Beverage Industry Dunnage And Types?
What is dunnage? When looking for a dunnage definition, it depends on what industry you serve and whether you want shock absorption, the restraining of loose material, or you need plastic bracing. For instance, the dunnage materials you would use to protect a fragile item, such as bubble wrap, Kraft paper, and air pillows, won’t necessarily be used in the beverage industry. Some types of dunnage utilized within the beverage industry include plastic or wood pallets, hard cartons and empty kegs.
Back in 2014 when MillerCoors, now Molson Coors, decided to stop using disposable dunnage such as corrugated paper and began loading its products onto reusable dunnage, it saw a cost savings of $8 million a year. But since then, we’ve learned that switching to reusable dunnage is only part of the story. By transitioning to an electronic management process, you can ensure that all the dunnage you ship is tracked and returned.
Lost Dunnage Equals Fewer Profits
As a local distributor, you know all too well how costly it is when you have to call a manufacturer and report that their floor dunnage or other packing components are lost or are held at the store. It’s your responsibility to prevent damage to dunnage, to protect and follow its movement, and to make sure it gets back to the warehouse. If all of these things don’t happen, it negatively affects your bottom line.
What’s the Answer to Lost Dunnage?
Custom dunnage solutions, such as retail tracking, can take away the burden of manual tracking by automating the system. In a word: Dunnage retail tracking is a solution that not only saves you money by ensuring the dunnage is tracked and returned, but it can save in other ways, too.
Ensure you are tracking dunnage for the duration of its life cycle from the time you receive it from a supplier until the time you return it to the supplier. This means your system will need to also be aware of what dunnage is used in the fulfillment process, meaning deliveries that you are sending to retail. At any point in time, you should know what dunnage a retail account has so that you can actively manage the account to ensure its timely return to your warehouse.
At eoStar, we understand the value of the dunnage in your possession and how it can affect your bottom line. Our fully integrated warehouse and mobile sales and delivery solutions provide you the ability to track dunnage throughout its lifecycle in your warehouse and its time at retail through our underload tracking functionality.
Stop Profit Loss With the Right Dunnage Retail Tracking System
It doesn’t matter if your freight is being loaded onto cargo ships or driven just down the road, the dunnage it carries must be returned or you will be out-of-pocket. And today’s manufacturers have come to expect that local distributors have taken the steps to protect their assets.
Sure, you could outsource the procedure, but the cost of the service may eat up the savings you get from tracking and retrieving all of that dunnage. Instead, why not use in-house software that was designed specifically to help distributors like you maneuver the process yourself and keep the extra profit to grow your business? Be sure to connect with our sales team to discuss how to save on dunnage.
