Advanced packaging management for products

Dawid Kaczmarek Updated by Dawid Kaczmarek

Advanced packaging calculation introduces the possibility of creating more complex shipping packaging settings, as well as a new form "Packaging simulation", to simulate packaging calculations.

The feature is enabled separately on each item packaging setup where it can be activated for one or more packaging groups being used for the item or a groping of items using the Packaging item groups.

Concepts and fields:

On the item packaging setup header:

  1. "Use advanced packaging calculation" - activates the setup and calculation using advanced features
  2. "Mixing priority" - A number indicating the calculation priority

Controls the sequence of packaging calculation (when using for more than 1 item in the calculation). Higher priorities are calculated first.

Our simulations have shown that when items are stacked it is often more efficient to pack the tallest items first, as you can place smaller items on to left over space on a tall shelf, but not the other way around.

Figure 13: Packaging group setup

On the item packaging setup lines:

  1. A new content type "Assembly material" enables adding several e.g., corner posts and/or sidewalls/fronts to a content type ‘Packaging’.
  2. A new content type "For calculation only" enables adding a "virtual" packaging, solely for the purpose of calculation. An example could be a virtual "layer" in scenarios where layers of boxes are stacked on a pallet or in a crate.
  3. A new field "Mix height" - In a stacking scenario this fields controls whether mixing can be only with items of the same height or with different heights
  4. A new field "Packaging utilization %" - In a stacking scenario this field is used to describe how much of the maximum height of the packaging (content type Packaging) is used when the content is loaded, for one item it may be possible to use up 100 % of the available space, for another it may be less.
  5. A new field "Substitute packaging for content" - sometimes parts of a packaging are used to substitute the packaging/content going in.

An example could be a trolley floor being used as a shelf, in which case 1 of the shelves in the setup will be substituted with the trolley floor.

The number entered defines how many of the ingoing packaging should be substituted.

"Classic" and Advanced setups can be contained and calculated within the same sales/purch order. They are however calculated in separate processes and cannot therefore be mixed.

Please also note that this functionality only changes the way packaging quantities are calculated for the journals/UI. All posting and intercompany functionality is unchanged.

Base setup

The default values for each packaging Id to be used, can be setup to support the packaging type “For calculation only” used by the Advanced packaging calculation. This type (like Disposable) doesn’t require an item number and is not printed or part of any journals.

The checkbox field " Mixed content " controls whether the packaging type allows to hold more than one item number when calculating the quantity of packaging needed for a sales/purchase order. If marked YES, the quantity for two order lines, one needing 1/4 space and one needing 1/2 space will be calculated as '1' in total. If unmarked, each line will be calculated to 1 resulting in 2 in total – This applies for the ‘Classic’ setup. If a packaging type is marked YES in ‘Mixed content’ when using the advanced calculation setup a few rules need to be upheld, when allowing mix for a packing type for the calculation to allow mixing items/content:

The packaging ID’s must be the same in the 2 setups

The assembly materials used on the content type Packaging must be the same

Example: You have a trolley with some shelves and a base that is used as a shelf as well. Item A is setup to fit 10 ea on a shelf and 8 shelves on a trolley (where 1 of them is the base of the trolleyà 7 + 1)

Item B is setup to fit 8 ea on a shelf and 4 shelves on a trolley (where 1 of them is the base of the trolleyà 3 + 1)

If the ‘Mix content’ is set to YES and the shelves are the same packaging type setup to use the same assembly materials, items A and B can fill up the trolleys equally (still based on how many fit on a shelf) and the calculated number of trolleys will be based on filling up in the prioritized sequence and as many as possibly to get as close as possible to 100% utilization of the trolleys space. Another prerequisite is also that the packaging type that holds the items directly e.g., a shelf allows items of variable heights i.e., that a lower item can be placed on a shelf normally used for taller items.

If the ‘Mix content’ is set to YES and the shelves are 2 different packaging types (even if visually the same) or the assembly materials attached to the packaging type are different packaging types, we cannot assume that the 2 packaging types are interchangeable and a new trolley will be started.

Figure 14: Packaging types

Concept of packaging setup using a trolley

Embedded Image
ItemNamePackaging
FP40Flower in pot, 40 cm12 pots on one shelf. 4 layers on one trolley use 100% space (160 cm)
FP60Flower in pot, 60 cm12 pots on one shelf. 2 layers on one trolley use 75% space (120 cm)
FP80Flower in pot, 80 cm12 pots on one shelf. 2 layers on one trolley use 100% space (160 cm)
ShelveCShelves type CCan hold flower and be mounted on a trolley mounted with walls
TrolleyTrolleyCan be mounted with up to 4 walls, 2 wide and 2 narrow.
Narrow wallNarrow wall 160 cmUp to 2 walls can fit for 1 trolley. In the below example 2 are used.
Wide wallWide wall 160 cmUp to 2 walls can fit for 1 trolley. In the below example only 1 is used.
Packaging setup for 40 cm flowerpot

Packaging setup for 40 cm flowerpot

When packing 40 cm flowers on a 160 cm trolley with walls, 4 shelves of flower (each holding 12 flowers) will fill up the trolley 100%. When the trolley are filled up it holds 48 flowerpots and require 2 narrow walls, one wide wall and 3 shelves. The trolleys base is also being used as shelf, therefore the calculation for shelves is setup to deduct 1 shelf.

Packaging setup for 60 cm flowerpot

Packaging setup for 60 cm flowerpot

When packing 60 cm flowers on to a 160 cm trolley with walls, 2 shelves of flower will fill up the trolley 75%. When the trolley is filled up it holds 24 flowerpots and require 2 narrow walls, one wide wall and 1 shelve. The trolley itself is also being used as a shelf, therefore the calculation for shelves is setup to deduct 1 shelf.

Packaging setup for 80 cm flowerpot

Packaging setup for 80 cm flowerpot

When packing 80 cm flowers on a 160 cm trolley with walls, 2 shelves of flower (12 on each shelf) will fill up the trolley 100%. When the trolley is filled up it holds 24 flowerpots and require 2 narrow walls, one wide wall and 1 shelf as the trolleys base is being used as a shelf, therefore the calculation for shelves is setup to deduct 1 shelf.

Concept of packaging setup stacking principle

Another scenario could be stacking boxes/crates of same or variable sizes on e.g., a pallet. For this scenario we have added the new packing type ‘For calculation only’. When you are setting up packaging for at product/grouping of products you must start from the ‘inside-out’ meaning: First put the items in the immediate ‘container’ ((content type Items) then place the container on/in the next container/layer and so forth. The new feature enables you to create a packing type that doesn’t requires an item number as it is merely used as a ‘virtual layer’ in the calculation:

An example: We have 3 boxes of different sizes: green, blue, or purple ones that all can be shipped on a pallet, either all the same type or mixed on a pallet as seen below: If you are NOT mixing the boxes on a pallet the figures are:
ItemNamePackaging
FP-GreenFinished product, Green2 FP-Green in one Box green 15 Box green on one calculation (virtual) layer. 4 layers on one pallet use 100% of the space
FP-PurpleFinished product, Purple2 FP-Purple in one Box purple 20 Box purple on one calculation (virtual) layer. 5 layers on one pallet use 100% of the space
FP-BlueFinished product, Blue2 FP-Blue in one Box blue 10 Box purple on one calculation (virtual) layer. 4 layers on one pallet use 100% of the space

To setup this example:

The BoxBlue contains 2 ea of the product (FP-BLUE)

There are 10 blue boxes put on a (virtual) layer (LayerDef containing BoxBlue – Only used for calculation)

And there are 4 layers on the pallet (EUR containing LayerDef) – Packaging utilization 100 %, the pallet and layerDef allowing mixed content

IF we simulate 40 ea, this will result in a usage of 50% on the pallet à In 2 layers, showing each of the 10 blue boxes holding 2 of the FP blue product: Embedded Image

Packaging simulation

This form can be found at: Inventory management / Shipping packaging management / Packaging simulation or from the packaging setup form on each product.

Here the setup of the packaging logic can be simulated for the combination of a packaging group ID and the Item numbers to be handled.

When data has been entered, the simulation can be activated by the menu “Calculate packaging”. The results are shown in different sections of the calculation. The following sections are shown and calculated for the combination of data added:

Item packaging setup – Shown for each item selected above

Packaging calculation - Calculation of expected packaging and quantity, summarized for all items

Packaging specification tree – Breakdown of packaging in components

Packaging specification data – Detailed data used by the calculation

The simulation below is done for the data described in the previous section regarding setup of 40, 60 and 80 cm flowerpots on a trolley with sidewalls.

The setup does allow mixing different flowers on the same trolley because the shelves and assembly materials used are the same on all 3 products:

The packing specification tree can be expanded and reduced for each packaging and will show how many of the items (flowers) that are calculated to each packaging and how much assembly material that is used.

For a deeper understanding of what is packed in what, the calculated output is available in details in the section “Packaging specification data”. Each item number and packaging ID in the calculation is shown with information of reference.

The packaging simulation are using the same calculation logic as when creating sales or purchase order lines. Input to the calculation can be changed and by using the available menus, the calculation can be removed and re-calculated if needed.

Doing a new calculation for other quantities (36 pcs FP80, 36 pcs FP60, 60 pcs FP80) will show how the calculation will be done when mixing different items on same trolley as shown in the picture below.

The packaging setup with the highest priority will be calculated first, in this case that will be the 80cm flower. Then the 60cm will be calculated and the 40 cm will be calculated as the last packaging. As all products has been setup with packaging that does allow mix on the same trolley, the calculation will mix FP80 and FP60 if needed and FP60 and FP40 if needed, trying to leave as little as possible of free space on the trolleys.

This will require the packaging to be setup to allow mixing AND that the products are setup using the same packaging.

This will require the packaging to be setup to allow mixing AND that the products are setup using the same packaging.

How did we do?

Shipping Packaging framework

Packaging management for carriers

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