Ocean Container Packing with Pallets by keeping the Same Items Together

This enhancement adds a parameter in Container Optimization to define the organization of the packing of ocean containers.   While there is a selection of criteria, the most common case is where expensive consumer goods are palletized at the factory and that may result in both full and partial pallets of the same item.  Multiple orders of the various items are shipped together in multi-container shipments and the desire is to group or bundle all of the same items together as much as possible. This is not an end-customer shipment and it is not 3-D packing. Since there is a finite number of pallets in the container, the Equipment Referent Unit (ERU) is used to control packing.   

Business Benefit

The business benefit to the client is the organization of the containers and the ability to unload at a warehouse without having the items mixed.   For example, given a shipment with 40 pallets of packaged item A, and 40 pallets of packaged item B and ocean containers with capacity of 40 pallets each. This feature supports the loading the containers so that the 40 pallets of packaged item A all go into one container and the 40 pallets of packaged item B all go into the second container.

Steps to Enable

There is a new parameter to control the new logic and to provide a choice of how the "bundling" will happen.  The term "bundling" may be confusing and this use is not to be confused with "order bundling".  It is the organization within Container Optimization.

New Bundling Parameter

This is the full parameter set for the test case.  This is important to note since the feature used in context with the Allocation by ERU enhancement so the ERU configuration is essential to both solutions.

Parameters Overrides Used for the Test Case

The next slide shows the results of a test.   The left column shows the orders including the notation of full and partial pallets.  Since the destination is a shipper controlled warehouse, the domestic orders are mixed but the desire is to keep the same items together.  It is not always possible to have only one container with remnants, the goal is to minimize mixed loads.  The Green and Red colors on the bottom show the success of the packing.

Test Case Analysis

Tips And Considerations

Column Generation may be helpful.

The parameter to PACK FULL CONTAINERS WITH LARGE ORDERS FIRST is also helpful.