Cartonization software is a valuable tool in today’s warehouse distribution operations. The cost-savings and efficiency implications in a DC operation can be enormous. Orders shipped in larger-than-necessary packaging quickly result in added costs due to the use of extra packing materials and higher-than-necessary freight charges.
A recent Numina client saved $4.00 per parcel by shifting 20% of their daily shipments from cartons to polybags at their e-commerce order fulfillment operation. The package type was configured by Numina Group’s RDS™ Cartonization Software combined with order release logic.
RDS directs the workers to choose the system-recommended package type, eliminating interruptions and ensuring 100% compliance with the lowest-cost shipping rules. The software also determines upfront if a polybag can be used instead of a box. The orders are released and filled using the most efficient process or walking path.
The shipping cost savings gained by moving to a polybag was $4.00 in reduced materials and a lower carrier parcel shipment rate. Based on a daily order volume of 4,000 packages a day, 800 more orders are shipped in polybags, resulting in savings of $3,200 a day for a yearly savings of over $800,000!
Even if a company ships only 500 orders per day, automated shipping container selection optimization results in reduced labor time, less void material and lower corrugate costs which quickly add up to savings of $60,000 to $100,000 per year.
In a manual warehouse operation, it’s not unusual to rely on operators to manually select the carton size or polybag for packing orders.
This leads to excessive shipping and material costs due to the operator’s tendency to choose a larger-sized box than is necessary.
As a result, order packing, manifesting, and shipping operations become a bottleneck with multiple manual touches, wasted time and labor, excess void fill or air pillows, and higher carrier shipping rates.
When RDS Cartonization Software is applied to the process, rather than relying on workers to guess and estimate the best carton size or polybag for shipping the order, RDS analyses the item’s cubic volume and automatically determines the optimal size carton or polybag size required prior to the order release.
The latest advances in cartonization software are making it possible to gain further cost savings in multiple ways. Advanced warehouse software such as RDS Order Release Optimization software and Cartonization software offers intelligence beyond carton selection. For example, RDS Cartonization can be configured to consider packing factors such as product compressibility and specialty rules for packing glass or fragile products in the decision process.
Read Premier Needle Art’s case study to see how implementing cartonization software increased profitability in their operation.
The greatest savings are achieved when cartonization and order release software are used together to optimize an automated order fulfillment operation:
Cartonization logic reduces labor costs and improves efficiency in the order picking process by predetermining the shipping carton size and seamlessly combining order picking and packing into actual cartons (eliminating the use of totes) in a single-touch pick pack process.
The order can be picked directly to the right-sized carton, and an inline scan-weigh-dimensioning system can be used to check and validate each order shipment’s final dimensional weight.
Numina Group’s RDS™ is a modular and scalable software suite for warehouse automation software solutions optimized to streamline the entire pick, pack, and ship order fulfillment operation.
To learn more, contact us to speak with a warehouse automation specialist and arrange a complimentary consultation.