Automated Route & Dispatch Optimization System for a Multi-Crew Janitorial Company

Overview

Built an automated dispatch system for a janitorial company running multiple crews across a metro area, replacing a manual process where the office manager built each day's routes by hand every morning. The system factors in each site's service window, crew location, and job duration to generate efficient daily routes automatically, with the office manager able to make quick manual adjustments when needed. This freed up a task that was eating the first hour of every workday and often produced less efficient routes than the automated version. The system also tracks actual versus planned time per site, giving management visibility into which jobs are running over or under estimate. An office manager at a multi-crew janitorial company spent the first hour of every workday manually building that day's routes, often producing less efficient routing than an automated system could. We built an automated dispatch system factoring in each site's service window, crew location, and job duration to generate efficient daily routes automatically, while still letting the office manager make quick manual adjustments when needed. We started by shadowing the office manager's manual routing process for a week to understand the real constraints being juggled — service windows, crew skill matching, and traffic patterns. The automated system was run in parallel with manual routing for two weeks to validate output quality before becoming the primary process. Daily route planning now takes a few minutes instead of roughly an hour, and overall crew windshield time dropped by an estimated 15%, while management can now see which jobs are consistently running over estimate.