Using Item Consolidation, you can consolidate multiple items into a single box or pallet, and scan a single barcode to apply updates to all those items.
Any actions recorded in Stream (scanning a barcode or capturing proof of delivery for instance) ripple down to all items within that top-level.
Using Item Consolidation in your logistics operation
Make item scanning faster and more efficient
As an example, let’s say you have a pallet, and within that pallet, you may have 20 boxes or totes.
Say five of those boxes have got packs of a certain pharmaceutical product, five have another and the final ten packs contain a third type.
Or, as in the example graphic below, you may have a pallet with multiple boxes of different chocolate bars.
At the point of delivery, all being well, drivers can scan a single barcode for that pallet and all of those items will be marked as delivered. The driver doesn’t have to stop and scan every item.
If there is an exception – for example, one box on the pallet has been damaged in transit – the driver can scan that item to mark as not delivered, and then scan the pallet to mark the rest of the items as delivered.
Building multiple orders onto a pallet
Item Consolidation also works the other way round.
You might have 20 orders. Each order may have a number of boxes / containers / totes in them, which in turn may contain any number of individual items / packs etc. in them.
Using Item Consolidation you can build a number of orders onto a pallet so when you scan barcodes for loading / unloading that pallet onto the vehicle, trunk it to another depot or deliver to your customer any updates are recorded against all the items.
Make multi-item orders more user-friendly
When a customer orders a bed, all they really care about is getting the whole bed delivered.
From the warehouse or driver’s point-of-view, that single bed order may be made up of multiple line items: the frame, the mattress, the slats, the headboard. And each of those items might come in different styles, different colours and different materials.
In the example below, we’ve “built” a custom bunkbed as our top level item, with various components that make up the bed as line items.
By putting each of those sub-items under a single line-item, the driver can scan that whole order and the customer can sign the POD for their bed.
If there is an issue with a single part of the order (damage to the headboard, for example), the driver is still able to mark that as an exception for re-delivery, but mark the rest of the components of the bed as delivered.
Improve security
Tracking with Item Consolidationgives you increased traceability throughout your logistics operation.
This is particularly useful for dealing with controlled substances, where you may, for instance not be able to open a sealed drugs bag to scan every individual item in it at every point.
How to use Item Consolidation
In Order Details, each line item can now have multiple lines within it. Those line items can also have multiple items within them.
By tracking that pallet, tote or container through the network at the higher level, you’re also tracking the other items through the process as well.
When drivers and warehouse staff scan a single barcode on the top-level pallet (for instance), any actions they record against it (i.e. marking the item as loaded or delivered) are also recorded for all those boxes and items on the pallet, unless an exception has already been recorded against it.
At present, Item Consolidation is only available through the public API.
Please contact support@go2stream.com to learn more about applying Item Consolidation in your operation.