News + Trends
How do you break those snakes?
by Simon Balissat
Why our parcels are getting a makeover – and our packaging an airing out
9.11.2022
We’re now shipping orders in nine new boxes, better suited to our product range. This is good news for the environment, customers and our logistics employees. And it will bring a smile to Tetris fans. Because now that we’re using 28 per cent less air cushioning per parcel, we can fit even more orders in every Post truck.
Did you order an umbrella and get five metres of filler along with it? The inflatable packaging that comes in our Digitec and Galaxus parcels can be a little much. For customers, the packaging takes quite a bit of effort to deflate. For the environment, packing material means waste. And for the logistics crew, the cushions are fiddly and eat up time during packing.
That’s why we’ve kissed our old eight parcel models goodbye. And have just introduced nine new ones – some with up to four height variants. We now have a total of 25 options to choose from; the selection ranges from a child’s shoe box to a metre-long postman’s nightmare (see table below).
Nine models for tens of thousands of products
The new boxes are so optimised for the products available on our Swiss site that we now ship an average of 28 per cent less air cushioning per order. This means we save approximately the volume of a one-litre carton of milk of packing material with every parcel.
Depending on the order, employees in the packaging department can cut and fold the boxes to the appropriate height. «This is faster and less strenuous than working with long inflatable ribbons of packaging,» says Aurel Gautschi, Ssupply Chain Process Engineer responsible for the new parcel dimensions.
Because the boxes now fit more snugly, employees in the packaging department require fewer air cushions to prevent orders from being knocked about. For the small models, we can now usually even omit the filler altogether.
«Finding the optimal parcel dimensions was extremely complicated,» says Aurel. In computer science, this kind of challenge is called an NP-complete problem. «This means that you can never be sure whether your solution is the most efficient one.» That’s why Aurel and his co-workers calculated four variants on the computer and tested which would have the greatest effect on savings and be ergonomic at the same time. «We want to help reduce the amount of bending our packing crew has to do while on the job.» Moreover, nine models is the limit because space consumption in our warehouses increases with each additional model. Two of the variants came from Digitec Galaxus engineers, and two others from Ergon Informatik AG. One of the latter two solutions won the race for most efficient.
But back to the umbrella mentioned above. There’s still no cardboard tube among the options. Why not? «Tubes take up too much space, and we have relatively few products in stock that are long and slim at the same time – it’s simply not worth adding another model,» says Aurel. In any case, model #8 in the table above is much more suited to the dimensions of an umbrella or golf club than any of the old models.
Barcodes and 3D assistance
Aurel and his team’s next goal is to ensure that the boxes arrive «just in time». This is because the manufacturer delivers the boxes we need once a day. Which saves on space. And boxes now have barcodes. «This tells us which packages we’re using and in what quantities.»
Also in the pipeline is 3D Help for Packaging. In the future, the 3D assistant will show employees how to get the ordered products into the package in the most space-efficient way possible. «Until now, we’ve relied on the training and experience of our logistics crew for that,» says Aurel. Which has at times resulted in oversized parcels being shipped off with too much air cushioning.
The process engineers also want to optimise parcels for Galaxus Germany and Austria because the two sister shops keep a different range of products in stock than us at Digitec and Galaxus in Switzerland. And at some point, we’ll have to yet again introduce a new line of box dimensions. Because as our product range changes, so do optimal parcel dimensions. «Then the fun starts all over again,» says Aurel.
Castle out of cardboard
How long was the longest piece of inflatable packaging you’ve ever received? Has your child ever made a knight’s armor or a castle out of Galaxus packaging? Do you have any ideas for other ways to improve logistics? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
Alex Hämmerli
Senior Public Relations Manager
Alex.Haemmerli@digitecgalaxus.chAt Digitec and Galaxus, I’m in charge of communication with journalists and bloggers. Good stories are my passion – I am always up to date.
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