Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/860755
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • July-August 2017 31 MARKETS he Nation's 122.5 million households and 7.5 million businesses rely on the efficient movement of freight. In fact, a typical American relies on the movement of 57 tons of cargo per year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Freight Advisory Committee. The scale of the system that moves our stuff is staggering, yet we seldom think about what goes into transporting the things we consume, use and enjoy. Transportation and logistics professionals think about it a lot. The issues of how to store, move and deliver goods faster, safer, more efficiently are crucial to our country's economic growth and well-being. Using less to move more: This trend has permeated the entire industry, from the huge, sophisticated maritime shipping facilities that are converting equipment from diesel to electric, and installing cranes that generate 30 percent of their own power from gravity; to retail stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution and fulfillment companies that use automated GPS tracking and remote control safety systems, robotic loading and fuel-efficient vehicles to transport goods for capillary distribution; to individual mom-and-pop firms that look for ways to shave pennies off at the margin to save on the cost of packaging, transporting and delivering their goods. "The importance of packaging and shipping is often the least appreciated part of running a business," said Grady Fahrendholz, coating and shipping supervisor at Anova Furnishings. "Even when your products are large, bulky and fragile, the work of readying them for transport and actually getting them to the customer is pretty much a low priority in most shops since these actions typically are not considered part of the manufacturing process." "I think in the past, not much energy was put into packaging because it's a relatively small part of the overall process and cost," said Christopher O'Hara, a CAD designer at Anova. "Even though we have a large product mix and are running something different every day, it's a matter of day-to-day problem solving. You start with a rectangular box and make X and Y cuts. "Crates, pallets and forklifts are a key part of the operation because they are the industry standard. That's how you get things done." But things are changing. Industry analysts note the growing use of data analytics to assess past performance, prescriptive analytics to improve current performance, and predictive analytics, where data is used to determine what things will look like tomorrow. And there are certainly areas of the transshipment and delivery industry that could benefit from analysis and improvement. "Lots of things can go wrong. Problems most often occur in transshipment when crates are switched to a different carrier causing them to be handled six, seven, eight times. A box may be too light or items may be too loosely packaged. There may be too much air space within, too many unprotected, heavy parts. Issues can occur with the banding if bands don't hold or lose contact with the box," said Jason Fann, Anova's shipping lead. "There are solutions such as customized boxes and pallets and also stretch wrappers and bags that inflate around a box's contents to prevent shifting or sliding. But I can envision a future where advanced technologies such as 3-D printing or additive manufacturing might be used to kick out a part quickly or to build the perfect box. You could construct layers of materials that conform to the exact shape of the item being transported and create packaging that is customized to fully encapsulate parts or a piece of furniture," he said. At present, these ideas are constrained by cost, time and the state of the technology. "The technology is not quite there yet," said Fahrendholz. "At this time, it's hard to beat the cost of wooden pallets, plus they are convenient and widely available. But that's not to say things won't change in the future." T Emerging Technologies Will Play a Big Role in Transporting our Stuff By Leah Wheeler