Accurate calculation of "dimensional weight" is carrying greater, well, weight in parcel shipping rates. That's leading to greater interest in tools that measure up to the demands of high-speed cubing and weighing.
George Weimer has been covering business and industry for almost four decades, beginning with Penton Publishing's Steel Magazine in 1968 where his first "beat" was the material handling industry. He remained with Steel for two years and stayed for two more when it became Industry Week in 1970. He subsequently joined Iron Age, where he spent a dozen years as its regional and international machine tool editor. He then re-joined Penton Publishing as chief editor of Automation Magazine and in 1993 returned to Industry Week as executive editor. He has been a contributing editor for several publications, including Material Handling Management, where his columns and feature articles regularly generated lively discussion in the industry. He has won various awards from major journalism organizations. He has covered numerous trade shows here and abroad and has spoken to various industrial and trade groups on the current issues and events of the day as they impinge on business. He remains convinced that material handling technology and logistics are two of the major sources of productivity improvement today and in the future for all industries.
How much does an inch weigh? That might sound like the kind of nonsensical question Lewis Carroll might pose, but in the world of small parcel shipping, the concept of "dimensional weight" is important—and becoming more so. In essence, it's the system developed by parcel carriers as a way to ensure that lightweight but bulky items pay for the space they take up in trucks and planes. To determine the correct rate for a parcel, the shipper must determine both the package's weight and its dimensions, and then check the carrier's rate schedule to figure out which to use as the basis for the charge.
The major air and air-express carriers have all invested millions of dollars to install complex, highspeed weighing and dimensioning systems in their hubs. They try to dimension and weigh every package to determine what the correct rate should be. If it's different from the customer's rating, the difference (and sometimes a penalty fee) shows up as a back charge on the customer's bill.
While dimensional weight charges have applied to air shippers for years, they're about to be introduced into the ground service business. UPS announced just a few weeks ago that, effective Jan. 1, 2007, "oversize" rates will be replaced by "a simpler rate calculation based on dimensional weight." As currently written, this new policy applies only to packages over three cubic feet (5,184 cubic inches). (Smaller-volume packages will continue to be billed by actual weight alone.) Under the new policy, says UPS, "[b]illable weight will be based on actual package weight or the dimensional weight, whichever is greater."
"Dimensional weight" or "DIM weight" as it is commonly called, is determined by dividing the volume of a package in cubic inches by a constant, typically 194 for domestic or 166 for international shipments. The greater of either the DIM weight or the scale weight must be used for rating the package. For large, light boxes, the DIM weight rate will almost always be higher.
Size matters?
That might not sound like a big change, but the implications for shippers are huge. As the volume of packages subject to DIM weight rates increases, so will shippers' need to obtain precise information on the weights and dimensions of packages leaving their DCs with parcel and express carriers.
If we're talking a package here or a package there, gathering the weight and cube information might not be a big deal. If you're talking thousands of boxes, though, it quickly becomes a complex—and costly—business challenge. All too often, warehouse and shipping workers make a rough stab at the package's dimensions or, more commonly, ignore the size altogether because they're in a hurry to get orders to the dock, and rely solely on weight taken from a scale.
Do that these days, however, and your bill is likely to include back charges, says Phil Metzler, strategic product group leader, shipping and mail business for Mettler-Toledo. Thus, all manner of new devices to measure and weigh with ever-increasing accuracy and speed are showing up in warehouses and logistics hubs throughout the supply chain.
Mettler-Toledo, for example, offers cubing systems that use a variety of technologies, including lasers, photo diodes and both static and dynamic scales. "The goal is to provide systems that are modular in nature, that allow easy integration into existing material handling systems, and that easily aggregate data for communication to a host computer system," says Mettler-Toledo's strategic accounts manager, Bob Pacotti.
No shortage of choices
One of the pioneers in this technology is Quantronix of Farmington, Utah, which markets the Cubiscan series of dimensioning machines. Cubiscan systems come in a variety of configurations—from ceiling-mounted devices that allow omni-directional access to the measuring area to portable systems that can easily be moved around the plant or warehouse. "Large static cubing systems are new in the past few years," reports Randy Neilson, director of sales and marketing for Quantronix.
Each type of model has its strengths. Small static systems, for example, are good for measuring small and irregular shaped items, but they usually aren't the right fit for large crated merchandise or palletized goods. Larger systems are suitable for those larger items but generally are incapable of handling smaller items, Neilson explains. He suggests customers take a look at using two or more systems to cover all of their needs.
Cubing or dimensioning systems use low-powered laser technology (similar to bar-code scanning) or infrared light or ultrasound to measure packages. The technologies vary, but the idea is the same in all cases—accurate, defendable measurements of volume.
And that's a concern whether you're a shipper or a carrier. "There's only so much space on a truck," says Gordon Cooper, vice president-marketing for ExpressCube, a division of Mississauga, Ontario-based Global Sensors. ExpressCube will soon enter the U.S. market with its dimensioning system, which uses photo diodes. Developed for Cardinal Couriers, a regional carrier in eastern Canada, the technology will be demonstrated at the ProMat show next month in Chicago.
What's ahead?
Suppliers of automatic scales and cubing systems say that the systems pay for themselves in months by eliminating the inaccuracies associated with hand weighing and measuring. "You can save maybe 10 percent on your backcharging bills by using automatic or semi-automatic weighing and cubing technology," says Joe Flaviani of Schneider Electric, which markets weighing devices and offers consulting expertise on cubing, weighing and other material handling applications. "The cost savings alone usually more than justify the investment in these new systems."
"One of our systems saved the user $155,000 per year in back charges. That's on a $15,000 investment in this kind of technology," adds Mettler-Toledo's Metzler.
As for what's ahead, it seems that for scales—particularly the huge scales used to weigh whole semis and train cars— the trend will be toward automation. "More and more we're building truck weighing systems that are unattended," says Larry Behrens, industrial products manager for Fairmont, Minn.-based Avery Weigh-Tronix. "We're also doing more and more with RFID," he adds.
As for cubing systems, Cooper foresees big "changes in this field in terms of price reductions due to increased volumes, and ease of operation and setup." He's also optimistic that those advances will lead to increased sales. In the near term, he says, "[w]herever you find a scale in business, you'll find a cubing machine as well."
"Automated dimensioning will continue to migrate from the carriers back through the supply chain. Today you see increased focus on parcels and packages, but soon, you'll see more focus on palletized goods. They have the same size and weight issues as individual packages," predicts Mettler- Toledo's Metzler. "You'll also begin to see more use of dimensioning technologies at retail and point-of-sale (POS) counters, such as at a UPS store or FedEx Kinko's." Adds Pacotti, "You may not see fundamentally different technology, but rather ways to better package all the data ... in ever-more simplified ways. The IT manager always wants more simplicity."
Weighing and measuring used to be two of the simplest tasks in the DC. Over the past few years, they have become more and more high tech. Every sign suggests that the trend will continue as shippers and carriers keep trying to balance—and dimension—the fees and costs of moving packages through the supply chain.
Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in January, growing at its fastest clip in more than two years, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) report, released this week.
The LMI jumped nearly five points from December to a reading of 62, reflecting continued steady growth in the U.S. economy along with faster-than-expected inventory growth across the sector as retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers attempted to manage the uncertainty of tariffs and a changing regulatory environment. The January reading represented the fastest rate of expansion since June 2022, the LMI researchers said.
An LMI reading above 50 indicates growth across warehousing and transportation markets, and a reading below 50 indicates contraction. The LMI has remained in the mid- to high 50s range for most of the past year, indicating moderate, consistent growth in logistics markets.
Inventory levels rose 8.5 points from December, driven by downstream retailers stocking up ahead of the Trump administration’s potential tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China. Those increases led to higher costs throughout the industry: inventory costs, warehousing prices, and transportation prices all expanded to readings above 70, indicating strong growth. This occurred alongside slowing growth in warehousing and transportation capacity, suggesting that prices are up due to demand rather than other factors, such as inflation, according to the LMI researchers.
The LMI is a monthly survey of logistics managers from across the country. It tracks industry growth overall and across eight areas: inventory levels and costs; warehousing capacity, utilization, and prices; and transportation capacity, utilization, and prices. The report is released monthly by researchers from Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno, in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).
As commodities go, furniture presents its share of manufacturing and distribution challenges. For one thing, it's bulky. Second, its main components—wood and cloth—are easily damaged in transit. Third, much of it is manufactured overseas, making for some very long supply chains with all the associated risks. And finally, completed pieces can sit on the showroom floor for weeks or months, tying up inventory dollars and valuable retail space.
In other words, the furniture market is ripe for disruption. And John "Jay" Rogers wants to be the catalyst. In 2022, he cofounded a company that takes a whole new approach to furniture manufacturing—one that leverages the power of 3D printing and robotics. Rogers serves as CEO of that company, Haddy, which essentially aims to transform how furniture—and all elements of the "built environment"—are designed, manufactured, distributed, and, ultimately, recycled.
Rogers graduated from Princeton University and went to work for a medical device startup in China before moving to a hedge fund company, where he became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). After that, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving eight years in the infantry. Following two combat tours, he earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and became a consultant for McKinsey & Co.
During this time, he founded Local Motors, a next-generation vehicle manufacturer that launched the world's first 3D-printed car, the Strati, in 2014. In 2021, he brought the technology to the furniture industry to launch Haddy. The father of four boys, Rogers is also a director of the RBR Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on education and health care.
Rogers spoke recently with DC Velocity Group Editorial Director David Maloney on an episode of the "Logistics Matters" podcast.
Q: Could you tell us about Haddy and how this unique company came to be?
A: Absolutely. We have believed in the future of distributed digital manufacturing for a long time. The world has gone from being heavily globalized to one where lengthy supply chains are a liability—thanks to factors like the growing risk of terrorist attacks and the threat of tariffs. At the same time, there are more capabilities to produce things locally. Haddy is an outgrowth of those general trends.
Adoption of the technologies used in 3D printing has been decidedly uneven, although we do hear about applications like tissue bioprinting and food printing as well as the printing of trays for dental aligners. At Haddy, we saw an opportunity to take advantage of large-scale structural printing to approach the furniture and furnishings industry. The technology and software that make this possible are already here.
Q: Furniture is a very mature market. Why did you see this as a market that was ripe for disruption?
A:The furniture market has actually been disrupted many times in the last 200 years. The manufacturing of furniture for U.S. consumption originally took place in England. It then moved to Boston and from there to New Amsterdam, the Midwest, and North Carolina. Eventually, it went to Taiwan, then China, and now Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. And each of those moves brought some type of disruption.
Other disruptions have been based on design. You can look at things like the advent of glue-laminated wood with Herman Miller, MillerKnoll, and the Eames [furniture design and manufacturing] movement. And you can look at changes in the way manufacturing is powered—the move from manual operations to machine-driven operations powered by steam and electricity. So the furniture industry has been continuously disrupted, sometimes by labor markets and sometimes by machines and methods.
What's happening now is that we're seeing changes in the way that labor is applied in furniture manufacturing. Furniture has traditionally been put together by human hands. But today, we have an opportunity to reassign those hands to processes that take place around the edges of furniture production. The hands are now directing robotics through programming and design; they're not actually making the furniture.
And so, we see this mature market as being one that's been continuously disrupted during the last 200 years. And this disruption now has a lot to do with changing the way that labor interacts with the making of furniture.
Q: How do your 3D printers actually create the furniture?
A:All 3D printing is not the same. The 3D printers we use are so-called "hybrid" systems. When we say hybrid, what we mean is that they're not just printers—they are holders, printers, polishers, and cutters, and they also do milling and things like that. We measure things and then print things, which is the additive portion. Then we can do subtractive and polishing work—re-measuring, moving, and printing parts again. And so, these hybrid systems are the actual makers of the furniture.
Q: What types of products are you making?
A: We've started with hardline or case goods, as they're sometimes known, for both residential and commercial use—cabinets, wall bookshelves, freestanding bookshelves, tables, rigid chairs, planters, and the like. Basically, we've been concentrating on products that don't have upholstery.
It's not that upholstery isn't necessary in furniture, as it is used in many pieces. But right now, we have found that digital furniture manufacturing becomes analog again when you have to factor in the sewing process. And so, to move quickly and fully leverage the advantages of digital manufacturing, we're sticking to the hardline groups, except for a couple of pieces that we have debuted that have 3D-printed cushions, which are super cool.
Q: Of course, 3D printers create objects in layers. What types of materials are you running through your 3D printers to create this furniture?
A: We use recycled materials, primarily polymer composites—a bio-compostable polymer or a synthetic polymer. We look for either recycled or bio-compostable [materials], which we then reinforce with fibers and fillers, and that's what makes them composites. To create the bio-compostables, we marry them with bio-fibers, such as hemp or bamboo. For synthetic materials, we marry them with things like glass or carbon fibers.
Q: Does producing goods via 3D printing allow you to customize products easily?
A: Absolutely. The real problem in the furniture and furnishings industries is that when you tool up to make something with a jig, a fixture, or a mold, you tend to be less creative because you now feel you have to make and sell a lot of that item to justify the investment.
One of the great promises of 3D printing is that it doesn't have a mold and doesn't require tooling. It exists in the digital realm before it becomes physical, and so customization is part and parcel of the process.
I would also add that people aren't necessarily looking for one-off furniture. Just because we can customize doesn't mean we're telling customers that once we've delivered a product, we break the digital mold, so to speak. We still feel that people like styles and trends created by designers, but the customization really allows enterprise clients—like businesses, retailers, and architects—to think more freely.
Customization is most useful in allowing people to "iterate" quickly. Our designers can do something digitally first without having to build a tool, which frees them to be more creative. Plus, because our material is fully recyclable, if we print something for the first time and find it doesn't work, we can just recycle it. So there's really no penalty for a failed first printing—in fact, those failures bring their own rewards in the form of lessons we can apply in future digital and physical iterations.
Q: You currently produce your furniture in an automated microfactory in Florida, with plans to set up several more. Could you talk a little about what your microfactory looks like and how you distribute the finished goods?
A: Our microfactory is a 30,000-square-foot box that mainly contains the robots that make our furniture along with shipping docks. But we don't intend for our microfactories to be storage warehouses and trans-shipment facilities like the kind you'd typically see in the furniture industry—all of the trappings of a global supply chain. Instead, a microfactory is meant to be a site where you print the product, put it on a dock, and then ship it out. So a microfactory is essentially an enabler of regional manufacturing and distribution.
Q: Do you manufacture your products on a print-to-order basis as opposed to a print-to-stock model?
A: No. We may someday get to the point where we receive an order digitally, print it, and then send it out on a truck the next day. But right now, we aren't set up to do a mini-delivery to one customer out of a microfactory.
We are an enterprise company that partners with architects, designers, builders, and retailers, who then distribute our furnishings to their customers. We are not trying to go direct-to-consumer at this stage. It's not the way a microfactory is set up to distribute goods.
Q: You've mentioned your company's use of recycled materials. Could you talk a little bit about other ways you're looking to reduce waste and help support a circular economy?
A: Yes. Sustainability and a circular economy are really something that you have to plan for. In our case, our plans call for moving toward a distributed digital manufacturing model, where we establish microfactories in various regions around the world to serve customers within a 10-hour driving radius of the factory. That is a pretty large area, so we could cover the United States with just four or five microfactories.
That also means that we can credibly build our recycling network as part of our microfactory setup. As I mentioned, we use recycled polymer stock in our production, so we're keeping that material out of a landfill. And then we tell our enterprise customers that while the furniture they're buying is extremely durable, when they're ready to run a special and offer customers a credit for turning in their used furniture, we'll buy back the material. Buying back that material actually reduces our costs because it's already been composited and created and recaptured. So our microfactory network is well designed for circularity in concert with our enterprise customers.
Generative AI (GenAI) is being deployed by 72% of supply chain organizations, but most are experiencing just middling results for productivity and ROI, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc.
That’s because productivity gains from the use of GenAI for individual, desk-based workers are not translating to greater team-level productivity. Additionally, the deployment of GenAI tools is increasing anxiety among many employees, providing a dampening effect on their productivity, Gartner found.
To solve those problems, chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) deploying GenAI need to shift from a sole focus on efficiency to a strategy that incorporates full organizational productivity. This strategy must better incorporate frontline workers, assuage growing employee anxieties from the use of GenAI tools, and focus on use-cases that promote creativity and innovation, rather than only on saving time.
"Early GenAI deployments within supply chain reveal a productivity paradox," Sam Berndt, Senior Director in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in the report. "While its use has enhanced individual productivity for desk-based roles, these gains are not cascading through the rest of the function and are actually making the overall working environment worse for many employees. CSCOs need to retool their deployment strategies to address these negative outcomes.”
As part of the research, Gartner surveyed 265 global respondents in August 2024 to assess the impact of GenAI in supply chain organizations. In addition to the survey, Gartner conducted 75 qualitative interviews with supply chain leaders to gain deeper insights into the deployment and impact of GenAI on productivity, ROI, and employee experience, focusing on both desk-based and frontline workers.
Gartner’s data showed an increase in productivity from GenAI for desk-based workers, with GenAI tools saving 4.11 hours of time weekly for these employees. The time saved also correlated to increased output and higher quality work. However, these gains decreased when assessing team-level productivity. The amount of time saved declined to 1.5 hours per team member weekly, and there was no correlation to either improved output or higher quality of work.
Additional negative organizational impacts of GenAI deployments include:
Frontline workers have failed to make similar productivity gains as their desk-based counterparts, despite recording a similar amount of time savings from the use of GenAI tools.
Employees report higher levels of anxiety as they are exposed to a growing number of GenAI tools at work, with the average supply chain employee now utilizing 3.6 GenAI tools on average.
Higher anxiety among employees correlates to lower levels of overall productivity.
“In their pursuit of efficiency and time savings, CSCOs may be inadvertently creating a productivity ‘doom loop,’ whereby they continuously pilot new GenAI tools, increasing employee anxiety, which leads to lower levels of productivity,” said Berndt. “Rather than introducing even more GenAI tools into the work environment, CSCOs need to reexamine their overall strategy.”
According to Gartner, three ways to better boost organizational productivity through GenAI are: find creativity-based GenAI use cases to unlock benefits beyond mere time savings; train employees how to make use of the time they are saving from the use GenAI tools; and shift the focus from measuring automation to measuring innovation.
According to Arvato, it made the move in order to better serve the U.S. e-commerce sector, which has experienced high growth rates in recent years and is expected to grow year-on-year by 5% within the next five years.
The two acquisitions follow Arvato’s purchase three months ago of ATC Computer Transport & Logistics, an Irish firm that specializes in high-security transport and technical services in the data center industry. Following the latest deals, Arvato will have a total U.S. network of 16 warehouses with about seven million square feet of space.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Carbel is a Florida-based 3PL with a strong focus on fashion and retail. It offers custom warehousing, distribution, storage, and transportation services, operating out of six facilities in the U.S., with a footprint of 1.6 million square feet of warehouse space in Florida (2), Pennsylvania (2), California, and New York.
Florida-based United Customs Services offers import and export solutions, specializing in remote location filing across the U.S., customs clearance, and trade compliance. CTPAT-certified since 2007, United Customs Services says it is known for simplifying global trade processes that help streamline operations for clients in international markets.
“With deep expertise in retail and apparel logistics services, Carbel and United Customs Services are the perfect partners to strengthen our ability to provide even more tailored solutions to our clients. Our combined knowledge and our joint commitment to excellence will drive our growth within the US and open new opportunities,” Arvato CEO Frank Schirrmeister said in a release.
And many of them will have a budget to do it, since 51% of supply chain professionals with existing innovation budgets saw an increase earmarked for 2025, suggesting an even greater emphasis on investing in new technologies to meet rising demand, Kenco said in its “2025 Supply Chain Innovation” survey.
One of the biggest targets for innovation spending will artificial intelligence, as supply chain leaders look to use AI to automate time-consuming tasks. The survey showed that 41% are making AI a key part of their innovation strategy, with a third already leveraging it for data visibility, 29% for quality control, and 26% for labor optimization.
Still, lingering concerns around how to effectively and securely implement AI are leading some companies to sidestep the technology altogether. More than a third – 35% – said they’re largely prevented from using AI because of company policy, leaving an opportunity to streamline operations on the table.
“Avoiding AI entirely is no longer an option. Implementing it strategically can give supply chain-focused companies a serious competitive advantage,” Kristi Montgomery, Vice President, Innovation, Research & Development at Kenco, said in a release. “Now’s the time for organizations to explore and experiment with the tech, especially for automating data-heavy operations such as demand planning, shipping, and receiving to optimize your operations and unlock true efficiency.”
Among the survey’s other top findings:
there was essentially three-way tie for which physical automation tools professionals are looking to adopt in the coming year: robotics (43%), sensors and automatic identification (40%), and 3D printing (40%).
professionals tend to select a proven developer for providing supply chain innovation, but many also pick start-ups. Forty-five percent said they work with a mix of new and established developers, compared to 39% who work with established technologies only.
there’s room to grow in partnering with 3PLs for innovation: only 13% said their 3PL identified a need for innovation, and just 8% partnered with a 3PL to bring a technology to life.