Finally, a standard for load carriers! Some call it a block, others a chep, and yet another customer is talking about “the blue one”…. Different names for the same pallet, a piece of wood, and part of the packaging that serves to get your client’s cargo from point A to B. The same applies to carts, trolleys and the buckets or crates that are piled up in many warehouses. Also internally, different names are used: the driver uses different terminology that the administration. Why do these differences exists what are the risks of using different names?
To simplify the discussion, let’s call all those trolleys, buckets, pallets, etc. load carriers here. Unfortunately, there is no dictionary or glossary for the different types of Load carriers. This is strange as load carriers are used internationally and not only cross physical boarders, they are also accepted and traded by different nationalities. The various types of load carriers are also subdivided into different pool parties and there is no overarching party. This all adds complexity to an ultimately simply question: “what do you actually call your pallet”?
Risks of different names
Situations that can occur with an unclear load carrier system are endless and endlessly annoying. Let’s have a look at what can happen if there are different names?
Disputes with customers about balances of one type of load carriers
- If you and the customer both name the load carrier differently, it is difficult to agree on the balance. Especially, if there are different functions (such as warehouse and admin) involved, the misunderstandings can occur often.
Keeping track of different balances for the same product
- The load carrier records often require a lot of manual administration. The employees involved often have a lot of in their heads and only few ‘’rules’’ on paper: typically, they know all the peculiarities of all different customers. However, should one of these employees drop out, (eg on sick leave, maternity leave or resignation) a lot of knowledge will be lost with him / her. It is therefore important that employees always work with the same name!
Double tracking of balances
- The planning, driver and administration all work with balances. Sometimes it may be that, because there are several names, it appears that a balance is double. Especially when working with different systems, TMS / WMS / load carrier software. Unhandy and difficult to redress the situation, because what is the truth?
Credit with clients
- Some clients keep their own balance of a load carrier item, which will probably be shared with you every once in a while. But what if they have a different name for the pallet? How do you check the load carrier balance in your administration whether everything is correct? Disagreement with the client is something you want to prevent at all times.
Employees ambiguities
- Lack of clarity in the warehouse, during transport and between the various departments are is often caused by different interpretations and a lack of a standard definition of the type of load carrier.
Disagreement between planning and drivers
- If a planner has an empty car that he can use to pick up load carriers somewhere, that is of course a bonus. This type of action is encouraged by operational management. However, if the planner and the driver use different names for the same load carrier, it can happen that the driver returns with a car full of incorrect load carriers.
Loss of load carriers
- All of the above points results can create an unmanageable situation, where the overview and ultimately control is lost. This often results in substantial number of lost load carriers, which can be costly to replace.
The above are just a few examples of situations that you would rather avoid. That is why it would be nice if a standard was introduced. A standard for all load carriers where we are all talking about the same pallet, cart and bucket.
New load carrier standard
It’s possible! Start today with the new standard in the load carrier administration market! The driver and loading / unloading employee can easily do the correct registration of load carriers with the app. With clear load carrier photo’s in the app, it is clear which load carrier is involved in the transaction. Do you have a different name for these load carrier items? No problem, you can easily give your load carrier your own name. TellApe is the developed standard for you. With TellApe you, your driver and the administration are talking about the same pallet.
