Track: Logistics Management

Abstract

Unitization as a way of moving bulk shipments is known to save on multiple fronts like time, space, costs, manpower and damages in any supply chain. This study talks about evolution of unitization in one of India’s largest supply chain entity, which faces multiple unique challenges and is largely based on unorganized and fragmented partners. We also highlight the challenges faced while designing a standardized unit for a wide range of shipments, with non-standard packaging being transported across various facilities and in non-standard vehicles.

Taking learnings from the retail industry, roll containers stand out as the best alternative for replacing bags as a unit. Arriving at the most suitable form factor of the roll container involved studying the entire range of vehicles and hub-spaces which the units are to occupy. Designing a cost-effective process for circulating the units across locations is done through integration with the existing lanes. Capitalizing on the versatility of an end-to-end e-commerce supply chain, a step-by-step or a crawl-walk-run approach is proposed to build confidence in the roll containers for unitization. As suggested earlier, the benefits are expected on multiple fronts, namely improving speed, quality and safety while reducing the costs of logistics across the chain.