Packing should involve analyzing all items in an order to determine the optimal number and size of boxes for efficient shipping, but in many operations, this isn’t the case. In traditional packing, packers manually select boxes, often leading to suboptimal choices. Cartonization automates this process, reducing the risk of inefficient packing.
By minimizing empty space in boxes, cartonization makes sure goods are packed more securely, leading to safer shipments and lower packaging costs. Cartonization reduce overall shipping volume and weight, making transportation more efficient and cost-effective.
SAP EWM (Extended Warehouse Management) is SAP's software solution for optimizing and managing warehouse operations, including packing.
SAP EWM is a powerful tool for comprehensive supply chain management. However, its cartonization feature, based on a basic Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) method using liquid cubing or simple 3D cartonization solutions, does come with certain constraints.
In this article, our aim is to offer a more efficient and optimized cartonization solution – 3D cost-efficient cartonization – that easily integrates with SAP EWM systems.
Human decisions & outdated cubing systems, such as liquid cubing or simple 3D cartonization, do not always consider transport rates in their packing decision.
Liquid or 3D cartonization software aims at optimizing the best box(es) for your orders, with a high fill rate as the main objective function. However, transport rates and surcharges are not considered.
This way, you incur extra transport cost surcharges (e.g., volumetric, max. weight, max. item dimension, max. volume).
The current cartonization solutions in SAP EWM fall short in optimizing for these variables, leading to suboptimal space utilization and reduced cost savings.
Optioryx offers an alternative – 3D Cost-Efficient Cartonization software – considering 3D shapes and transport rates to pack items in boxes.
3D cost-efficient cartonization focuses on choosing the right carton sizes based on specific objectives.
The user specifies the optimization objectives which can include maximizing fill-rate, minimizing the number of boxes used, or reducing shipping costs by aligning the packaging to your carrier network. It can also involve finding a balance among all these factors.
3D cost-efficient cartonization also supports features like nesting (items within items), envelopes and sequence constraints.
Packers are only human, and it is human to not always find the optimal combination, especially when transport rate complexity comes into play.
This valuable operator time can be better utilized by giving first-time-right instructions, accompanied by 3D visualizations on how the items should be rotated and stacked.
Integrate the Optioryx stacking API into your existing order management processes and provide packers with 3D visualizations that are embeddable within external WMS and ERP systems.
Smarter packing of items in boxes, boxes on pallets, and pallets in trucks.
For our customers, 3D cost-efficient cartonization increases the fill rate by at 15 - 30% compared to manual or liquid cubing.
Such increases are extremely significant, especially given the fact that the average fill rates of e-tailers are typically somewhere between 40 - 50%.
Book a quick call to discover how it works.
Cartonization is a tool that helps select the optimal container sizes, quantities, and item arrangement to ship an order efficiently. Ask ChatGPT
Not all SAP EWM systems include cartonization, and those that do often rely on basic business rules or liquid cubing—both of which have significant limitations when it comes to delivering optimal packing results.
Packers often rely on experience or guesswork to choose box sizes, which can lead to inefficient packing, wasted space, and higher transport costs.
Operations that depend on temporary or seasonal workers face additional challenges, as significant time is spent training new staff, yet even with training, inconsistent packing decisions often persist, impacting both cost and efficiency.
It chooses packing options that not only fit but also reduce shipping costs based on carrier rates and surcharges.