Packaging as Unitization

The physical distribution process involves storage, handling and transportation of the product dur­ing its journey from manufacturing plant to the end customer. For ease in distribution process, individual products are grouped together in quantities to form a package which can be conveniently moved in the distribution system. This process of grouping large number of products in convenient packs is called unitization.

For consumer goods, unitization commonly proceeds to quantities closely related to the need of the consumers and the channel members. They are put in a master carton, bin or box. How­ever, for logistical packaging the individual products (depending on size) or master cartons are further grouped together and put into the wooden crate or container for ease in transportation, storage and handling. Processed food, automotive parts and consumer items are unitized in numbers, weights and volumes depending on the purchasing needs of the customers. The unit­ization of load plays an important role in enhancing the efficiency of the logistical system. The unit load may be stored, transported and handled with mechanical equipment during its journey from place of dispatch to the place of final delivery. The most common method of unitization is the use of containers.

1. Containers

The ultimate unitization upward is being developed under the concept of containerization. The containers are devices in which individual items or master cartons are placed during transporta­tion activity. The purpose of providing the box container is to protect the products or the master cartons from damage during transportation, storage and multiple trans-shipment handling. This is the most common method of load unitization for long-distance shipments because of the following reasons:

• Excellent protection from environmental effects
• Space economies
• Substantial reduction in transit damages
• Reduction in pilferages
• Facilitate inter-modal transportation

The box containers are cubical constructions and are fabricated out of steel or aluminium sheets. There are various standard sizes of containers used in sea, rail and road transportation. However, the most common sizes in use are 40 feet or 20 feet long containers. The freight containers’ size and capacity details are discussed in Chapter 8.

2. Pallets

Another method of load unitization is stacking individual products or master cartons on the pal­lets and tightly securing them with metal straps or shrink films. Handling of pallets is done with forklift truck. Pallets packaging does not give complete protection to the product from the envi­ronmental effects.

Palletization offers tremendous advantages in transportation and handling of the goods. The pallet gives better stability to goods during transportation in terms of damage protection as com­pared to individual handling of the master cartons. It enhances the productivity of the logistical system and reduces the cost of handling. Due to the standardization of pallet sizes conforming to the international standard, loading and unloading operations have become very easy. There are two-way or four-way entry pallets, the choice of which depends on method of storage, handling and transpor­tation. The two-way pallets are handled by forklift from two sides, while four-way pallets have greater flexibility in being handled by forklift (Figures 9.2-9.6).

For unitization of load, the industry mostly standardizes the size of unit load platform called pallet or slip-sheet. Following are the standard sizes, which are internationally used for load unitization:

• 40 inch by 48 inch
• 32 inch by 40 inch
• 32 inch by 36 inch

Main advantages of palletizing are (i) lowering of handling cost by unitizing the loads, (ii) increasing the speed of material flow in the warehouse, (iii) reduction in frequency of material handling and (iv) facilitating the handling of cases by machine resulting in productivity improvement.

3. Slip-sheet

Unitization of load is also done on the slip-sheet, which lies flat on the floor. It is a disposable ship­ping platform constructed out of high-tensile laminated paper. The sheet is much thinner than the wooden pallet. It cannot be lifted with forklift. However, it requires a special lifting device known as push/pull attachment. The device is designed to grip the tabs of the slip-sheet to lift it and load on to the metal plates that support the load during transportation. Sizes of slip-sheets are similar to the pal­lets sizes as indicated earlier. However, the product characteristics, capability of handling equipment and the type of transportation equipment will be the deciding factors for unit load platform size.

Source: Sople V.V (2013), Logistics Management, Pearson Education India; Third edition.