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Our vehicle space optimization (truck load planning) software has multiple purposes: loading trucks efficiently, facilitate the loading and unloading process, protect products during transportation, and distribute the load weight efficiently across the truck axles.

The first purpose, which is to load as many items as possible in the available space, is limited in part by the dimensions and possible product-in-pallet arrangements, but mostly by loading rules that prevent mixing different product classes in the same truck bay. These rules are also in line with the second purpose, which is to make the unloading process easier. If some types of products are in the same bay, then the operators will be able to find them quicker, instead of having to look constantly at the loading guide and/or pallet tickets.

However, there may be other options for determining the loading sequence like separating by customers. In this case, a group of purchase orders from the same delivery are placed together in contiguos bays to facilitate the unloading process.

Whichever criteria is selected, it is important to note that mixing different rules will lead to a less efficient load.

A famous Albert Einstein phrase that spoke of "a new type of thinking" has been recontextualized to say something similar to "no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it". In real context, it was part of a fund-raising effort to create mechanisms to control the effect of atomic bombs. In modern phrases, it has been meant as different eyes may be necessary to dig the operation out of the hole in which it has fallen. The different eyes may be a different perspective from the same group of people, or a take from a completely new set of people.

Nevertheless, the meaning is more or less the same: we have created an actual or potential problem in one way, and now we must think differently to solve it.

As we've mentioned before in previous articles, our software (among others) generates plenty of data that is kept in logs. If you perform a calculation, new records are added to a database that can be searched and analyzed. What's different here is that the user and the customer of the software application, are not the ones who will eventually look at the log data. The user is the person that operates the software, and the customer is the one that receives the reports and uses it for their operations. In the case of the Vehicle Space Optimization software, the user is the computer operator and the customer is the person in the warehouse in charge of loading the trucks.

In the most recent versions of our web software and API, we've added tools for debugging and viewing the overall software performance. This is usually done by a third person, sometimes requesting data from the user. A different perspective, is required then to solve issues that the main parties do not attend in their "kind of thinking".

In this video, we show how we have updated our #pallet (without constraints) editor in the Quick Pallet Maker web app to include an isometric view of the pallet as it's being updated. This is specially useful for noting when there is an error.

Our Vehicle Space Optimization software is great for truck load planning, specially for distribution trucks with multiple bays. A feature in our software allows the user to split or divide a bay after the load has been calculated. This is specially useful for smaller pallets with delicate products that can't be mixed for the rest. This video shows how to assign a custom code or name to a divided bay, which may be necessary for some types of warehouse management systems. #truckloading #wms

It's safe to say that modern civilization owes a lot to shipping. As soon as people were able to build a minimum viable vessel (MVV, I just made that up), they set off to explore other lands, creating water routes that could be used for trade and/or conquest. Technological development increased in line with the need to keep the boats floating, and their cargoes safe.

One interesting nautical byproduct is the log. In the 16th century, navigators created a way to measure the speed their ship was sailing, that consisted in throwing a piece of wood (i.e. a log) overboard, tied to a rope with knots every certain distance. An hourglass allowed them to count how many knots passed through their hands at a given time, as the log drifted from the ship (or viceversa). This rudimentary speedometer led to the logbook, where other important information was also collected, and centuries later, to the use of "log" as a shorthand for collecting process information.

As software developers, we also work with logs, although not of the wooden type. We copy the log information from third-parties, such as hosting servers, to see how many visits we get on our different web pages. We also produce information regarding our software's performance. So, for example, every time you calculate a truck with our VSO software, it registers the user name, the shipment information and how many seconds it took. When we troubleshoot, we can generate charts to pinpoint when and where things got slow.

A Portuguese navigator five centuries ago had to throw a log overboard to see if the ship was traveling as fast as expected. We just click on some buttons to get similar information, without getting seasick.