How Many Box Sizes Are Enough?

Every cost associated with outbound warehousing, order fulfillment and transportation is driven by the cubic volume of the box used to package each order. Minimizing outbound cubic volume is the key to managing cost.

However, the random nature of order dimensions makes it impossible to select the appropriate box sizes based on historical order data. Instead, a range of three-dimensional geometry must be considered.

The number of sizes required to get even a marginal fit for every order is surprising.

Plug a database of 300 random orders into an Excel spreadsheet and using logic and some trial-and-error you will be able to find 10 box sizes that will pack the entire list of orders with about 40 percent air-space.

Now test those same 10 boxes with a new set of orders and the airspace will increase to over 55 percent. Tweak the sizes again and add a couple of new sizes to address the outliers and the air space can be managed back to 40 percent.