Dimensioning saves costs through optimisation, efficiency

As companies
increasingly tune
into the benefits
of warehouse
optimisation, dimensioning
for profit has become a key
focus for just about every
big distribution centre.
That’s the view of
Barry Baetu, MD
of mobile computer
supply company, the
Harmonic Group.
“We offer a range
of solutions in the
warehouse space,”
said Beatu. “We
originally started in 1986
with barcoding and auto
identifying – and six years
ago got into dimensioning
and weighing, primarily
marketing the Cubiscan
product.”
Essentially it measures
the length, width, height,
volume and weight of every
product in the warehouse.
“It’s become very important
for the big retail groups
and warehouses because
they need to have in their
database the details of
every unique product and
every sizing of that unique
product, the dimensions
and weights. Software will
tell them where to store
things, what resources they
need to pick, what box size
and what transportation
they need to move the
goods.”
While the bulk of the
company’s customers are
cargo owners, courier
companies are increasingly
using their kit.
“When people talk
of dimensioning
and weighing,
they talk of
Cubiscanning. It’s imported
from the US – and while
the product changes from
time to
time, there
are some
customers
who are
working with
20-year-old
systems.”
In terms
of cost, this
needs to be
measured in
cost benefits,
in Baetu’s
view.
“Some companies
using the product are
saving ten times what the
product costs every year in
optimisation and efficiency.
“And we don’t just sell
products. We rent them
and we also go in and offer
a service to clients where
we will take on with one of
our machines and a team of
people their master data.
“We go into their
warehouse, dimensioning,
weighing, checking that
the bar codes are good and
writing it to a backend
system to
update.”
Looking to
the future, the
major push for
automation
may make
economic
sense, but from
an employment
perspective,
it would be a
poor choice in
the SA context.
“There are companies
internationally that have
cut their staff by 90% by
deploying robotic fetchers and
putters. But it’s not something
we favour. What we encourage
is greater efficiency which is
what our range of products is
all about.”
Headquartered in
Johannesburg, the
company has a branch
in Cape Town and
partnerships in Cameroun
and Namibia.
INSERT & CAPTION
When people talk
of dimensioning and
weighing, they talk of
Cubiscanning.
– Barry Baetu