Shipping companies are very aware of the challenges associated with packing.
A challenge with a significant business impact is choosing the ideal box type for an order consisting of multiple items of varying sizes and weights while minimizing the amount of air transported or stored. This, in the warehousing and logistics industry, is the well-known 3D bin packing problem.
While many warehouses still operate using traditional principles, such as manual picking and packing, we believe that 3D bin packing solutions can significantly complement and improve the warehouse operational workflow.
With the continuous increase in cardboard and transportation costs the implementation of AI-powered 3D packing solutions has become more relevant, topical, and logical for warehouse processes.
In this article, we’ll talk about 3D bin packing solutions in the form of software, and some of the ways 3D bin packing software can optimize warehousing processes by combining it with warehouse management systems and API.
Benefits of 3D bin packing solutions
1. Delivery splitting
One of the ways in which 3D bin packing software optimizes warehouse processes is in shipping cost reduction by outbound delivery splitting, where an order has to be split into multiple containers (boxes, pallets, trucks, shipping containers) due to the size of the order and available loading meters or difference in shipping points, routes, delivery priority or delivery dates. 3D bin packing solution comes into play to find the optimal container size of the goods, while considering freight rates and surcharges.
When the solution is applied the system reduces the delivery quantity in the original delivery and splits the delivery distribution into new ones. This process is usually inefficiently addressed through manual means, but with an AI-powered solution, this process is faster and more cost-efficient.
2. Box assortment optimization
A second warehouse process improvement by 3D bin packing software is box assortment optimization - evaluating the most used box types and providing information on box types that fit your order profile. Box assortment optimization leads to a significant increase in fill-rates (for boxes, pallets, and trucks, considering the truck load building principles).
Cardboard buyers in the company have the incentive to decrease the number of box types (higher demand per box type), which leads them to higher volume discounts, and a cheaper overall cardboard spend.
3. Capacity planning
3D bin packing also brings improvements to capacity planning - forecasting the amount of space needed in a warehouse for certain items or orders, or forecasting the transportation capacity n days in advance. This decreases last-minute bookings, and costs for booking the right vehicle types (by size and weight capacity), and reduces overall transportation costs.
Managing truck load building just in time is also a capacity planning-related matter – where last-minute order priority can change and suppliers must change the delivery plan, thus changing the truck capacity plan.
4. Assistance during loading
Another benefit of AI-powered 3D packing solutions is assistance during loading operations with planning algorithms.
With 3D packing software, you can plan delivery routes while you determine which trucks to fill and how, since the software provides 3D visualizations to ensure the optimal fill-rate while taking into account the loading sequence - the first order loaded in the truck or should be the last one off the truck.
This means that you can be confident that you're always getting the most efficient routes, with the minimum amount of operational overhead. This solution can also be implemented with 3D load planning visualizations, where you are able to see how the truck load looks in real-time as well as the type of cargo you have loaded.
However, an important factor in fully utilizing these 3D bin packing solutions is to have quality master data for inventory dimensions (length, width, height) and weight.
Master Data management helps you to maintain data consistency in your warehouse, so you can easily access and efficiently analyze data on your goods within seconds.
Conclusions
While many AI-powered solutions might sound like the future, it is not.
Due to the increasing transportation, carton costs, and sustainability goals that must be met, AI-powered solutions are the present and a necessity in today’s warehousing and logistics industry.
Adopting these solutions will save you saved time, and money, and overall increase warehouse operational efficiency.
If you’re a business looking to expand or optimize your ways of operations, implementing an AI-powered 3D packing solution can show how significant of a business impact it can bring.