Cut costs with a systems-based approach to unit load design

Asystems-based approach to unit load design can save between 8% and 18% in avoidable costs, according to Dr Marshall White, a professor emeritus at Virginia Tech. He notes that pallets, packaging materials, materials handling systems and transportation equipment don’t exist in a vacuum. The design of each of those components affects the performance of the others as a palletised load moves through the supply chain from a factory to a distribution centre and on to the end customer for that load. “Most companies take a componentbased approach to design with three different communities involved. One is responsible for the packaging, another is responsible for the pallet and a third is responsible for the warehouse design and the unit load handling equipment. Each of those groups is under pressure to reduce its costs, and they do that without communicating with the other design community,” White says. He explains that the team designing the conveyor system for a new warehouse may increase the spacing between rollers to save on the cost of the system. While their numbers look good, the pallet now needs to be built from more expensive deck boards to carry the weight of the load across a wider span without buckling. In the long run it may make more economic sense for the enterprise to install a more expensive conveyor and save big on pallets, stretch wrap and cartons. “As long as conveyors, pallets, stretch wrap and cartons are designed and purchased by different teams with different bonus incentives, it’s hard to get that message across. Until we change the business model so that these communities have an incentive to work together, it’s very difficult to do because everyone operates in their own very competitive environment. “The owner of the supply chain must provide that forum and give instruction for those communities to work together,” White emphasises.