What is The Most Important Part of Logistics?

What is logistics?

With the recent Suez Canal incident, the whole world has been focused on the operations of global logistics and transportation. A sizable portion of the global trading routes were on a standstill, due to the blocking of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Logistics is a crucial component of business, as it deals with obtaining, producing and distributing materials in the right quality and quantity. It employs a wide range of planning skills to ensure the right packaging, containerization, documentation, insurance, storage, exporting, regulating and damage control has been done for the materials. A logistics manager would routinely be overseeing hundreds of thousands of commodities.

How would a logistics manager oversee and track hundreds of different containers, filled with thousands of different commodities? They manage them by weighing these containers, and a number of costs are decided on the basis of their weights. The smallest errors could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In order to avoid these losses, logistics companies employ high precision weighing instruments. Container weighing is one of the most important activities taking place at shipping ports.

What weighing instruments are used by logistics companies?

Weighbridge truck scales

A weighbridge is similar to a metal bridge which is equipped with load cells, or other mechanical weighing equipment, which weighs a truck when it is standing stationary on top of the bridge. They come in a variety of sizes ranging from a few meters in length, to 50+ meters in length, and capable of weighing from 1Metric Tonne, to 500Metric Tonnes.

On-board truck scales

These are cordless weighing systems fitted on the truck, with the help of the load cell technology, and pressure readings of the air suspension on the truck scale, the weight can be determined and transmitted to a monitor. This is a convenient and flexible method, as the weighing takes place at the load site itself.

Portable truck scales–

these are weight pads that can be placed to weigh the truck. These are flexible tools used to ensure that the legal limits of loading are being observed. They are starting to replace stationary weighbridges, as they are more robust and flexible, whilst being highly accurate.

Vehicle and axle scales

these help in providing the weight of the gross and axle of different types of vehicles, from light vans to heavy multi-axle trucks and vehicles. These are mostly used for large sized trucks, to avoid the hefty fines of over-loading.

Floor scales

These scales are used to weigh goods when they are moving in and out of inventory stock. They are used to weigh smaller quantities, from a few kilograms, up to 1Tonne.

There are weighing scales designed for almost every industry, as they are a necessary tool in ensuring optimum productivity, and acts as an important measure of quality control.

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