From manufacturing to final delivery, several touchpoints ensure products arrive safely and cost-effectively. One often overlooked aspect is transportation. While manufacturing defect-free products is crucial, transportation guarantees they arrive in the intended condition. Transportation departments constantly consider how to deliver products safely and on time. But it’s not just about ensuring products arrive intact; there are many opportunities within transportation for cost savings and material handling efficiencies.
Efficiencies Begin By Asking the Right Questions
Understanding a variety of factors, from critical details like weight and dimensions to customer requirements, enables a more efficient, secure delivery. Chris Hulse, a Corrugated Transportation Manager with PCA, states: “At PCA, we continuously seek opportunities to enhance efficiencies for our customers, including within transportation. By thoroughly understanding our customers’ needs and asking targeted questions, we identify key details that inform more effective planning, streamline operations, and lower shipping costs.”
To deliver this level of efficiency and service, it’s essential to ask the right questions up front and gather key shipping and receiving details.
Key Considerations:
- Customer Shipping and Receiving Information: What hours of operation does the facility have? Is any special information needed, such as a purchase order (PO) number? Must dock appointments be made? Who are the contacts for delivery?
- Loading and Unloading: Consider how the load will travel and be unloaded at its final destination. Will it be unloaded by a forklift or a pallet jack? Does the customer have any dock limitations?
- Pallet Patterns: Different pallet patterns are used for various objectives, including maximizing space and protecting fragile goods. Selecting suitable patterns and adhering to customer guidelines can improve efficiency. It is important to verify the appropriate pattern, type, and size required for each situation.
- Load Orientation: What will the load orientation be: Can it be loaded sideways or pinwheeled? The optimal load orientation is determined by the unique goals and requirements of each customer. Whether the aim is to maximize available space or to facilitate efficient unloading, select a configuration that aligns with each customer’s primary objectives.
Rightsizing—Another Tool to Maximize Efficiency
Beyond asking the right questions, rightsizing, a strategy commonly used in packaging to minimize material usage, reduce costs, and ensure product protection, can be effectively applied to transportation as well. This approach involves optimizing the loading of trucks to maximize efficiency. By rightsizing loads, manufacturers can significantly reduce the number of trips needed for product transportation, help streamline the loading and unloading process, and ultimately enhance overall operational efficiencies. This not only leads to cost savings but also contributes to a more sustainable and efficient supply chain. “Rightsizing allows us to help our customers with transportation costs and also contributes to both of our efforts to reduce carbon emissions,” says Hulse.
Unitization As a Method to Control Costs
Unitization, in transportation environments, refers to combining multiple smaller items into one larger unit to facilitate easier handling, storage, and transportation. Properly unitizing loads isn’t just a way to streamline transportation efficiencies and optimize logistics costs; it is also about fitting products together. It’s about creating strong, invisible barriers to protect shipments. Properly unitized items help make sure products arrive in the best condition possible.
Consider each of these carefully during unitization:
- Overhang/Underhang—Pallet overhang is when products extend beyond the dimensions of the pallet, and underhang is when too much excess space exists on a pallet, which can lead to products shifting. Both can be detrimental and result in unbalanced loads and damage.
- Stack to standardized heights—Package configuration and dimensions may dictate how high containers should be stacked on a pallet, but following standard guidelines will ensure products can be loaded, transported and unloaded safely.
- Check the pallet—Pallets should be inspected before loading. Using damaged pallets in poor condition could result in product shifting, equipment damage and even rejection at the point of arrival.
Companies like PCA have years of experience delivering their products both safely and efficiently. “From the performance of the product to the final delivery, we take the time to fully understand our customer needs, setting the foundation for smoother operations, fewer disruptions and stronger customer relationships,” concludes Hulse.
If you need a packaging partner that prioritizes the details, contact PCA.
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