Dimensioning systems may be best known for their use in shipping operations, but they can boost performance in a variety of other areas as well.
As anyone who's ever had to gather weight and dimensional data on a pile of packages can attest, dimensioning systems can take a lot of the pain out of the process. Instead of wrestling with rulers or tape measures, all the user has to do is place an item or carton onto a cubing device and the rest happens automatically.
"You can never come close to that with a tape measure," says Randy Neilson, President of Cubiscan, which markets a wide line of dimensioning and cubing systems. "Cubing systems can improve your overall accuracy and consistency."
1. Facility design. When a company starts planning for a new facility, one of the first things the designer will want is a rundown on the products that will be stored there: How large are they? How much do they weigh? Will they be stored individually or on pallets? The answers will dictate everything from the design of the facility's picking and packing areas to the type of storage that will be used in the facility.
2. Storage. Good dimensional data can help distribution centers make the most of their storage space. Once stock-keeping units (SKUs) have been weighed and measured, their profiles can be uploaded to a warehouse management system (WMS) for use determining the optimal storage location for each item. Not only does that help optimize storage space, but it also ensures that the SKUs will actually fit in their assigned spaces.
3. Slotting. Once the SKUs' dimensions have been captured, they're imported into special slotting software (typically from a WMS), which uses that information—in conjunction with data on order characteristics like pick frequency—to determine how to arrange products within the pick zones to optimize order fulfillment.
4. Picking. All too often, pickers are left to make best guesses as to what size carton they should use. That can prove to be very costly. If the box is too big, the company ends up paying to ship air. If the box is too small, the packer has to remove the items and repack them, which can slow throughput. Dimensional data can help ensure the right size carton is used.
5. Verification. Once a SKU's weight has been captured and uploaded to the WMS, the information can be used to verify picking. As each order is received, the WMS calculates how much it should weigh, based on the weight of the carton itself plus each of the items it contains. Automated verification can cut down on the need for manual order inspections, resulting in substantial savings in time and labor.
6. Pallet building. Dimensional data can be quite useful when it comes to building stable pallets. Once the data has been entered into the WMS, the system can use it to determine how items should be stacked on the pallet (typically with larger and heavier items on the bottom) to ensure load stability.
7. Load building. Not only can dimensional and weight data help with building pallets, it can help with building loads for trailers and other conveyances. Whether an operation is shipping full pallets, cases, irregularly shaped products, or a mix of all of the above, it can feed the data into shipping, warehousing, or load building software, which then determines how to load the truck to make the best use of space while staying within weight limits.
8. Shipping. The advent of "dimensional weight" or "dim weight" billing has changed the economics 
of parcel shipping, but good dimensional data can help shippers avoid costly mistakes. Under the carriers' dim weight rules, a shipper tendering a large, low-density package must determine both the package's actual weight and its dimensional weight (which takes into account the package's length, width, and height). If the dimensional weight exceeds the actual weight, the dimensional weight becomes the basis for the freight charge. By gathering precise dimensional data on packages, shippers can ensure they're rating their parcels correctly and avoid chargebacks by carriers.
But it's not just about avoiding chargebacks. Good dimensional data also allows shippers to estimate carrier charges for rate shopping purposes.
9. Customer service. Good service includes providing customers with good data. By passing along dimensional data on your products, you give customers the opportunity to use that information to streamline their own operations. Plus, if you charge for shipping, you can boost your credibility with customers by including the relevant dimensional and weight data on invoices. That way, they can be assured they're being charged appropriately for freight.
Contributed by: David Maloney, Sr Editor, DC Velocity, Publication of Agile Business Media, LLC
