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10 smart shipping strategies

Plant-to-customer transport at warp speed

Star Trek fans may recall one of its coolest futuristic concepts was the physical relocation of people and materials across space by “energizing” them in a “transporter.” If only transporting finished metal fabrications from your shop to your customer were that easy.

After all, a fabricator’s heroic efforts to fabricate defect-free components and assemblies in an efficient and timely manner are for naught if they don’t get transported efficiently and without damage.

Shipping challenges include meeting schedules, keeping track of the components for traceability, protecting parts from damage while in transport, lost shipments, minimizing freight costs, reducing emissions from the transportation of those goods, and, overall ensuring a smooth flow of products through the plant to the transport vehicle to the customer.

Barring the eventuality of remote-controlled freight vehicles and drone deliveries (see Figure 1), efficient shipping is likely to continue to be grounded in methodical tracking, protective packaging, and savvy logistics planning.

1. Laser Marking Parts

Good shipping begins with good tracking, and good tracking begins with identification and marking. Permanent part and assembly markings assist in product identification and—especially important with today’s zero-defect market demands—traceability. Nearly every industry segment requires the ability to track a defective part to its sources, especially aerospace and the recall-vulnerable automotive segment.

Laser marking is not a new technology, but it is gaining in use in job shops, including small ones (Figure 2).

Technological advances have enabled the broader use of laser marking. These include marking on the fly, 360-degree adjustable heads, servo-rotary indexing, and air-cooled systems that extend machine life.

The types of lasers for marking have broadened to include fiber as well as CO2.

Laser marking systems don’t use ink, additives, or other consumables. They can mark nearly any type of metal. Unlike a human marking parts with a grease pencil, they can perform bar and QR coding. Perhaps the biggest reason laser marking systems have gained ground in fab shops is that lasers’ prices have come down to earth a bit.

2. Anywhere WIP Storage before Ship

Some fabricators have taken laser marking to the next level. Coupled with the inventory tracking capability of their enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, they can decentralize their work-in-process (WIP), storage, and organization just prior to ship.

Figure 1
Swedish transport company Einride is developing the T-pod, a heavy-duty truck without a driver’s cabin or manual controls that is operated by a human remotely, as reported by trucks.com (left). Amazon has secured a patent for drones delivering packages that are equipped with sensors that interpret human reactions to them (right). Photos courtesy of Einride and Amazon.

Jeff Karan, director of enterprise technologies for G&W Products, Fairfield, Ohio, explained how he uses the location management module of the company’s ERP software. “Traditionally, we had specific areas where WIP and finished goods would be placed. Now we have location control by scanning the bar codes to a specific location. So we no longer have to have the standard WIP and finished goods locations. No matter where we put the container, we know where it is.”

3. Better Packaging

Just as packaging inefficiencies can undo even the most efficient delivery system, packaging efficiencies can enhance overall freight delivery.

Fab shops can borrow some smart moves from the automotive segment that have become standard practice, particularly from Tier 1 suppliers shipping to automaker assembly plants. Reusable packaging in the form of durable crates and racking systems and reusable dunnage reduce cost and waste (see Figure 3). This approach relies on a frequent delivery regimen in a well-established client-supplier relationship.

Frontier Metal Stamping, Frederick, Colo., uses Snap Crate to package its stamped parts safely and securely, according to the company’s business development manager, Jonathan Hall. “By paying attention to packaging over the years, we’ve learned to nest parts, integrate internal packaging materials, and load-balance each crate.”

Metal fabrication consultant Duke Whiteside, advises his fabricator clients to shrink-wrap parts, especially powder-coated ones, before shipping them. “It protects the powder coating during loading and shipping, and it keeps small parts organized together,” he said. Whiteside also recommended kitting parts, including small but integral items such as fasteners, in shrink wrap to prevent them from getting left behind. “I implemented a Bill of Bolts (like a BOM) that has all the bolts, nuts, washers, and other fasteners listed on it.”

Monti Inc., Greenwood, S.C., uses an orbital wrapper to protect finished goods in plastic shrink wrap during on-the-road transport and even earlier in the plant as WIP that may need to be to be staged for a period of time.

The forklift driver uses a wireless remote control to wrap a load in as little as 60 seconds. The plastic wrapping process is particularly useful for shipping copper, aluminum, plated, and powder-coated finished stampings to prevent cosmetic blemishes. The tight, compressed packaging keeps the parts in place during transport.

4. Efficient Freight Vehicles

While much attention has been focused on fuel-efficiency improvements in passenger vehicles, freight vehicles have been gaining with fuel efficiencies of their own.

According to a July article on trucks.com, several well-established truck original equipment manufacturers are building electric-powered freight trucks, including Daimler Trucks North America, Volvo, Navistar, and Cummins, as well as some new to the sphere, such as Meritor Inc., Tesla, Thor Trucks, and U.S. Hybrid. “Several major players, including Toyota Motor Corp., Nikola Motor, General Motors, and Paccar’s Kenworth also are working on fuel cell electric trucks that use compressed hydrogen rather than large batteries,” the article states.

Daimler Trucks North America is testing 20 fully electric heavy- and medium-duty Freightliner models at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach this year (see Figure 4).

Figure 2
Laser marking can identify a part by number, bar code, or QR code.

Also being road-tested, the Tesla Semi purportedly travels 300 to 600 miles on a charge at highway speed, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

And Anheuser-Busch has announced plans to purchase up to 800 of Nikola’s electric semi-trucks.

5. Efficiency at the Dock

Sealing the dock area to minimize thermal loss is one of the most overlooked efficiency opportunities. It stands to reason that a lot of heated and cooled air is lost through the big gaping hole that is your dock door.

Each time a truck pulls up to a dock position, it is an opportunity for energy to escape the building. Trucks can be parked at the dock for hours throughout the course of a day, creating significant energy loss if the doorway is not properly sealed, according to Rite-Hite, a dock door products manufacturer in Milwaukee. Sealing the gap between the trailer and the dock by installing seals and shelters to encase the door end of a parked trailer during loading and unloading can halt energy loss. Impactable dock doors and vertical-storing powered levelers that close tightly against the concrete floor to seal in energy can go a long way to halt thermal energy loss (see Figure 5).

6. Cargo Tracking,Environmental Monitoring

Outbound cargo tracking and environmental monitoring software can track not only the progress of the outbound fabricated goods toward their destination, but also position (geofencing), temperature and humidity, and carbon emissions, useful for environmental reporting,

Having access to a tracking portal, and even sharing that access with customers, provides visibility into a time- or environment-critical shipment. Email and text alerts can be configured for a number of outbound conditions, including shock and dwell time, according to Stephen Cherlet, FarStar S.A.C. Consulting, Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada.

An interesting twist to the tracking process is a subscription-based service such as Arviem, Cherlet said. The service eliminates the need for the fabricator to purchase hardware or software.

With repeat shipments on the same route, the software can learn the route and offer insight on how to improve the route or the carriers, as well as update estimated delivery time dynamically, Cherlet added.

Shipping, in general, was a constant problem at Systems Equipment Corp., Belfast, P.E.I., Canada, until steps were taken to make the process work better for everyone concerned, said.

Vice President of Sales and Engineering Peter Metaxas. “The worst was sea freight coming in from Europe where we made the arrangements to truck the freight from Montreal to our location in P.E.I.”

Figure 3
Reusable packaging and racking systems wring cost and waste out of packaging. Shrink wrapping and orbital wrapping apply a protective coating and compression to protect parts through WIP and in transit. Photos courtesy of Frontier Metal Stamping, Monti, and FCCC.

Metaxas said that the company resolved that specific problem by transferring the shipment handling, door to door, over to its European vendors while insisting that they use its broker. Cost parity was realized because the large vendors obtain preferential rates, he said.

He conceded that the system still is not perfect, but it’s better. “Now, we never spend time sorting our warehouse pickups, paying storage charges, making phone calls, sending faxes or emails, and wasting our time which could be spent better making sales.”

Lost shipping documents can be a problem as well, so the company gives the documents to the driver, attaches copies to the shipment, and keeps copies of them also.

7. Warehousing

In contrast to just-in-time manufacturing, some metal fabricators are building large warehouses to stockpile their customers’ parts and assemblies to ensure on-time deliveries. Many are delivering the components directly to their customers’ assembly lines daily. This usually includes inventory tracking for the customer.

BTD, Lakeville, Minn., recently expanded to add 90,000 square feet of warehousing space to its already large warehouse—now at 400,000 sq.ft.—to store hundreds of customers’ parts. Rows of shelving 20 ft. high fill the building.

Its seawall of 36 dock doors is more typical for a retail distribution center than a fab shop.

Deliveries to the fabricator’s customers are made via its own fleet along its network of factories for additional processing and distribution centers.

The company’s on-time delivery record is at 98.5 percent.

“It’s about total control, from raw material delivery and part fabrication to finishing, assembly, and delivery,” said company president Paul Gintner in The FABRICATOR® article, “One fabricator’s blueprint for growing its business” (January 2018).

8. Drop-shipping

The procurement strategy of eliminating the middle-man may not seem like one to use with a customer, but some fabricators have found efficiencies by private labeling the components and assemblies they’re building and drop-shipping them directly to their customers’ customers as a value-added service.

Figure 4
Daimler Trucks North America will begin testing two all-electric models, the eCascadia and eM2, in Southern California by the end of the year, as reported by trucks.com. Photos courtesy of Daimler Trucks North America and Toyota.

The time and cost efficiencies gained by eliminating the additional step of transporting the goods to the customer before they are delivered to the end customer are substantial. Of course, the fabricator’s customer must have complete trust in the fabricator’s ability to deliver defect-free parts.

9. Shipping as a Second Business

Fabricator T&D Metal Products, Watseka, Ill., developed an outstanding part delivery service, including using returnable containers to save packing costs and time for its customers. Company owner Shane Dittrich saw the success as a growth opportunity and developed shipping as a second business. It brings substantial revenue.

“We wanted to have a good delivery service for our customers, with the ultimate goal of 100 percent on-time delivery,” Dittrich said. “When we were relying on other companies, we had an issue of not delivering when we wanted to because we couldn’t control it.”

So Dittrich started an over-the-road trucking company to control the freight scheduling and delivery. “We grew our manufacturing business, and I thought, why can’t we grow the trucking side at the same time? How do we branch out to other customers?”

Today about 30 percent of the fabricator’s trucking business is to transport its own fabrications to customers; the remaining 70 percent is for other companies. T&D Products runs 20 trucks daily.

10. Third-party Freight Company

For shipping into distant or unfamiliar regions far, far away, your best option may be to let an expert run with it. Third-party freight logistics agencies that have years of experience and have developed a network of contacts may accomplish in a short period of time what you cannot and offer services that will save you time and money in the long run.

For example, they can offer additional expertise in helping you pack your parts efficiently and load pallets for optimal load distribution. Third-party logistics companies may help you compare various carriers and sort out the cheapest shipping methods.

Getting the Right Mix

Perfecting the right blend of using your own fleet, freight carriers, and third-party logistics companies to deliver your fabrications to customers can be hard and time-consuming.

“Shipping is very important for our business—getting it there on time and undamaged,” relayed Rick Vogt, president of Tri-State Fabricators, Amelia, Ohio, and Axiom Side by Side, Cincinnati. His two companies—a metal fab job shop and a consumer product company—ship a galactic volume of parts; therefore, using multiple shipping strategies has been instrumental to the companies’ successes.

“We ship a lot of different parts a lot of different ways to get it right,” Vogt said. The companies use their own fleet for local deliveries when possible, which helps save on packing material and other costs. When they use a common carrier to ship, they pack the parts very carefully inside the skid or crate. Then they take photos of it before it leaves the plant.

Figure 5
Sealing the dock area to minimize thermal loss is one of the most overlooked efficiency opportunitie

They build some custom crates for certain items, and Vogt said they like to use returnable crates as much as possible for repeat parts. Axiom Side by Side uses common carriers Fed Ex, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service for shipping products directly to consumers.

“We ship to all states, and our products’ packing has been tested to make sure our customers get undamaged, quality parts on time,” Vogt said.

Really, isn’t that every fabricator’s moonshot?

About the Author

Kate Bachman

Contributing editor

815-381-1302

Kate Bachman is a contributing editor for The FABRICATOR editor. Bachman has more than 20 years of experience as a writer and editor in the manufacturing and other industries.