Local distributors have to do one thing and do it well: Get a retailers order to their location on time and undamaged. And the savviest of distributors use a specific tool to help them do the job right – a load order optimization tool. If you’re not familiar with this tool and how it can help you decrease costs and increase efficiency, read on.

What Are Load Optimization Tools?

When you’re loading a truck, you want load pallets that are stable, and place them appropriately on the truck to ensure cargo space is maximized, weight distribution is appropriate and it will simplify the driver’s job at time of delivery. A good load optimization tool will do all of that – and more.  Here are some of the ways these tools can help to ensure your trucks are loaded as safely and efficiently as possible.

Pre-Load Logistics

Once an order has been submitted by a salesperson, that order is sent to a load screen so technicians can confirm that it’s in stock and get a pallet ready to load. Our Orders to Load system takes the guesswork out of the process and ensures that after the order is committed, the remaining processes goes smoothly.

Pallet Planning

Building a pallet takes time and effort to ensure that you use the space most efficiently. But a load optimization tool, such as Palletization by eoStar, does the work for you. It helps you pre-plan the pallets and load build so everything is organized and stable before the loading begins. The beauty of this program is that once you set it up for a specific product and customer, you won’t have to do it again. It is truly a set-it-and-forget-it system.

Load Planning

Once your pallets are stacked, a load optimization tool will help you load the truck in a way that makes the best use of the cargo area. The tool will also ensure that the cargo is evenly distributed and in the order of delivery sequence. You will have access to graphs and charts that show you where every container is located. Load order errors will tell you if the bay and/or truck capacity is exceeded or if the balance is off.

Is Palletization Customizable?

Every local distributor works with those clients who demand that specific pallets are used or have other requirements that won’t work with a one-size-fits-all type of software. Luckily, our load optimization tools take all of that into consideration.

Here are some of the ways the tools offer customization:

Pallet Variety

Chances are when you load a cargo area, you will have more than one size pallet. The Palletization Tool takes that into consideration and supports multiple sizes. That means you can simply match the product sizes with the pallet size of your choice and let the software do the hard work.

Customer-Driven Sizes

When setting up a lot of pallets for one customer, you can choose to assign it a default pallet size. That way, every time you load pallets for that manufacturer, the system will automatically use that pallet size when configuring the pallet load.

Bulk or Aggregate

You can use the software for bulk or aggregate loads. Bulk loads will assign items from an order onto one or more pallets and will be sorted by pick sequence. Aggregate loads will contain products from a number of orders and will be organized based on pick groups. These pallets will also be sorted by pick sequence.

Manual Override

If there is a special requirement to the load, you can always override the bay-by-bay assignments and customize them to your needs at that time.

Load Optimization Tools Help You Work Smarter

You know the saying: Work smarter, not harder. These tools will help you reduce damage in your shipments by ensuring that the loads are stable. They can also help increase your efficiency with palletizing patterns and load planning capabilities at the push of a button.

If your goal is making loading pallets simpler, having a load plan that helps maximize cargo space, and easier loading according to delivery sequence—all with customization options, eoStar is your answer.