CUBING AND WEIGHING
materialhandlingupdate
When should you cube and weigh?
There’s a lot to be said for collecting weight and
dimensional data right before an order is shipped.
But that’s just part of the story.
IN TODAY’S HIGH-VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION CENTERS,
there’s no room for guesswork. That’s particularly true
when it comes to the size and weight of products stored and
handled at the site. Having accurate weight and dimensional data can help you calculate outbound shipping costs correctly, determine your exact storage and material handling
system needs, and catch mispicked orders before they go
out the door.
But where and when should you gather cube and weight
data? Most people would say it should be done at an outbound packing station just prior to shipment. While there’s
much to be said for that approach, it’s not the only answer.
There are good arguments for cubing and weighing at other
times and places in the DC. Here are four recommendations from those in the know:
1. During a one-time inventory audit. Data on
the exact size and weight of every product you handle can
be helpful in optimizing your material handling and storage
systems and for choosing the best picking mechanism for
those products. But not all companies have that information at their fingertips, says Bob Babel of the systems integrator Forte.
“In particular, small and medium-sized companies usually don’t have good, accurate sizing information of products that move through their material handling system,”
Babel says.
If that’s the case in your operation, a size and weight audit
of active inventory might be in order. Babel notes that this
could be as simple as renting or buying a static dimensioning system and setting it up near receiving. As items arrive,
they can be placed on the dimensioning system, which will
automatically capture their height, length, width, and
weight.
Another option would be to take a static dimensioning
system and place it on a cart with a battery, says Jerry Stoll,
service market manager for Mettler-Toledo Inc., a manufacturer of cubing and weighing products. Workers can
then can simply wheel the cart around to the various storage and picking locations to capture the relevant data.
2. At receiving. A one-time inventory audit probably
won’t be sufficient for DCs whose product mix—or product packaging—changes frequently. These operations will
likely need to make cubing and weighing a routine part of
their operations.
