Evaluation of Distribution Environment 45 Evaluation of Distribution Environment in LTL Shipment between Central Europe & South Africa

Abstract

Due to the global expansion of transportation and handling companies, the distribution and supply chains of both raw materials and finished products now requires a better understanding of the shipping environment. This international shipping and handling information describing the physical and climatic conditions provides packaging engineers the required technical information to design better packaging to provide protection to products in various segments of the supply chain. In these global supply chains, products emerging from Central Europe also play an increasingly important role today. From this region, the truck and vessel combination is the most dominant transportation mode for non-time sensitive shipments between continents, mainly for shipments not exceeding the volume of a full container or truckload. Most previous studies mainly focused on regional or domestic measurement, using a single shipment mode that was dependent on the dynamics of a single transport vehicle. This study however focuses on measuring the transportation environment effects (vibration levels, shocks, changes of temperature and relative humidity) in a less-than-truckload shipment using multiple modes of transport in trucks and vessels between two companies and continents, originating from Hungary and ending in South Africa over several weeks. This study aims to provide results for this distribution environment while traveling from the northern hemisphere in Eastern Europe to the southern hemisphere in South Africa.

Climate Conditions in ISO Container Shipments from Hungary to South Africa and Asia

“…In 2017, Dramas (2017) also monitored overseas shipments that originated from France and had a final destination in Montreal. Only one paper, by Böröcz et al (2015), partly analyzed the climate environment in Central Europe, this was for shipments from Hungary to South Africa, but the observed freight was an LTL shipment unit not a containerized one. It has to be mentioned here that a complex predictive laboratory climatic stress model was also developed using data of 500 meteorological stations of Europe by Kubeš (1990).…”

Consideration on road transport vibration simulation techniques for packaging testing purposes

“…These could be performed with both electrohydraulic and electrodynamic vibration tables, with computer calculated PSDfrequency functions from Fast Fourier Transformation where the upper and lower frequency limits and the PSD and RMS values in the various frequency ranges are determined. These functions were created after many measurements on transport vehicles and recorded for various times of the acceleration-time function and determined the PSDfrequency function with FFT and after many measurements a statistically representative sample was created where normal distribution of the PSD values were presumed [14]. The standard PSD characteristics must be added per frequency range to the control computer of these equipment and this computer creates random transitional situations, but during the full run time all such situations are created.…”

Framework for the Packaging Supply Chain of an Automotive Engine Company

“…Usage of the system is usually differently interpreted by the consecutive elements of the chain. Therefore one-way devices can be used as returnable and reverse, even serving different functions [25] [31] Returnable packaging management is divided into two different modes by Zhang et al (1) shared mode (or buyer-managed mode) which means that the assembler owns the packaging and the packaging can be shared between the suppliers; and (2) dedicated mode (or vendor-managed mode) which means suppliers own the packages themselves and no package can be shared between suppliers. The dedicated mode has the advantage of easy management, while shared mode is better in reducing safety stock and damages of packages.…”