Packsize
Assembly Line
Rethinking the Box
But as the low-hanging fruit of last-mile optimization is picked, and companies hunt for small-but-mighty efficiency improvements that yield meaningful cost savings and sustainability benefits, they’re asking: How much scarce, costly warehouse square footage is eaten up by packaging inventory? How many more orders might fit on a truck if cartons were right-sized? How many truck trips might be eliminated? How much less fuel consumed? How much money saved in parcel freight charges? How many more orders could be filled by the same workforce in the same workday with less risk of damage?
The issue is not, however, always wasted space. Getting the pack wrong can also be costly. As an example, Larsen worked with a maker of dog food that was shipping its product in quantity in heavy-grade, lightweight poly-bags. While the bags had no void or fill, the total bag weight, size and sorting/handling limitations (they could not be run through the normal conveyor/sorter system) triggered high accessorial charges in the carrier rate tables. A shift in packaging strategy to low-profile boxes generated quick savings. On average, he says, shippers could see 5-20% savings from studying the tables closely and taking advantage of size or weight thresholds to split or reconfigure shipments to reduce dimensional or DIM rates and charges — or to challenge a carrier’s interpretation of the tables.