Reusable shipping packing/assets are items used in shipping to help package and transport goods safely. Goods include anything from car parts, apparel to daily groceries.
Packaging assets are generally made of plastic, metal, wood or other composites – this makes them more durable than cardboard boxes or other flimsy materials. Using more durable materials gives them a longer life cycle and also increases reliability.
RTP is used in large global supply chains and also smaller local ones to:
- Protect goods in transit
- Ease handling of goods
- Move bulk goods
- Improve supply chain sustainability, as RTP are reusable and hence have a smaller impact vs cardboard or less durable materials.
One of the major challenges in introducing RTP into a supply chain is: they can be expensive and can be lost easily.
However, these problems can be overcome if RTP is tracked in the right way end to end. The costs of reusable shipping packaging can be recovered by ensuring maximum reuse and minimum lag.
What is End-to-End supply chain visibility?
The term end-to-end is used to describe a process that takes a system or service from beginning to end and delivers a complete functional solution.
A shortcoming that is often overlooked when one talks about end-to-end supply chain solutions is the value in the process from start to end and knowing what is happening throughout the process.
End-to-end supply chain visibility is essential in making an automated supply chain efficient. This visibility can only be achieved through the application and introduction of pallet management systems and Pallets and Container Management Software.
Why is End-To-End visibility a must
Dynamic Logistics Planning
Having real-time visibility and getting prompt updates enables dynamic planning. If you don’t have proper visibility of your supply chain, planning can be a hassle.
A shipment can be either via land or air, but in both cases, a shipment can be miles away from its origin and final destination when a disruption occurs.
By having a pallet management software in place, you get visibility of your RTP and shipments on a single platform where you can track the dispatch, storage and transit.
Visibility of your supply chain will give you the data analytics to help you make the best decisions to optimise your supply chain, increase circulation of your RTP and reduce transit times and any lags.
Cold Chain monitoring
Temperature-sensitive goods like pharma items and dairy predominantly face 2 problems:
- The product has to be stored under the right conditions throughout the supply chain
- Containers have to have enough power back-up fuel to keep goods refrigerated till they reach their final destination.
Such products need high visibility in their supply chain as they are also time-sensitive.
Having a pallet management system in place, it gives you the visibility you need to ensure the goods are moving efficiently through the supply chain.
Protecting High-Value inventory
The last thing any stakeholder of a high-value supply chain wants is a delay or disruption in the supply chain and no idea about where the disruption is.
Imagine you have 15 Audi A8’s stacked in a container and no visibility of the container! (you really don’t want to lose 15 Audi A8’s).
Therefore it’s essential for companies that have high-value goods to leverage real-time data tracking via pallet management software to track the containers and have constant visibility of the RTP along the supply chain.
Why track RTP?
As mentioned above end-to-end supply chain visibility is essential for any industry to keep the supply chain moving smoothly.
RTP are ideally sustainable as they can be recirculated and reused multiple times, however, they can be lost, stolen, overstocked, damaged or incorrectly routed during reverse logistics. By tracking your RTP and implementing pallet management software that provides tracking solutions, you get:
- Reliability and visibility of data
- Ease of access to data and movement of RTP
- Analytics
- Ease of automating and incident management and planning
Benefits of implementing a pallet management software
For your supply chain:
- Minimised idle RTP
- Increased circulation of RTP
- Better management: less theft, damages and losses
- Increased accountability and transparency within team
For your enterprise:
- Reduced impact on bottom-line
- Reduced non-performing RTP’s
- Higher productivity
- More sustainability
Having the visibility of your supply chain and being able to track your RTP efficiently will allow you to get the maximum benefits and reduce major setbacks on your bottom line.
Pallets and Container Management Software like LogSoft have various solutions that help you as a business set up a seamless supply chain.