Automotive Logistics, Europe Conference - is the automotive industry actually going to look at cube utilisation?

With the Automotive Logistics Europe Conference in Bonn taking place in March, cube utilisation in the automotive supply chain is bound to be a topic discussed again - why is the industry doing so little about this?

Over a number of years cube utilisation is something that has been covered by conference after conference across the globe yet it appears that nobody within the automotive industry has bothered to look further into cube utilisation or act upon the information that is discussed at these conferences.

In the overview of the conference taking place from 15th - 17th March there needs to be a number of goals outlined -

●     reduced handling

●     less labour

●     fewer delivery delays

●     no damage

Firstly, why isn’t cube utilisation on this list of goals? Secondly, if those who work in the sector take a closer look at the returnable packaging options that are currently available on the market they could have already made significant improvements towards achieving some of these goals - cube utilisation being one of them.

I am looking forward to the discussion in Session 3 on Wednesday afternoon called Feeding the Line as ‘What is the role of packaging in part protection and cube utilisation?’ will be up for discussion. I am keen to hear about people’s thoughts on this but, more importantly, why there appears to be little activity to address cube utilisation. I would like to stress that this is an issue throughout the global supply chain, not solely in Europe.

By paying more attention to cube utilisation throughout the whole supply chain and acting upon this information, the industry would be able to drive down costs and significantly improve efficiencies. By the whole supply chain I mean inbound journeys to manufacturing plants, return journeys, continental and global trips as well as transporting spare parts.

The IsoBin from Macro Plastics cubes out at ISO Container to 97.2% of floor space and can be stacked three high when carrying components. Without looking at the how the IsoBin can help you to achieve the goals set out above, you can significantly reduce the space you require in transportation. The simple fact that reduced space means reduced cost, which goes straight to the bottom line, this should be enough for the automotive supply chain to do something about cube utilisation.

One OEM has saved $1 million by integrating the IsoBin throughout their global supply chain by improving the cube utilisation of the ISO Containers. These savings have been made on 3 parts on Northern to Southern hemisphere trips and the opposite way as well travelling from East to West and back across the Atlantic. This proves the potential impact of one solution on a global supply chain.

It is so important for top Automotive Supply Chain decision makers to understand what services are about and how Returnable Packaging now works on a Global scale.