You already know that “cubing out” or “cube utilization” refers to optimizing the amount of space to ship or store products in order to reduce freight costs. However, organizing products the right way is only a small piece of the puzzle. Cube utilization starts with packaging design, both inside and outside the package. Here are three things you can do if you want to achieve 100 percent cube utilization!
1. Make Intentional Decisions About Your Packaging
Empty spaces between packages is a freight bill disaster and the antithesis of efficiency. This is especially true with certain pallets and crates. To maximize efficiency, consult a packaging design firm. They can help you manage variables like packaging size, compression strength, stackability and reusability. An optimized design will help you fit more products inside of a package and more packages in trucks, sea crates, or the domed curves of air cargo containers. Packaging design firms have the advantage of testing their designs, ensuring the most efficient solutions.
2. Optimize Your Supply Chain
Packaging should be more than a container, it should be an entire packaging system. Ensuring that your packaging system is efficient throughout the supply chain will influence your ability to effectively “cube out” your packages. When you consult with your packaging firm, they should perform a plant audit and develop packaging that improves your entire flow.
3. Consider Sustainable Packaging
When reusable packaging makes financial sense, you should implement it. Sustainable packaging will naturally add efficiency to your supply chain. Less material in your packaging means reduced expenses, fewer disposal processes and increased cube utilization. The proper amount of cushioning inside the packaging will also minimize the internal materials needed and dunnage waste. Using fewer resources, reducing waste and making packaging lighter is win for everyone.
There are many cumulative benefits to optimizing your packaging. The positive ripple effects will flow throughout your supply chain, your unloading and loading processes and, of course, cube utilization. Packaging tactics move your entire system, so it is crucial you are making the right decision when it comes to design.
We have extensive experience designing packaging that meets our clients’ unique needs and transforms their supply chain. If you’d like to partner with us to optimize your supply chain through packaging design, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help you improve your bottom line!
