The shipping container provided a standardized, cost-effective solution to the inefficiencies of manual loading and unloading at ports. SlipBots offer the same benefit for trailer docks, enabling goods to be packed, transported, and unloaded in a single, secure container, thereby reducing labor costs and turnaround times.
For each, labor is reduced directly through faster loading and unloading, and indirectly by creating more standardized transport timelines and reducing "at-dock" dwell time.
Measuring ROI Through Utilization
Slip Robotics customers aim to reduce their operational costs by an amount exceeding the cost of their SlipBot fleet (ROI, or return on investment). These cost savings, by definition, are contingent on usage, so we translate the projected savings into a unit of measure that is as familiar and standard across operations as possible: trailer trips.
"Utilization" is actual trips as compared to the "goal" number of trips. Customer Success works to meet and exceed target utilization at all customer sites, to make the decision to continue using SlipBots an easy one. Contract renewal is how Slip's recurring revenue model works.
Example Calculation
| Fleet Cost | Labor Costs | Savings Per Trip | Formula | Target Trips/Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100/day | $20/hour | 30 min | 100 = (20/0.5) × X | 10 |
What Drives Utilization
Increasing utilization towards the goal is never limited by customer demand, but rather by SlipBot reliability and customer-internal factors that prevent or deter operators from shipping product on SlipBots. Customer demand does fluctuate, but as long as the reason is outside the scope of the project, the goal is adjusted accordingly.
Internal factors can be emotional and political in nature. However, a more direct example is workflow optimization. Prioritization of exit and enter at trailer arrival reduces trailer-at-dock time, allowing for more trips with fewer trailers.
Optimization is the reduction of trailer dwell time at dock. A solution should reduce this time, increase safety, or be re-evaluated for usefulness.
Sub-optimal practices include delays in steps or non-value-add steps included in the trailer turnaround timeframe. For example, if a material audit or manifests are needed, they could be completed after the SlipBots are loaded but before trailer arrival. If completed after trailer arrival, loading times and trailer turnaround times are impacted.