By Chandru Palaniyandi, Enterprise Analyst, Lucas Techniques
In in the present day’s hyper-competitive provide chain surroundings, delivery prices are rising quick—they usually’re hitting backside strains onerous. In keeping with a 2024 report by Statista, the worldwide delivery and logistics market has surpassed $11 trillion, with transportation prices making up greater than half of complete logistics bills. With freight and parcel carriers implementing dimensional weight (DIM) pricing and tacking on surcharges for inefficiencies, each inch and ounce now carries a value.
The excellent news? Software program-driven optimisation instruments can dramatically lower delivery bills with out compromising pace or service ranges. Listed here are three high-impact methods to optimise your delivery operations and obtain measurable financial savings:
- Pack Smarter with Cartonisation Engines
Some of the efficient instruments for decreasing delivery spend is cartonisation. A cartonisation engine analyses order contents and determines essentially the most environment friendly option to pack objects into cartons.
By maximising use of obtainable area, you may cut back the variety of cartons wanted, keep away from outsized packaging, and enhance total freight dice utilisation. Which means fewer shipments, decrease DIM fees, and diminished waste.
Relying on the complexity of your order profiles and delivery zones, cartonisation can lower freight prices by 10% to 25%.
- Remove the Price of “Delivery Air”
Each half-filled field a warehouse sends out is cash wasted. When scaled throughout 1000’s of weekly shipments, the price of delivery void area provides up quick.
Fashionable delivery software program can consider product dimensions, fragility, and compatibility to remove pointless voids—whereas nonetheless defending objects. Lowering filler use and minimising empty area results in higher trailer utilisation by as a lot as 20%, enabling extra deliveries per route and decreasing your per-package price.
Overpacking and extreme filler supplies not solely enhance freight spend, but in addition contribute to environmental waste, one thing clients are more and more attuned to.
- Standardise Carton Sizes with Software program Help
Whereas it could appear counterintuitive, standardising carton sizes—when paired with sensible software program—can truly enhance effectivity. Warehouse and transportation administration programs can analyse order information and SKU profiles to establish the optimum set of field sizes in your operation.
With fewer field sorts, packing turns into easier, quicker, and simpler to coach. Pallet stacking and trailer loading change into extra predictable and uniform, enhancing throughput.
In keeping with the Packaging Equipment Producers Institute (PMMI), utilizing software program to standardise and automate field choice can cut back packaging prices by 12% to 18%.
Past the operational advantages, standardised cartons make it simpler to plan and optimise throughout your complete achievement course of. Fashionable cartonisation engines account for product measurement, weight, stacking guidelines, and delivery constraints to establish one of the best packaging for every order—earlier than selecting even begins.
When built-in along with your WMS or WES throughout wave planning, cartonisation selections allow:
- Optimised decide paths – Realizing carton sizes upfront permits higher grouping and order sequencing.
- Improved labour effectivity – Employees decide straight into the proper carton, decreasing packing time.
- Decrease delivery prices – Pre-optimised cartons minimise oversizing and keep away from DIM surcharges.
- Tighter trailer loading – Correct sizing results in denser, extra environment friendly shipments.
Making It Work: Integrating Cartonisation with Your WMS or WES
With mounting strain to satisfy quicker and cheaper, main operations are shifting carton selections upstream—into wave planning. This shift, enabled by integrating cartonisation software program with Warehouse Administration or Execution Techniques, unlocks new ranges of effectivity.
Historically, carton choice occurs late—at packing stations—limiting your potential to optimise earlier levels like selecting and slotting. By making packaging selections part of wave planning, your operation can drive smarter workflows all through the achievement cycle.
That is greater than only a technical improve, it’s a strategic shift. One Lucas Techniques buyer, Medusa, carried out cartonisation alongside Lucas’ Dynamic Work Optimisation answer and their WMS. The end result: optimised packing and delivery, diminished employee journey time, boosted throughput, and important price financial savings.
As delivery prices proceed to rise and buyer expectations for quick, environment friendly, and sustainable achievement develop, built-in cartonisation is changing into important to sensible logistics.
