Pallet Cube Optimization
For both FMCG (CPG) and industrial goods, cube utilization is a key contributor to optimum supply chain performance and to directly reducing transportation costs. With the continuing trend of manufacturing moving East, an ever growing proportion of goods are being resourced through extended supply chains. For these products the significance of cube optimization (unit load and container fill) is increasingly important.
Example projects of pallet cube optimization are shown below.
For more local supply chains and with increasing fuel costs, cube utilization is now equally important, with significant pressure to improve truck filling efficiency and reduce carbon footprint. Pallet layer optimization and stacking height on pallet (or in container) are key factors in reducing supply chain cost.
Smithers Pira understands how these issues interface with other constraints and drivers in the product and pack design process, and in terms of the supply process. Improving cube utilization can not be undertaken in isolation - an understanding of all the key cost parameters is needed so that change in one area to reduce costs does not introduce an increase elsewhere.
In a modern demand chain the correct approach to cube optimization is to set the secondary packaging specifications (and therefore dimensions and cube utilization) from the retail display, order quantity and product point of view. In this way pallet or distribution unit dimensions and cube are determined taking account of factors both upstream and downstream of the shipping process. Product requirements are those fundamental size constraints that need to be worked around. Of course in the ideal situation, the product size itself and cube utilization consideration would be one of the design parameters in the product design brief, but normally the product is a fixed entity. For consumer goods, the display and order quantity requirements are normally the dominant factors.
For slower moving or industrial goods, product protection and modularity to shipping container internal dimensions are more significant than point of sale or other retail factors. In this case, more focus can be applied to how products are configured, where vulnerabilities lie, how alternative stacking patterns or arrangements can be employed to reduce vulnerability and how product can be re-configured to maximize cubic loading, as well as clever pack design to ensure minimum use of materials.
Smithers Pira Expertise and Services in Cube Optimization
Significant savings opportunities normally exist where cube optimization and shipping container fill efficiency have not been specifically examined. For over 50 years Smithers Pira has been assisting clients with palletisation and container cube optimization issues. Our capabilities extend to reviewing the physical requirements from the entire supply chain, reviewing commercial requirements such as order quantities, to examination of product requirements and secondary packaging options.
Once the requirements are understood, Smithers Pira can assist in identifying suitable optimization solutions through core expertise and using cube utilization software (Smithers Pira uses both Cape and Tops systems).
The process may involve cost modeling to understand the relative significance of the different factors driving product, packaging and pallet dimensions where the overall best total cost solution is not immediately clear.
Smithers Pira also has extensive experience in understanding pallet and distribution packaging physical performance, so our solutions include consideration for stability, capacity to be handled, damage and other key transportation cost factors.
Example Cube and Load Optimization Projects
- Glass beer bottle pallet utilization improvement
- Evaluation of stability of extra-tall container optimized pallets of heavy retail product in cans
- Alternative secondary pack format evaluation in support of increased pallet height and improved cube optimization
- Cushion pack design improvement to increase number of cases per pallet for electronics product manufacturer.