Manifesting & Shipping for Distribution

Manifesting and shipping processes often begin with an in-line scale and overhead omni-directional scanner or camera scanner. This equipment is used to weight and scan the item for identification as they arrive. Next, manifest software calculates the item’s freight based on its ship-to location, shipping priority, weight, cube, and any custom discount schedules from your transportation carrier. If multiple transportation carriers are available, then the manifest software performs rate shopping tasks to find the most cost effective rate based on your business rules. Similarly, if the shipping carton is outside of the expected weight tolerance it could be diverted down an exception lane for inspection and quality control.

After the shipping carton has been assigned a freight rate, it will be properly gapped and inducted onto a shipping sorter. It is then diverted down the appropriate lane associated with a specific shipping dock.

Carton sequencing - allows the sequencing of cartons as they depart the shipping sortation system to a shipping divert lane by store or a department drop-off sequence. Carton sequencing allows quick and easy unloading of the trailer at each store or department.
Pallet/trailer sequencing - provides the capability to store a series of pallets next to a shipping lane to accumulate for the next trailer. This technique is often used when the number of store drops exceeds the number of shipping lanes and wave picking methodologies are being used.