Packing and Shipping
A picked order is not yet ready to ship. Consolidation, packing and staging in front of the dock are a bottleneck most warehouses never see.
- Consolidation
- Packing
- Labelling
- Dock staging area
- Loading sequence
The bottleneck nobody sees
In this step the picked items are brought together order by order, packed, labelled and lined up in front of the dock in loading sequence. It looks like a short step, but as the dispatch time approaches the whole day’s work collects here.
The problem is usually not packing speed but space and sequence. If there is not enough room in front of the dock, or if the pallets are not lined up in loading sequence, lost time and mistakes during loading are unavoidable.
- Consolidation: Bringing together, order by order, the items picked from different aisles.
- Loading sequence: Lining pallets up in the order they go into the vehicle.
- Dock staging area: Enough space for the pallets waiting at the same time at the dispatch hour.
What happens before dispatch
Problems in this step go unnoticed during the day and surface all at once at the dispatch hour.
- There is not enough space in front of the dock and pallets spill into the aisles.
- Pallets are not lined up in loading sequence, so time is lost while the vehicle is loaded.
- Items get mixed up during consolidation and the wrong order is dispatched.
- Goods are moved between the packing station and the dock by hand.
- At the dispatch hour truck and pedestrian traffic concentrate in the same tight area.
- The dock staging area is resized for the number of pallets waiting there at the same time.
- The layout is planned by loading sequence, so no sorting is done at the dispatch hour.
- The consolidation area is divided order by order, so items cannot physically get mixed.
- A powered pallet truck or a tugger train is proposed for the move between station and dock.
- Pedestrian safety and speed limiting solutions are assessed for the congested area.
Taking the pressure off the dispatch hour
In this step the answer is usually space and sequence rather than a truck, and we build the proposal accordingly.
Peak Measurement
The number of pallets waiting at the same time at the dispatch hour and the use of space are measured.
Space and Sequence Plan
The consolidation area and the dock staging area are rearranged by loading sequence.
Handling Solution
A suitable truck type is determined for the move between station and dock.
Commissioning
The new layout is put into use and the build-up at the dispatch hour is measured again.
Truck families used in this step
Light, quick trucks come to the fore for short, frequently repeated moves.
What organised dispatch preparation delivers
The gain shows most clearly in a smaller build-up at the dispatch hour.
Loading Time
Pallets lined up in sequence shorten the loading time of a vehicle noticeably.
Dispatch Errors
A physically separated consolidation area reduces the number of wrong orders sent out.
Aisle Traffic
Keeping the dock area from overflowing eases the general flow inside the warehouse.
Without Investment
A large part of the gain in this step comes from arranging space and sequence.
Frequently asked questions about packing and shipping
Our dock staging area is simply too small. What can we do?
We start by measuring how many pallets wait there at the same time. In most cases the space is not actually too small; the pallets are prepared earlier than necessary and therefore wait longer than necessary. Planning preparation times around the dispatch hour is on its own a considerable relief.
Do we need to buy a separate truck for this step?
Usually not. It can be handled with the existing pallet trucks and a change of space and sequence. A separate truck normally only comes up when the distance between the packing station and the dock is long.
Is a double stacker useful here?
It is. Because it carries two pallets at once, it can halve the number of runs on shuttle moves between station and dock. Where the distance is long and the pallet count high it makes a clear difference.
How do we make the traffic at the dispatch hour safe?
The area in front of the dock is the busiest mix of pedestrians and trucks in the day. There we assess speed limiting, pedestrian detection and zone safety solutions together.
Let us clear the build-up at your dispatch hour together
- Measurement of the pallets waiting at the same time and of the space available
- Layout plan for consolidation and dock staging
- A sequence built around the loading order
- Where needed, a proposal for a handling truck
As an authorised STILL Arser dealer and service partner we run the whole process in one place: site analysis, installation, operator training and after-sales support.