| By Rich Lindgren | Senior Packaging Engineer, Packaging Optimization | Chainalytics |
Anyone monitoring transportation and long haul trucking rates understands just how much the current driver shortage presents real problems for shippers. Managers continue to witness both substantial rate increases and a reduction in load acceptance. Despite the inability to see the metrics for at least a few more months, many analysts suggest the Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandates will even make matters worse.
Everytime the issue concerning driver shortage arises, one common suggestion is to increase driver compensation as a means to ensure the profession remains competitive against other appealing semi-skilled construction jobs. While this approach will almost certainly help with the supply end of the equation and probably well deserved for quality drivers, wage increases will eventually impact your budget as rate increases flow across lanes.
An alternative approach to this problem focuses on the demand side of the equation. We all know shipping less product is clearly not an option to reduce demand, and unless your organization possesses its own your fleet, you have no say in driver wages and employment numbers. However, you can make a significant and longer term impact beginning with your packaged product, specifically your distribution and unit load packaging.
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Do the back of your trailers contain unutilized space? |
By implementing effective solutions that optimize your packaging and increase your unit load density, you can ship more goods per trailer, reduce your carrier demand and relieve stress on the overall system. Similar to adjusting your thermostat during the dog days of summer when you aren’t occupying the house, you reduce impact on the grid and avoid waste. Trailers with empty cube space are often considered the worst and most expensive kind of waste, particularly since companies can often take actions to avoid it.
Three common areas for optimizing packaging for truckload transit include:
- Maximizing pallet cube – empty space within your pallet footprints means empty space in your trailers. Improved shipping case designs or alternative pallet pattern layouts may help to improve the cube efficiency of your trailer loads.
- Utilizing the full height of your trailers – whether you’re shipping dry van or refrigerated trailers, every inch in the trailer counts and has a cost impact on your delivered product. If you’re not upstacking or double stacking your pallets, you’re leaving money on the table.
- Improving packaged product density – trailer loads have a maximum weight limit, so if you are “cubing out” the trailer – or filling it to capacity, the next best alternative is to increase the density of your shipping cases to enable more product on the trailer. Imagine shipping a trailer full of pillows – then imagine vacuum shrinking those pillows. The reduced size and increase in density would allow for significantly more product in a trailer. Carton & case headspace are common enemies to optimized trailer loads.
Many Chainalytics customers achieve 5-15% improvements in full truck load densities, which commonly translates to 10-15% less truck load shipments. Not only does this improvement generate immediate transportation savings, but it also reduces the demand on their carriers and improves load acceptance ratios. Furthermore, it demonstrates environmental consciousness and advocacy as fewer truckloads equals less carbon emissions.
While one company reducing a few truckload shipments a week won’t solve the driver shortage, a small percentage shift across the entire market would. Not to mention, this could result in significant savings for companies while being a huge win for sustainability initiatives. With capacity predicted to remain tight throughout 2018, shippers should explore advanced packaging solutions and seek the advice of experienced packaging engineers to reduce wasted trailer space and overall carrier costs.
Rich Lindgren is a Senior Packaging Engineer and holds lifetime Certified Packaging Professional (CPP) accreditation from the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) and has extensive experience with both packaging optimization and supply chain cost reduction projects.
Read more on how the Packaging Optimization team has helped drive supply chain improvements:
- (Blog) Blockchain & Packaging: How Can Technology Improve a Supply Chain’s Packaging Strategy?
- (Blog) Crunched for Warehouse Space? Think Packaging!
- (Blog) The Physical Internet Sets its Sights on Revolutionizing Global Insights
- (Success Story) Chainalytics Provides Packaging Solutions for Major Motorcycle Manufacturer
- (Success Story) Chainalytics Reduces Cost and Carbon Emissions through Packaging Optimization for Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturer
