Why Capacity Management Matters
Every mile counts in logistics. Yet too often, vans leave depots half empty, trucks get overloaded, or medical deliveries are delayed because vehicles are dispatched without careful consideration of capacity constraints. The result? Higher operating costs, customer dissatisfaction, and compliance risks.
With last-mile delivery alone accounting for more than 50% of total logistics costs (McKinsey), the stakes couldn’t be higher. Businesses that fail to optimize how much they load, when, and where, risk leaving money—and competitive advantage—on the table.
This is where capacity management in route optimization becomes a game-changer.
What Is Capacity Management?
In business terms, capacity management ensures that every vehicle is used to its fullest potential without exceeding operational limits.
The Solvice Route Optimization API makes this seamless by embedding smart capacity logic into every route decision. It accounts for:
- Multi-dimensional constraints: weight, volume, pallets, or even custom factors like refrigeration or seat capacity.
- Dynamic tracking: as vehicles pick up and deliver throughout the day, the system recalculates remaining capacity.
- Optimization preferences: configurable parameters encourage fuller vehicles, fewer trips, and better fleet utilization.
- Soft constraints: the system can flag and manage overload scenarios, helping businesses plan realistically.
In simple terms: instead of dispatchers manually guessing how much each van can carry, the Solvice API allows you to automate the process, ensuring every route balances efficiency, compliance, and customer promises.
Industry Use Cases
E-Commerce and Last-Mile Delivery
Parcel and grocery delivery fleets often struggle with balancing weight and volume, or even value. A van may hit its cubic meter limit long before reaching its weight threshold. Another case is where a van is stacked with e.g. expensive iPhones. Weight or volume are not the problem, but does the courier’s insurance cover that value?
With Solvice, software builders can build features to configure multiple dimensions, ensuring routes are optimized for true vehicle capacity, reducing the number of partially filled vans leaving the depot.
Pharmaceutical and Medical Delivery
Pharma logistics isn’t just about weight and volume. It’s about specialized containers, temperature control, and regulatory compliance. By allowing for custom constraints, the Solvice API enables features that prevent vans carrying vaccines or blood samples from exceeding storage limits, while optimizing the delivery sequence to minimize spoilage risk.
Waste Collection
Garbage trucks must constantly balance pickups and drop-offs at disposal sites. Solvice’s route optimization API allows you to build waste collection software that “knows” when a truck is approaching full capacity and reroutes it efficiently to unload before resuming the collection route.
Field Services (Installation, Maintenance, HVAC, Cleaning, Pest Control)
Service businesses often carry bulky equipment and consumables. By modeling the true load of materials, spare parts, or tools, companies can avoid overloading vehicles and reduce the number of return trips to warehouses.
Business Benefits
With smart capacity management, organizations gain measurable improvements across key KPIs:
- Reduced costs: Fewer trips and vehicles, and less drive time, mean lower fuel, labor, and maintenance expenses.
- Improved customer experience: On-time deliveries and services thanks to routes that take into account expected traffic and that “just work.”
- Higher fleet utilization: Vehicles are used closer to their actual limits, eliminating wasted space.
- Lower emissions: More efficient routing reduces CO₂ per delivery, supporting sustainability goals.
- Compliance and safety: Automatic prevention of overloads protects against fines and accidents.
Looking Ahead
Capacity management is a strategic priority for companies scaling operations in competitive markets. As logistics, healthcare, and field services continue to grow more complex, AI-driven capacity optimization will become the standard.
At Solvice, we’re building the algorithms to help companies build new solutions quickly, serve customers better, and operate more sustainably.
👉 Ready to see how capacity management can be integrated into your routing and scheduling solutions? Explore our documentation on how to configure and optimize vehicle capacity constraints with multi-dimensional support in route optimization.
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