Packaging Corner: Capture dimensions while weighing products, parcels

Nearly every warehouse has one or more electronic scales in place to capture the weight of products upon inbound receipt and the weight of parcels for outbound shipping.

In January, dimensional weight (dim weight) shipping charges now apply to all packages handled by UPS and FedEx. That has forced small parcel shippers—who were previously exempt from these requirements—to now capture the precise size of items and parcels, explains Jerry Stoll, Mettler Toledo’s transportation and logistics market manager for the Americas.

“Many small parcel shippers were already using bench and portable scales to capture these weights; now they need a solution to also capture dimensions,” Stoll says. “The majority are set up to tie the captured weight data to the item’s bar code for internal inventory management, or to the outbound package’s bar code for shipping charges, tracking and destination information.”

Yet exchanging scales for a combined laser-based dimensioning and weighing system can be cost prohibitive. “The average price of that technology hovers around $15,000, so many companies say: ‘we’ll just use $5 tape measures,’” Stoll says. “Not only is that time consuming, but it increases the chance for errors if a worker writes down or keys in the wrong measurement.”

As a more affordable alternative, the company developed the CSN110 ScanTape handheld wireless dimensioning device. It extends to 10 feet like a standard tape measure, and incorporates decoders embedded in the tape and a laser scanner that captures the item’s bar code.

As the tape is extended, the decoder closest to the end of the item detects and captures that dimension. Length, width and height are automatically associated with the bar code. When used with a wireless scale, the dimension and weight information captured by the two devices are bundled with the item’s bar code, an ideal setup for use at the point of inbound receipt, says Stoll.

“Because the device is wireless, it can be used anywhere,” he adds. “If a facility hasn’t been capturing dimensions upon receipt, a worker can take this anywhere to measure thousands of items, then plug it in using USB for a batch upload to the inventory management system.”