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UPN Optimum Boxes Table

You will use this table to identify those box types for which a material number fits optimally. This means that there are shipping containers (box types) available that exactly fit a specified quantity of a UPN. Again, this table is used during the dimensioning process and allows us to determine if there is an Optimum Box that will provide us an exact fit for a line item for a Delivery. This analysis is performed during the read-in process.

For example, WaveTrak calls for a Delivery from SAP. On that Delivery, is a material number M001468050 with a requirement quantity of 15. The read-in process will perform an instant analysis on the material number, initially determining if there is an Optimum Box defined for this material number, (There is, as you can see in the image above, Box Type 1) and then analyzing the defined box quantity field to determine the quantity that will exactly fit the defined Optimum Box type (Box Type 1).

In this example, the total required quantity, as explained above, for the material number is 15. The program would create three shipping cartons/cases---all for Box Type 1, each with a quantity of 4, which should fill the cube of Box Type 1, as per this Optimum Box Table.

The balance of the quantity required (3) would then fall into the standard dimensioning process and would be dimensioned into the best possible box type, which may or may not be this Optimum Box (Box Type 1).

This process allows us not only to provide maximum cube utilization (minimum air space), but also allows us to perform the dimensioning task more efficiently.

Material Number: The material number you enter has to be a SAP valid Material Number. This is the Material Number you want to define as having an “Optimized Box.”

Box ID: This is the Box Type or Box I.D. you would enter to define the Optimized Box for the Material Number entered above. This is the Box Type you have determined that a quantity of the above Material Number will fit “best.” As has been stated before, it does not have to fit exactly, but has been determined to be the best Box Type to use to pack a specified quantity of this Material Number.

Box Quantity – This value is the quantity of the material number that you are adding to the Optimum Box Table that will efficiently fit into the box type defined. The assumption is that a certain quantity of the material number added to the table would fit “exactly” into the Optimum Box type defined.

It is important that you recognize that we don’t need an exact fit. In fact, we don’t dimension these boxes. It is a quick and efficient way to identify the box types required to meet the stated project goal of maximizing shipping container cubic space utilization.

Own Box - This indicator is used to define material that you wish to place in its own shipping carton. This means that material that is stamped with this indicator will never be dimensioned with other material on the Delivery. It may still have an Optimum Box defined, but the balance of material remaining on the Delivery line would be dimensioned into its own box as opposed to the standard process of dimensioning it into a shipping carton with other line items.

Dimensioning Logic Overview:

Now that you have an understanding of all of the tables that reside on WaveTrak that are used for the purposes of optimizing the dimensioning of a delivery I would like to explain, at a high level, the logic path we use to determine how we determine the “best” box for each delivery and its line items/quantities.

The Dimensioning logic path is as follows:

Dimensioning Tote/Box:

The program checks the Route of each delivery: The delivery's route is found and the "Container Type" column inspected (from the Route Table).

If the Container Type at the route level contains a "B", then the Delivery will be dimensioned into BOXES

If the Container Type at the route level contains a "T", then the Delivery will be dimensioned into TOTES

If the Container Type at the route level is BLANK (i.e. not specified) then the following logic applies:

After this analysis is completed then the following steps occur:

The program determines if any of the material numbers in a Delivery have a defined “Optimum Box.” If there is an Optimum Box, the system will select the defined Optimum Box and fill it with the quantity defined in the Optimum Box Table. A Shipping carton is created for each box.

These boxes/material are not dimensioned. As was explained in the Optimum Box Table section, if there is a balance of material remaining, it will be placed into the dimensioning logic. The system will dimension it with other material into the best box available, unless the material is defined as having to be packed in its “own” box. The dimensioning logic then takes the balance of the remaining material and performs calculations to determine the best possible box I.D./Type that will fit the balance of the material in the Delivery.

Another analysis is performed to determine whether to use long or short boxes. Remember that we will not create Shipping cartons that contain both long and short material. Each line item/material I.D. on your Deliveries has a long or short indicator sent to us from SAP. Our program will take the long and short items, group them together, create a separate HU for each type and, finally, dimension them into only those Box Types with the appropriate long or short indicator. Once again, the issue is to optimize the dimensioning process by reducing the selection available as regards box types.

The program then determines what Box Types can be used based on the (I), International, (D) Domestic and B (Both) flags that are set in the Box Tables. The selection is based on the International/ Domestic flag sent from SAP.

The program then analyses whether there are any customer box exclusions or inclusions that have been input into the Customer Box Inclusions/Exclusion Tables. This is to minimize the number of boxes that need to be analyzed for the Dimensioning Process. The program will Include/Exclude those box types defined in the Customer Inclusion/Exclusion Table. This decision was made to minimize the calculations necessary to select the best box.

You will recall that I mentioned that the dimensioning program uses the Box Type Tables to determine the best boxes for the Delivery, using the length, width, height for each material number and the quantity required for each item on the Delivery to perform its calculations, ultimately selecting the best possible box or tote type (taking into account the defined Dimensioning Engine Fill Rate on the Interface Parameters Table). Your fill rate is currently set at 90%.

Please recall that you have a Packing Sequence Report available to you on the Dispatch Menu. The report shows you the order in which the material numbers for a Delivery have been dimensioned by the Dimensioning Program.

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