Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Cubing and weighing systems have been important pieces of warehouse equipment for decades, providing precise size and weight data that allow workers to safely store material on racks, collect it on pallets, and load it on trucks.
DC workers often take these systems—which lack the cachet of, say, high-speed sortation systems or sophisticated planning software—for granted. However, recent changes in the industry are shining a spotlight on these devices and giving users a new reason to upgrade their equipment and reap further benefits.
MASTERING "DIM WEIGHT"
Companies in every corner of the supply chain universe felt the ground shift under their feet on Jan. 1 this year, when FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. changed the way they price ground parcel services. As of that date, the giant carriers extended the dimensional weight pricing structure they had long applied to air and ground shipments of more than three cubic feet to all ground parcel shipments.
Under the new "dim weight" rules, the companies now determine shipping rates for parcels based on a combination of their weight and dimensions, not their weight alone. The change has reverberated particularly loudly for companies shipping lightweight items in large cartons, since the carriers effectively charge them an extra fee for occupying a disproportionate amount of space on a truck.
In turn, the advent of dim weight pricing has made cubing and weighing systems more important than ever. If you're multiplying length by height by width in inches, then dividing by 166 for a domestic shipment, you'd better have an accurate measurement system.
The reason for that is that FedEx and UPS will measure your package too, and then hit you with a chargeback fee if the parcels were rated incorrectly.
"Whether you're a less-than-truckload carrier, a freight forwarder, a big DC, or just a mom-and-pop shop shipping 50 jars of honey, you have to get accurate measurements to manifest freight correctly," said Justin Headley, marketing manager for CubiScan of Farmington, Utah, which makes cubing, weighing, and dimensioning systems.
Installing better dimensioning equipment in a DC can help a company save money on packing material in addition to shipping fees.
In the typical operation, workers often pack items in a slightly bigger box than necessary, filling the empty space with packing material, Headley said. But with precision dimensions delivered by a cubing and weighing machine, the packager can choose a more appropriate (read: smaller) carton, saving money on void fill, freight charges, and corrugate material.
In addition to helping warehouses hold down shipping costs, a dimensioning machine can be a crucial tool for shippers negotiating rates with carriers.
"You're not just going to negotiate by price, you're going to negotiate by volume; you can't rate-shop without giving them dimensions," said Bob Fischer, founder and CEO of Advanced Distribution Solutions Inc. (ADSI) of Schaumburg, Ill.
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE DC ...
The benefits of capturing the precise dimensions of every item extend well beyond the packing station and shipping dock, however. That information has become critical to efficient DC storage practices as well.
That's because knowing the exact size of items allows DCs to optimize product slotting, packing the maximum number of items into valuable storage space.
It's no accident that some cubing and weighing systems are designed to measure packages with an accuracy of one-tenth of an inch for shipping applications, and an even more precise five one-thousandths of an inch for warehousing and distribution.
"Real estate is costly; if you save space, you save money," Headley said.
Makers of dimensioning machines have kept pace with these demands by upgrading the technology over the years. The first measuring systems used ultrasound-based platforms, but manufacturers quickly moved on to infrared technology, then digital cameras, and finally the laser-based 3D cameras with image processing capabilities found in today's top-line systems.
Among other benefits, these enhancements have made it possible for operations to use the equipment to weigh and measure pallets on freight docks, not just parcels neatly lined up on indoor conveyors, said Jerry Stoll, marketing manager for transportation and logistics at Columbus, Ohio-based Mettler Toledo LLC, a maker of weighing and dimensioning equipment.
Commercial parcel carriers have been using top-shelf dimensioners for years, but many less-than-truckload (LTL) freight carriers are still using manual tape measures to estimate density, Stoll said.
When laser technology finally entered the LTL market in 2006 or 2007, trucking companies realized they could use the data provided by the systems to participate in global multimodal moves with partners who needed precise measurements.
"Even palletized goods are rarely perfectly square," said Stoll. "They can be obscure or 'ugly,' with protrusions sticking out that make them oblong or irregular. The challenge is to determine what the minimal cuboidal shape is; in other words, what's the smallest box it could fit in?"
The latest dimensioning systems can capture far more information than that, however. Today's options include devices equipped with advanced sensors that read bar codes and package IDs, as well as high-end systems that document each item with a photo and a time stamp.
NO ROOM FOR ERROR
Pairing precision measurements with powerful software is quickly becoming an essential element in running a profitable omnichannel fulfillment operation, experts say.
Before the rise of e-commerce, warehouses typically shipped items in full case- or pallet-load quantities to other DCs or retail stores. But as online sales took off, they found themselves filling more consumer orders for individual items (or a handful of assorted items), and the job grew far more challenging.
"Let's say a customer orders a ball point pen, a ball cap, a baseball, and some apparel items all in one box. What is the best size box for shipping that?" Cubiscan's Headley said. "In omnichannel, there is really a lot of value to minimizing inefficiencies, and the savings will start to compound."
An e-commerce website may charge a consumer $8 in estimated shipping fees for that combination of items but face a $16 charge from the parcel carrier if a DC worker places the gear in an oversized mailing box.
"Then companies have a choice to make: Do they pass that extra cost on to the customer or do they eat it? One hundred percent of the time, they're going to end up eating it," Headley said.
Retailers can avoid that conflict if they run the items through a dimensioner first, export the cube and weight data to a warehouse management system (WMS), and use the software's load-planning or carton-optimization features to specify the exact size box to use.
Some companies take this approach to the extreme and build custom boxes for each order. These warehouses link their WMS's dimensional data with an on-demand box-making machine. These systems calculate box geometries and cut flat sheets of corrugate cardboard to the exact size needed. Workers then fold the sheet like a pizza box into a carton that's tailored to the specific order.
Given the proliferating business benefits, many companies have found they can achieve a quick return on investment by installing cubing and weighing systems in multiple locations throughout the DC. Whether they use the data to solve the challenges of dimensional weight shipping, warehouse slotting, or omnichannel fulfillment, users say these precision machines are here to stay.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.