7 KEY CRITERIA TO CONSIDER BEFORE DIMENSIONING
So, is the introduction of automated cubing and weighing right for your palletized freight business? It might be and depends on how you answer the questions below:
- If your pricing model means that you charge by the greater of the weight or cube according to a dim-weight formula.
- If you have existing practices in place for back-charging for under-declared freight items.
- If you have a decent proportion of freight that is irregular or ugly in shape.
- If you are using barcodes to identify freight items, particularly at the item level.
- If you are an interstate carrier such that your pallet rates are of a reasonable sale value.
- If you have sufficient freight volumes. Even 150 unique items per depot of origin can be enough to justify the investment.
- If you are willing or able to change your current processes to enable automation to work effectively. This pertains to both your cross-dock operations and your IT operations.
- The Pricing Model -and the Million Dollars Left on the table.
In most cases, the charge invoiced to the shipper is usually based on a formula of 1m3 equals x-number of kilos (i.e. 250 or 333) at a particular price per kilo rate (i.e. 80 cents depending on distance), and increasingly today, more and more freight is “cubing out” or being charged by the cube and not the dead weight.
Say you charge for non-contract LTL palletized freight at 1m3 = 250kgs. And as an example, say the freight is going from Vancouver (Van) GPO to Halifax (Hal) GPO via road express.
Let’s use the example of 100 cents per chargeable kg and a crate with these dimensions:
100 x 100 x 100 cms LWH = 1.00m3 = x 250 kgs = $250 + gst at a dimensional (dim) weight of 250kgs
But what if the actual measurements were: (I’ll leave HST out of the calculations)
110 x 115 x 120 cms LWH = 1.518m3 x 250 kgs – this would equate to a dim weight of 379 kgs, and (x $1.00) the price for the same job would be $379 – a difference of + $129!
But that’s clearly a standout example (or is it?). And the actual price per kilo isn’t the point; for now, it’s more about the concept.
Here is an example that is perhaps more interesting. Take a normal palletized item of freight that the sender did not measure accurately, not taking into account overhang and or accurate height measurement. The declared dimensions are 120 x 120 x 120 cms LWH, and both the dim-weight and the dead weight are 432 kgs. (1.2m x 1.2m x 1.2m = 1.728m3 x 250kg = 432kg) The price for this job is $432.
However, the actual dimensions according to the automatic pallet cube are: 125 x 130 x 135 CMS LWH – and the dead weight is still 432 kgs. Not such an unusual variation.
But this now means that the dim weight is 548 kgs. And the price for this theoretical job is now $548 instead of $432 or a difference of +$116! It would not have been that hard for this more oversized item to float under the radar and get invoiced at its declared dimensions, either.
Clearly, not all items will deliver these types of revenue increases. But some overall net averages are predictable. Averages of anywhere from $15/pallet to 15% per invoice are not unheard of. Remember, these are averages; some will be more, others less.
Based on this, say you shift 400 items of palletized or oversize freight items or more per day. If on average, you gained an extra $10 only per measured pallet, that would equate to an extra $20,000 in revenue recovered per week. Averaged over 50 weeks per year, that would be, wait for it…one million dollars.
- Back Charging Business Rules are in place.
If you are already back charging customers amended invoice amounts for mis- or under- declarations, then introducing legal-for-trade methods that are actually approved by the Canadian NMI (Measurement Canada) should not create any new complications.
However, in my experience, when customers do introduce these new technologies, they also become more confident to send back charges because they can now prove their case beyond question:
“Mr. Customer, is this your ugly freight – excuse me, I mean, your golf cart?”
“Why, yes, it is.”
“Then, Sir, I am afraid the Automated Cubing and Weighing Machine has spoken. It has been Cubed out, and you will be charged accordingly. Have a nice day.”
Also another critical point is that introducing automation gives you precise metrics to understand better and manage customer behaviours. It gives you better, more fully informed options. There will be a range of dilemmas for many stakeholders in the business to grapple with, including sales reps who do not wish to rock the customer boat. But these are better problems to have than grappling with the uncertainties that would otherwise be present.
- “No Such Thing as Ugly Freight, Just Ugly Rates.”
I didn’t coin the term, but it’s a well-known phrase in the industry. And, if you have automated cubing and weighing in place, this former truism will no longer apply to you! Many companies shy away from ugly freight because they simply do not have best-practice procedures or technologies in place to manage the difficulties that irregular-shaped items present.
Many people also do not know that the only way that you can legally charge for the dimensional weight of an irregular-shaped item is through the use of an NMI verified instrument, each of which, presently, incorporates some type of laser scanning technology.
A ‘dimensional weight’ value is a calculated value deemed to be a weight value obtained by applying a conversion factor to the object’s volume as calculated from the measured dimensions. Canadian NMI (National Measurement Institute / aka Measurement Canada).
So, if you are willing to change how you operate to incorporate dimensioning and weighing automation, handling ugly freight might be a ticket to significantly increased revenue and profit volumes.
- Got Item Level Barcodes? Got Consignment Level Barcodes?
It is not enough to just cube an item, or just weigh it, or even to cube and weigh it. Yes, you must do these tasks, but you must also tie the dimensions to a unique identifier for the freight item – usually the barcode on the connote label.
The task of automating the whole process of dimensioning freight is made much easier if the item has a unique item-level barcode. Some companies spend years getting their customers to adopt new labelling procedures and to buy into this mutually beneficial exercise in improved custody.
But if you can get there, it will definitely help pave the way to taking full advantage of item-level automation, in particular for automated cubing and weighing.
Consignment level barcodes are okay, too; automation is still possible and highly effective, especially if there is a piece count identifier in the barcode. If you have this level of barcoding in place, it may very well be worth pursuing dimensioning and weighing automation. Talk to an expert vendor like INTERWEIGH SYSTEMS to better understand your options.
- The longer the haul, the higher the kilo rate. Sort of.
This section doesn’t require too much elaboration and should be self-evident. It does and should cost more to send a pallet from Mississauga to VANCOUVER or ALBERTA than from MISSISSAUGA to QUEBEC, although supply and demand for space on some return routes is also a pricing factor. Still, in other words, the higher the invoice value of an average pallet load, the more revenue you might be leaking from under-declared items. So, this is a great category of freight to target.
This, in turn, means that it might require lower actual pallet volumes to get a satisfactory ROI. This may apply in particular to traditional non-express carriers who travel long distances and who typically charge less per kilo than their famous-brand express counterparts.
- Have you got sufficient pallet volumes?
It might come as a surprise, but an investment in automated cubing and weighing technology can be justified on relatively low freight volumes.
Related to item 5 above, much will depend on your average cost per kilo and average pallet prices. It really is a numbers game. An average increase of even $10 per pallet on volumes of 150 items per day (i.e. 750 pallets per week) will add up to $375,000 over a 50-week year. However, are you willing and able to amend your processes to achieve these outcomes?
- Ask yourself: Are you willing to change the way you operate?
So, now that we’ve addressed the above challenges and have established that introducing automated dimensioning and weighing might be a good idea, there’s a catch. When it comes to automated cubing and weighing of pallets for revenue assurance purposes, there is no single perfect solution. Palletized cargo is by definition big and bulky, and ugly palletized freight is, well, particularly ugly. To automatically dimension or cube this type of freight, you must be prepared to accept some compromises at least.
As with all pallet cubing methods, the challenge is striking the right balance between maximizing the throughput of pallets in the depot and maximizing revenue recovery. Time waits for no man – and neither do the planes or idling B-Doubles.
Introducing new technologies or processes into a busy and time-sensitive environment will always require careful planning and patient managers and operations staff. This is a critical point. As with any type of change, there can be pushback from those persons who may be set in their ways and do not want to change.
But the payoff can be huge, and the ROI on the right new technology can be surprisingly quick. For this reason, someone with real authority in the depot and the organization may (will) need to champion the transition. If this is you, then this is your chance to be a hero. You can do it!
Essentially, at the moment, there is really only one process that can thoroughly, automatically weigh, cube, and identify palletized freight – using a driven conveyor with automatic barcode scanning, weighing, and cubing technologies integrated into an intelligent, automated, moving line. But this requires significant space, capital investment, and forward planning and although in theory highly productive, it still may not be the ideal solution for many applications.
But it may not be necessary to pursue automated cubing and weighing of every item of palletized freight in the cross-dock if you have very high volumes, say, up to or over 1,000 pallets per shift. Why? Auditing instead is why.
Auditing makes sense too.
Just as with parcel freight, it would be ideal to be able to cube and weigh every item that is transported. But the very nature of pallet material flows, truck and forklift movements, and other variables can make this a seemingly impossible task for those companies with high volumes.
But do not despair. Rather than try to dimension everything that passes through the cross-dock, many companies use automated pallet cubing more as a complete freight verification station to selectively audit customers’ freight. Here, the digital image files can come in very handy when assessing and reviewing client declaration and packing behaviours.
By isolating, each week, different key accounts each for further review, it will be possible to create a detailed record of client declarations versus the actual, legal-for-trade dimensions as determined by the cubing machine. Armed with this critical information, it will be possible to make informed decisions about how to treat these.
In other words, it may be possible to pick up your extra one million dollars through the front door by adjusting rates rather than through the back door via back charging for amended declarations.
Mark. Set. Cube!
Although there are limited suppliers in this niche technology area, some vendors can offer a variety of different, flexible solutions to accommodate unique requirements.
The Cubiscan 1200AKL comes in floor mounted, wall mounted, and ceiling mounted versions. In fact, in the future, it is very likely that systems that can dimension freight while it sits on the FORKS of a moving forklift will receive trade approval. Further to this, some systems are integrated with legal for trade forklift scales. Static and dynamic units for smaller packages are also available.
As with any new technology, talk to the experts and understand that the process of investing is also an exciting journey of challenge and discovery.
Happy cubing!
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