It’s estimated up to 20 per cent of freight items passing through shipping operations are not accurately cubed for dimensional weight. This is a missed opportunity that could be eroding your shipping income.
Fortunately, new mobile systems that streamline and automate dimensional cubing are transforming the services and revenues of forward-thinking logistics providers.
As the demand for e-commerce products and fast last-mile delivery intensifies, a portable and ‘legal for trade’ cubing solution could complement your freight operations and deliver a rapid return on investment.
UNDECLARED OR MISSED ENTIRELY
Logistics operations of all sizes are under increasing pressure to deliver more freight at speed. It’s conceivable that 5 to 20 per cent of freight moving through your operation won’t be accurately measured or weighed. Even enterprises with large scale, fixed dimensioning systems have shipments of non-standard shapes and sizes that get missed.
Vice President of Product Marketing at Logistyx Technologies, Paula Heikell, spoke to Modern Materials Handling magazine, “Previously there were a lot of table-based dimensioning products that were fixed in one location. Items had to be brought over and carefully lined up for the measurement to be accurate. With the way e-commerce is impacting retail sales, we have a lot (of) customers who are growing quickly and want a mobile system that they can use wherever they need it.”
Small delivery businesses lacking a dimensional cubing solution and relying on shipper-declared measurements are unable to detect if parcel and pallet measurements are wrong. Larger organisations without a portable solution to supplement their fixed dimensioning systems risk losing revenue on non-cubed freight by undercharging shipping fees.
FLEXIBLE DIMENSIONING
Hand-held dimensioning solutions purpose–built for enterprise environments offer a flexible way to determine the correct dim weight of freight items. Mobile cubing tools, such as Leopard Cube, allow workers to traverse the operations floor with ease; quickly and intuitively cube and process packages, of any shape or size, where they’re located. Barcode scanning technology instantly validates consignments and syncs (in real-time with management systems.
SCALABLE CUBING
A portable dimensional cubing solution that can scale with changing freight volumes, and be rolled out across multiple sites within your organisation, will help improve ROI outcomes. In practical terms, a mobile cubing tool that is fully functional and scalable would be: 1) easy to swap between multiple workers and locations; 2) easy and affordable to replace, if broken, to minimise downtime; and 3) easy to use, thus keeping staff training to a minimum and creating revenue quickly. Ideally, a cubing solution that offers scalable pricing, such as a ‘pay per scan’ model, provides greater flexibility on how much freight you measure, allowing you to scan more or fewer items as you require.
SAFE HANDLING
A mobile freight-cubing device, with a comfortable ergonomic design, reduces worker fatigue. This enables safer and higher levels of performance and enhanced productivity, while restricting the need to physically move freight, thus reducing the risk of accidents. Mal Walker, manager of the Logistics Bureau’s warehousing and distribution centre design practice, says, “More touches, more costs”. He suggests to, “keep manual handling of products to a minimum — ideally no more than 3-5 touches while goods are in the warehouse.”
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
A dimensioning system achieves a strong ROI when it facilitates both cost savings and revenue gains.
For cost savings, it’s crucial to implement a dimensioning system with low operational expenses, including scalable consumption costs, efficient energy use, low maintenance and servicing costs, and low training costs. The running costs for mechanical equipment like large conveyors, overhead scanners and forklifts would be higher than for a small fleet of hand-held cubing devices.
Regarding revenue gains, capturing the cubic volume of freight items that wouldn’t get measured at all, offers a significant opportunity to increase new revenue. Furthermore, correcting wrongly-sized items from shippers allows incorrect shipping invoices to be rectified.
A portable cubing solution that provides flexibility, scalability and safety, while achieving accurate and valuable freight dimensioning, could add new revenue and greater efficiencies to your logistics operation. By measuring all types of freight in varied operational settings, a mobile cubing system offers to deliver a solid ROI.
LEOPARD CUBE
Our portable dimensioning solution, Leopard Cube, offers a cost-effective alternative or add-on tool to fixed scanning solutions. Leopard Cube combines the latest rugged mobile computers with a low-cost, yet durable, measuring tape tool that is certified legal for trade. Leopard Cube allows your workers to quickly and accurately calculate the correct dimensional weights of pallets and parcels; improving shipping operations and reducing revenue leakage.
Learn about Leopard Cube here or contact us for more information.
