what the flock he is talking about.

ORION doesnt "TELL" you where to turn in a literal sense, it simply takes you in one direction, usually skipping over stops, then shows you the next stop which is BEHIND you some distance away requiring you to make a judgement how to go in the opposite direction.

Now, its up to you. The engineer while on car may "ask" you to flip a b*tch on a residential street and expect you to perform the same moves while unsupervised, or you might travel a VERY short distance to make a Uturn at the end of the street and go the other way, only having to turn back around and go back to the point where you turned around in the first place.

You will find that your backing events will double if not triple if you are a driver in a high density residential area.

Sometimes, you are placed into a situation where "going around the block" isnt possible because of the layout of the neighborhood. This "forces" you to Y back or even 5 point turn in the middle of a residential street in order to go in the opposite direction.

Now, some of the yahoos who defend ORION will say : "you are allowed 10 breaks per hundred" using ORION so simply ignore it when it asks you to turn and go in the opposite direction. The problem then becomes, what if you exceed those 10 breaks and now you have to answer to the center manager why you broke trace more than allowed.

Either way you are screwed. At this point, UPS is not disciplining for ORION yet, as they are waiting until all units are online and they can begin the discipline process.

This is why we are trying to SPEAK loudly about ORIONS mistakes in hopes of getting someones attention at UPS CORPORATE to take another look at this P.O.S.

All misloads are NOT sheeted as missed and you will either run them off or pass them to a relay point. In fact, UPS management is asking us NOT to sheet them as anything and return them to the hub for a "FALSE SCAN" with a B.S. code, like "left in building", "not ready 1", "Label torn off" and such.

Also, dont listen to the baloney of "the days of helping out are over". The Center will only move your start time forward 30 to 40 minutes, and give all drivers 25 to 35 more stops and CUT ROUTES.

You may go OVER miles having to help out, but the mileage reduction from removing cars gives them a cushion they can use to HIDE your results.

Every center is moving start times forward and cutting routes. Remember, for every driver that gets 25 stops, for every 6 drivers is ONE car removed from the road.

This has NOTHING to do with ORIONS ability to manage anything, allthough its the excuse they are running with when they show a reduction in mileage.

I showed this before, but Ill show it again.

IN my center, they cut 9 cars and gave all of us more work along with a moved up start time of 30 minutes.(even though we still cant leave until after 9am because preload is jacked up)

3 of those care travel 20 miles out and 20 miles back each day. So, thats 120 miles a day off the road. Thats 600 miles a week or 2400 miles a month off the road (assumed saved)

6 of the cars travel 18 miles out and 18 miles back in. So, thats 216 miles a day or 1080 miles a week or 4320 a month.

Now, add those two together.

2400
4320
6720 miles technically taken off the road by cutting cars.

Now, we have 89 drivers. Our daily average miles per car is 158 miles over planned miles each driver.

Times 5 days =790 miles a week OVER ORION planned miles. times 4 = 3160 miles OVER ORIONS plan per month.

Now, the company saved 6720 by cutting routes but LOST 3160 by implementing ORION.

Whats the difference????

3560 miles is what the company uses to show that its saving money, but in reality, ORION isnt saving them anything.

Cutting cars is saving miles.

But, there is a giant DOWNSIDE. OVERTIME.

The routes are taking longer to complete and hours are skyrocketing. Production is reducing. Spohr is dropping. Pickups are getting missed. NDA is being failed. Packages are being service failed.

You see, nobody at UPS thinks anything through completely anymore.

Any YAHOO can walk into corporate and talk them into anything. As long as it costs millions of dollars to implement, UPS will be on board.

You will learn to hate the system as well.

Your days will get longer. You will be placed into situations where you will be in a "forced error" situation and have to explain yourself.

Dont expect your management team or division manager to do anything about it either. They are merely passengers on a sinking ship of fools.

You will complain, they will tell you to shut it off, then someone with a higher paygrade will ask them why your not in compliance, and you will be forced to turn it back on and screw up your day.

Believe me, it doesnt work.

TOS.

, I wish they would move my start times up, instead they are moving the backwards.

It's crazy how you have so much insight outside of your center and can make sweeping generalizations.

I'm impressed.

 

[Brownsfan]

I guess I should point out that I don't hate everything about it. I see it's potential and what they are trying to do. I just feel it's implementation was a little premature. We're being forced to use something that still has many issues.

Wow I have to agree with you. Today was the first time something good from Orion happened.
I did a split today in edd order, mind you All the routes in the building were set up to pretty much deliver from the right door. Well after walking across thousands of streets now thanks to Orion. I have to agree that delivering from both side of the street is way more efficient.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

TOS, it is true that I have zero experience with Orion, but the answers I gave have been supported by those who do.

Orion will not tell you to back in to a driveway.

Your local mgt team will make the decisions regarding misloads and meet points.

Thanks for playing.

 

[brownfrowner]

I recently asked my center manager for a list of priorities in terms of miles, Orion trace, backs, etc....they can't give u that, he looked at me like I was speaking Japanese then puzzledly replied "it all matters the same", what a joke, thanks for nothing


Sent using BrownCafe App

 

[oldngray]

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Oldngray, I am glad that you posted this. There is a road on my area that GPS shows continues on to an industrial park----it doesn't---and at least once a week a semi w/trailer will drive down this road, which is in a trailer park, only to have to do a 27 point turn to get out of there and take the road just down the street.

 

[WorkerMule88]

Orion wants you to deliver both sides of the street, even if you'll be traveling back up the street later while following trace. It expects you to be able to magically turn around at the last stop on any given street. It expects you to deliver nearby stops while running NDAs even though they are buried in your 6000 shelf in a bricked out truck and you didn't leave the building till 9:40. After your NDA it will require you to deliver your 7000 and 8000 stops first, then start your 1000s. It generally gets me to my businesses precisely when they go to lunch.

I can usually make it work by using the 10% of stops that I'm allowed to do off trace for bulk stops and businesses that close early/take long lunches. It does really well on residential areas for the routes I run.

I don't hate ORION but I've only been driving for a year so its all new to me.

 

[toonertoo]

Ive been on it about a month, it is all a blurr.
My understanding is.....someone who knows please tell me if I am wrong. It was right as far as commercial until they "fixed" it so I could get my bulk out of the way. It took a sup on car to get that fixed. Now I have commercial stops mixed throughout the truck, most at the very end of day.
I have missed them, that didnt fix it, I have written up detailed sheets of paper, all which are documented, photoed and dated. The only breaks I make are for service.
I guess my question is, if this mapping system is suppose to bring you back to your pickups, and it does if I could keep up, and I could if I didnt have to chase these off area businesses that they dont recognize, Shouldnt they be built into the day, so you do not have to pull for them, or is that just the way it is?
My center manager is concerned about how much of their time I use documenting. But when they ask in the morning what the H*** happened, I just pull out my notes, and tell them.
its their plan, their business, their job, to know> Right?