The Power of Prediction
How Simulation Modeling Transformed a Leading Provider’s Approach to Roadside Scheduling
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September 19, 2025
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In today’s competitive, service-driven market, every inefficiency is a missed opportunity. Delayed responses can quickly become lost revenue and eroded trust. A leading national roadside service provider was beginning to feel the strain. Response times were climbing, and leadership recognized the warning signs: if left unchecked, both customer experience and operational performance would break down.
The Link Between Misaligned Schedules and Bottom-Line Erosion
Across industries that rely on dispatch-driven logistics, scheduling is often treated as a back-office function. In reality, it’s often the driver of operational drag. For this provider, analysis revealed that the issue wasn’t a shortage of staff or vehicles. The problem was systemic: an inability to align driver shifts, geographies and call volumes in a way that kept response times within target. Traditional coverage planning methods couldn’t keep up with the growing complexity of demand, resulting in avoidable inefficiencies and underused resources.
Why It Matters: Misaligned labor operations don’t just waste money – they quietly erode service quality and brand reputation. Like most organizations with high-volume operations, this provider had defaulted to adding more labor to manage demand, increasing financial strain. However, improving response times requires more than just additional resources – it demands smarter, data-driven deployment.
Building a Blueprint for Smarter Coverage
FTI Consulting was brought in to pave a better way forward, not present a one-time fix. Using advanced simulation modeling and custom backend logic, the team replicated over three million historical service events to mirror real-world call patterns including time of day, location, service type and geography. Next, the team added an optimization engine that mapped staffing needs against a defined response time goal and a strict 3% passed call threshold. The result: a scalable framework that aligns staffing with demand to assign the right drivers, at the right times, in the right locations.
Why It Matters: The operational benefits of simulation modeling aren’t limited to dispatch service companies. For any organization that operates or relies on a transportation network, simulation modeling is a powerful lever to drive performance, strengthen network reliability and reduce excess logistics costs.
Using Analytics To Uncover Root Causes
Simulation modeling revealed what traditional planning couldn’t: the real issue wasn’t a shortage of drivers —
it was how existing capacity was being deployed. Rather than defaulting to costly headcount increases, the analysis showed how smarter scheduling could improve response times without sacrificing employee satisfaction or driving up labor costs. FTI Consulting generated optimized driver schedules based on real-world demand curves and existing shift structures, aligning staffing with actual need — not outdated assumptions.
Why It Matters: For any firm balancing service delivery with labor constraints, the cost challenge often isn’t about how many employees you have — it’s about how well their time is utilized. Analytics can reveal hidden inefficiencies and unlock performance gains using the resources you already have.
Quick Wins With Lasting Value
The optimization didn’t just improve planning on paper — it delivered results. Total driver hours were reduced while maintaining high service standards, resulting in $3.7M in projected summer labor savings (a 7.6% reduction in driver pay).
| Metric | Post-FTI Consulting Optimization |
|---|---|
| Driver Cost Savings | $3.7M (~7.6% reduction) |
Long-Term Impact That Scales
FTI Consulting embedded both the tools and the know-how to ensure lasting results. Through targeted training and a fully transferable simulation model, the client gained the ability to refine and adapt the framework as demand evolves — transforming a one-time optimization into an enduring operational capability.
Why It Matters: In fast-moving service environments, standing still means falling behind. Building optimization into your core operations ensures you can adapt in real time to shifts in demand, control costs and protect service quality — without relying on outside intervention. This engagement didn’t just solve today’s challenge; it gave the client a repeatable, scalable capability to stay ahead of tomorrow’s.
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Published
September 19, 2025
Key Contacts
Co-Leader, Food & Agribusiness
Senior Director
Senior Consultant