With the ongoing labor constraints and companies continually seeking various ways to implement automation to reduce their demand for labor, warehouse automation and technology has become more prevalent.
One of the first areas that companies typically automate is their shipping department. Shipping automation eliminates manual functions beginning in packing, all the way until packages are sorted down to the correct outbound lane, pallet, or truck.
Shipping automation is also one of the first areas to be looked at since it can be justified from a cost standpoint by a wide range of companies – even those shipping as few as 1,500 to 2,000 shipments per day.
It is not uncommon to see companies where the packer and/or shipper is responsible for selecting the proper shipping carton size, packing the items, inserting dunnage as well as packing slips and additional information, sealing the carton, weighing it, and applying a shipping label. Typically, these tasks can add significant time to the overall pack-out and shipping process which increases the need for labor and drives up costs. Shipping automation can alleviate most of these steps.
With shipping automation, companies can remove these manual steps – and at times, do it in phases as well. Shipping automation usually consists of the following capabilities which can be implemented at the same time, or in a phased approach over time.
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