Increasing complexity: the latest trends in load carrier management
How many load carriers of what type are where? Who needs how many and how will they get there on time? An intelligent, decision-making load carrier management system can answer these questions and make a major contribution to a company‘s success. The pallets, boxes, crates, ULDs, containers and other load carriers can then be deployed where needed, cost effectively so that all those involved in the container cycle benefit – in spite of increasing complexity.
■ by Thomas Bergmans, Dr. Sonja Bausch and Katja Krämer, INFORM GmbH, Germany
Everyday more and more goods need to be transported to their destination faster than ever. Most of them are transported in or on a load carrier via ever more complex supply chains with ever more parties involved in the process. And the load carrier? As a reusable container it might loop the cycle a few more times, providing its owner does not suffer its loss or momentary “misplacement”.
That can happen anywhere along the way. The cycle in Figure 1 is vastly simplified and shows the goods producer, the goods recipient and container preparation. The latter includes cleaning, maintenance and possibly keeping load carriers in stock.
Fig. 1: simplified container cycle
Efficient and profitable management of the cycle depends on rapid and appropriate decisions. The key information required to do this is often missing, though the amount of data available keeps increasing. Conventional methods are often just overstretched by this „big data“. But it would be enormously helpful if one had access to meaningful reports and KPIs – preferably just when they are needed.
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