Susan Lacefield has been working for supply chain publications since 1999. Before joining DC VELOCITY, she was an associate editor for Supply Chain Management Review and wrote for Logistics Management magazine. She holds a master's degree in English.
In today's high-velocity distribution centers, there's no room for guesswork. That's particularly true when it comes to the size and weight of products stored and handled at the site. Having accurate weight and dimensional data can help you calculate outbound shipping costs correctly, determine your exact storage and material handling system needs, and catch mispicked orders before they go out the door.
But where and when should you gather cube and weight data? Most people would say it should be done at an outbound packing station just prior to shipment. While there's much to be said for that approach, it's not the only answer. There are good arguments for cubing and weighing at other times and places in the DC. Here are four recommendations from those in the know:
1. During a one-time inventory audit. Data on the exact size and weight of every product you handle can be helpful in optimizing your material handling and storage systems and for choosing the best picking mechanism for those products. But not all companies have that information at their fingertips, says Bob Babel of the systems integrator Forte.
"In particular, small and medium-sized companies usually don't have good, accurate sizing information of products that move through their material handling system," Babel says.
If that's the case in your operation, a size and weight audit of active inventory might be in order. Babel notes that this could be as simple as renting or buying a static dimensioning system and setting it up near receiving. As items arrive, they can be placed on the dimensioning system, which will automatically capture their height, length, width, and weight.
Another option would be to take a static dimensioning system and place it on a cart with a battery, says Jerry Stoll, service market manager for Mettler-Toledo Inc., a manufacturer of cubing and weighing products. Workers can then can simply wheel the cart around to the various storage and picking locations to capture the relevant data.
2. At receiving. A one-time inventory audit probably won't be sufficient for DCs whose product mix—or product packaging—changes frequently. These operations will likely need to make cubing and weighing a routine part of their operations.
But where's the best place to carry out these activities? Clark Skeen, president of Quantronix, the maker of the Cubiscan line of cubing and weighing equipment, has some ideas on the subject. He strongly urges DCs to consider making it part of the receiving process. "The ideal time and place to collect cubing and weighing data is at the point of receipt," he says.
If you only gather cube and weight data at an outbound shipping station, you'll miss out on at least 50 percent of the benefits that the data can provide, Skeen says. That's because a product's cube and weight can and should influence decisions about slotting, storage location for putaway and picking, and repacking and containerization for shipping. "If you collect that data at the point of receipt, then it's available for each and every one of those decision points," he says.
Indeed, some facilities may choose to collect cube and weight data only at receipt, Stoll says. Those that do typically are simply storing and distributing product and are not repackaging or altering it in any way, so they know the dimensional data will not change, he explains.
To gather this information during receiving, many companies use automated dimensioning systems. For instance, high-volume operations that use conveyors to unload trucks might use an in-motion dimensioner attached to the conveyor. This approach has the advantage of allowing companies to check 100 percent of the products moving off the truck and obtain up-to-the-minute data on them, says Dan Hanrahan, president of the Numina Group, which supplies inline-scan weight dimensioning solutions. "That way, the warehouse management system and transportation system are always working from real-time data, so the information is being audited [during] the upfront process, and you can make changes to your system in real time," he explains.
3. After putaway or picking. Collecting dimensional data at receiving might not always be practical. For example, on a big receiving day, you may not have the time or floor space to perform cubing and weighing activities. In that case, an alternative might be to weigh and measure items after putaway (which can be accomplished by means of a mobile cart) or as they move from picking to shipping.
There are a number of potential benefits to this approach, experts say. For one thing, dimensioning systems can help with quality control after picking, according to Hanrahan. If a picker selects the wrong item or quantity, the order's weight will likely vary from the expected weight. And a damaged carton's dimensions may not conform with those of an undamaged box. An inline system located on a conveyor belt between picking and shipping will detect these deviations immediately and divert the order to an inspection station, says Hanrahan.
An alternative to a conveyor belt system is to use lift trucks with scales incorporated into their forks, says Stoll. He notes that this approach is popular with operations that place a premium on speed. "That [alternative] is mostly used by companies that have multiple forklifts that are moving a lot of freight fast, so they're worried about time constraints," he says.
4. Right before shipping. Perhaps the most common application of cubing and weighing systems is to collect data on parcels immediately prior to shipping. After all, that information is essential to determining the correct shipping costs.
To get the most accurate reading for this purpose, it's best to measure the dimensional weight of the box after it's been sealed and labeled. This is particularly important when shipping via parcel carriers that charge based on dimensional weight. By gathering precise dimensional data on their packages, shippers can ensure they're rating their parcels correctly and avoid chargebacks or overcharges by carriers. It is also important for less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments because carriers often "ballpark" weights to determine shipping costs, says Derek Jones, senior marketing product manager for Lantech, which recently began offering a scale option for its stretch wrappers.
Even companies with private fleets that don't have to calculate parcel shipping rates can benefit from cubing and weighing at the time outbound shipments are prepared, Stoll says. Accurate weight and dimensional information can help them make optimal use of the available truck space.
Substantial payback
To be sure, it's possible to get dimensional weight information without using a cubing and weighing system. For example, companies can get the data straight from the supplier, or they can manually measure and weigh the products. They also have the option of using cube calculation or "cartonization" logic based on the dimensional data in a WMS. But those results are not guaranteed to be accurate. According to Hanrahan, 5 to 10 percent of the time, packers use a smaller or larger box than expected.
In the end, what matters is not so much how or where you collect cubing and weight data, but that you do it, says Skeen of Quantronix. The information you collect will have great value, he says. And the more you use it, the more that value grows. Accurate, up-to-date cubing and weighing data offers a substantial payback for a relatively small investment, he says. "The information it provides is absolutely essential if you want to be a world-class distribution center."
Looking for a cubing or weighing solution? Here are just a few of the many companies that provide these systems and the types of products they offer:
Bizerba USA Inc.: Checkweighers, industrial scales, and software
Cascade Corp.: Lift truck forks that incorporate a scale
Cornerstone Automation Systems (CASI): In-motion and inline scales, inline checkweighers and conveyor scales, and in-motion cubing systems for cartons and pallets
Cubiscan by Quantronix: Static and in-motion dimensioning systems, plus accessories and software
Loadsense Technologies: Portable weigh scales for pallets and a portable weighing kit that places sensors under tables, pallets, and boards to create an industrial-capacity scale
The consulting firm Accenture has acquired Staufen AG, a German management consulting firm, saying the move will expand Accenture’s capabilities to drive operational excellence and competitiveness in manufacturing and supply chains.
Specifically, adding Staufen will help Accenture serve clients in discrete manufacturing industries including automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial goods, and medical equipment.
According to Accenture it made the deal because manufacturers are under pressure to mitigate supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and fluctuating tariffs while staying abreast of rapid technological advances. To meet those needs, Staufen brings expertise in helping clients optimize their entire value chains, drive value with digital manufacturing initiatives, and improve overall businesses performance.
Staufen’s service portfolio includes solutions for Industry 4.0, supply chain management, and organizational change as well as data-driven tools, continuous improvement techniques, and lean management principles. Its approach enhances clients’ product design, shopfloor processes, time to market, and sustainability efforts, reducing costs, eliminating inefficiencies, and optimizing production capacity, the company said.
“Manufacturers must continuously improve their entire value chains to stay competitive,” Matthias Hégelé, Accenture’s supply chain and operations lead for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, said in a release.
“The acquisition of Staufen aligns with our strategy to reinvent supply chains and manufacturing for clients. We will combine Staufen’s proven expertise in operational excellence and value chain transformation with our capabilities in digital technologies, such as AI, generative AI, digital twins and supply chain and manufacturing software platforms, to help clients transform their core value chains, improving efficiency and productivity, supporting sustainable practices, and building resilient, autonomous systems,” Hégelé said.
Part of the reason for that situation is that companies can’t adjust to tariffs overnight by finding new suppliers. “Supply chains are complex. Retailers continue to engage in diversification efforts. Unfortunately, it takes significant time to move supply chains, even if you can find available capacity,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a release.
“While we support the need to address the fentanyl crisis at our borders, new tariffs on China and other countries will mean higher prices for American families,” Gold said. “Retailers have engaged in mitigation strategies to minimize the potential impact of tariffs, including frontloading of some products, but that can lead to increased challenges because of added warehousing and related costs. We hope to resolve our outstanding border security issues as quickly as possible because there will be a significant impact on the economy if increased tariffs are maintained and expanded.”
Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said tariffs on Canada and Mexico would initially have minimal impact at ports because most imports from either country move by truck, rail or pipeline. In the long term, tariffs on goods that receive final manufacturing in Canada or Mexico but originate elsewhere could prompt an increase in direct maritime imports to the U.S. In the meantime, port cargo “could be badly hit” if tariffs on overseas Asian and European nations increase prices and prompt consumers to buy less, he said.
“At this stage, the situation is fluid, and it’s too early to know if the tariffs will be implemented, removed or further delayed,” Hackett said. “As such, our view of North American imports has not changed significantly for the next six months.”
U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.14 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in December, although the Port of New York and New Jersey and the Port of Miami have yet to report final data. That was down 0.9% from November but up 14.4% year over year, and would be the busiest December on record. For the year, December brought 2024 to a total of 25.5 million TEU, up 14.8% from 2023 and the highest level since 2021’s record of 25.8 million TEU during the pandemic.
Global Port Tracker provides historical data and forecasts for the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Port of Virginia, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Jacksonville on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast.
Having reported on the supply chain world for some 25 years, I've seen technologies come and go. Many were once touted as the best thing since sliced bread but either failed to live up to the hype or else had to simmer a few years before they caught on.
Remember the hoopla surrounding dot-com retail? In the late 1990s, we were told that stores as we knew them would eventually go away, to be totally replaced by online shopping. The ease and convenience of e-commerce made that a reasonable expectation. But in March 2000, the bubble burst, and a host of online retailers closed their virtual doors forever. Of course, online shopping is still very much with us, and its share of total retail sales is growing by the year. Maybe we'll get to that retail seventh heaven someday, but it's taking much longer than originally predicted.
Then there's RFID (radio-frequency identification). These small electronic tags were going to replace barcodes largely because of the vast amount of data they can hold and their capacity to update information.
In 2003, Walmart famously demanded that its top 100 suppliers affix RFID tags to all pallets and cases shipped to its DCs. We figured that if Walmart had gone all in on RFID, the rest of the industry would automatically follow. Well, not so fast. It's true that after years of stutter-step progress, Walmart today is more heavily invested in RFID than ever. But in the rest of the world, the humble barcode is still king.
A more recently hyped technology is blockchain. It was actually conceived back in 1982 but remained just a concept until 2008, when a person (or persons) using the name "Satoshi Nakamoto" created an actual blockchain to serve as the public distributed ledger for cryptocurrency transactions. Blockchain was expected to revolutionize the way supply chain partners do business. But it, too, has been a bit slow to take off, and it's still unclear how the blockchain story will play out.
That brings us to the latest potentially game-changing technology: artificial intelligence (AI). In some ways, AI is really just data analytics on steroids. Supply chains have relied on data analytics for decades—the difference now is the promise of greater accuracy and better simulations. Will it ultimately change everything we do in supply chain management? Maybe. But it may take a while. A November report from workplace tools developer Slack showed that AI adoption rates among U.S. workers had slowed in the last quarter, while a recent analysis of open supply chain jobs by software integration specialist Cleo found that only 2% of open jobs required AI skills.
So is AI just another fad or a truly transformative technology? It appears we'll need a few good use cases before we can make that call.
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.