Container management

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Container management includes the planning, control and monitoring of stocks and movements of the loading equipment. The aim of container management is the availability of the load carriers required for production , transport and storage with the lowest possible container inventory. Other terms for container management in logistics are load carrier management, loading equipment management or pallet management.

definition

The container management differentiates according to whether the containers are in an open, semi-open or closed container circuit. Overall, many different companies and partners are involved in the container cycle. Suppliers, logistics service providers , customers and companies need load carriers and exchange them with one another. To make container management effective, all partners must be involved in the process and actively participate in the management. Every full or empty container should be booked in order to track the stocks.

Container management is very important for many areas in production , in trade and in transport and storage, as goods can only be produced, delivered and made available if there are enough suitable load carriers. Both production and shipping are therefore dependent on containers. The required number of loading aids can only be provided at any time with comprehensive planning. In order to optimize costs and keep the container volume as low as possible, both transparency and the use of synergy effects are necessary. The transport of full and empty containers, for example, can be coordinated so that fewer trucks are required to transport containers.

Use in practice

The relevant processes in container management cover the entire product supply chain . Loading aids are necessary both in procurement for the delivery of goods and in distribution for the delivery of products. Load carriers are also required in the production of a company, for example for transport from the warehouse to production and after production to an interim warehouse or to the goods issue warehouse. Internal movements of loading aids are often recorded manually or by scanning a barcode or RFID (radio frequency identification) . If this is not the case, container cycles can only be tracked with difficulty, if at all, within and across the company.

Containers are required by all companies that produce and transport goods. Every industry has its own requirements and uses different container types. The use of reusable pallets is widespread in trade and industry . The identification of individual containers is particularly important here, as the loading equipment is in many cases delivered to individual branches. It is often not clear which containers are in which branch. This information gap can be closed by Auto-ID techniques such as barcodes or RFID. Container transports are of global importance . The associated container management is referred to as container logistics.

Bookings using mobile apps also replace manual post-registration of loading equipment. These can be recorded quickly, easily and directly in the hall or in incoming and outgoing goods. With apps, container bookings can be assigned directly to the respective delivery notes without research. Manual processes for filling out and later digitizing bookings are no longer necessary. In this way, a higher data quality is achieved in the container cycle, since errors caused by manual recording are reduced. Deviations can be entered immediately through a target / actual comparison. This means that errors are noticed immediately and not just afterwards when the documents are entered manually.

Example from a supplier: With the help of IT-supported container management, complex container movements can be displayed along the entire supply chain.

100,000 containers used
€ 50.00 average price per container
Value of the container volume € 5,000,000.00
10% new container acquisition per year
Average of 6 cycles per container and year
5% container shrinkage based on the total stock per year
500 hours at 21 € / h for inventory per year
100 hours at 21 € / h processing effort due to Shipping errors per year
25 kEUR costs for replacement packaging per year
Savings Reason in percent in Euro
In the container volume If there is clarity about the inventory and whereabouts of the loading equipment, the container volume can be reduced. 8th 400,000
By reducing container shrinkage The disappearance of containers is quickly noticed and appropriate measures can be initiated. p. a. 4th p. a. 200,000
In the staff Savings in manual activities (inventories, processing effort due to shipping errors) up to p. a. 100 p. a. 12,600
With consequential costs Packaging regulations can be stored and packaging errors can be avoided. up to p. a. 100 p. a. 25,000

literature

  • F. Gehr, B. Hellingrath: Logistics in the automotive industry , Springer, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-540-14045-0 .
  • K. Tschirschwitz: Container management systems with RFID , VDM Verlag Dr. Müller 2008. ISBN 978-3-8364-8063-5 .

Web links