We recently began making LTL shipments. Before that, we had virtually no load failures. Now we are experiencing failures even though we have not changed our wrap configuration. What happened, and what can we do to prevent failures?
Hi Ronnie,
Thanks for your question. There is a good reason for what you are experiencing and anyone who ships LTL will be very interested in the answer!
First, we need to understand the difference between full truck load and less than truck load shipments.
Full truckload shipments give you considerably more control over the load environment. You are the one loading the trailer and the contents are not disturbed until the shipment reaches its destination. If you have a history of shipping FTL, you have likely optimized the number of pallets in each trailer while maintaining proper weight distribution. By using as much of the trailer footprint as possible for efficiency, you have also minimized the space between and around the pallets, which reduces movement during transit.
During loading, you may further reduce movement and load shift by adding dunnage, such as air bags to fill the larger gaps. Load bars can also help keep pallets in place when there is empty space at the rear of the trailer.
Load failures often begin when individual components of a load move independently. With FTL shipments, your load containment may have been adequate because you largely controlled the load configuration and the freight was handled less frequently.
LTL shipments are different.
When you ship LTL, you initially load the trailer at your facility, but unlike FTL shipments, your pallets are unloaded, sorted, and reloaded at one or more terminals before reaching their destination. This cross-docking process introduces additional handling and movement that do not occur or occur much less often in an FTL shipment.
Think of taking a trip on an airline across the country. If you cannot find the rare direct flight, you may have one, two, or even three connections where you must deplane, go to another gate, and board another plane.
The same basic principle applies to LTL freight. If you don’t have enough freight to fill an entire trailer, it is more efficient and cost effective for carriers to consolidate shipments and move them through established hub-and-spoke networks. Your freight may physically travel farther, but the carrier can move more freight efficiently.
The problem is that every additional handling event creates another opportunity for your load to experience movement, impact, or damage.
I had an experience a few years ago shipping our flexible packaging product to a customer in Northern California from Phoenix. I never had an issue shipping full truckloads to this customer, but almost every time we shipped LTL, we received customer complaints about damaged product.
I asked for a root cause analysis, and their response was that the local terminal manager had been counseled.
End of story, right? All the problems were fixed.
I know this is a stretch to believe, but that did not fix the issue.
I did a deeper dive with the carrier, and by forcing them to answer some very specific questions, I discovered our freight was passing through at least eight terminals.
That is a cross-docking nightmare!
Think about what that means. The truck carrying our freight backs into a dock eight separate times. The pallet is unloaded, sorted, moved, reloaded, and then the process happens again at the next terminal.
Docking and forklift handling introduces additional forces to the load. Each time a trailer backs into a dock, the resulting impact can generate more than 5g of force transferred to the pallets inside. Forklifts also accelerate, brake, turn, and reposition pallets rapidly. Those forces are transferred directly to the load and can cause individual components of a pallet to move relative to one another. Once those components begin moving, your stretch film has to work harder to maintain load containment.
The pallets themselves can also be damaged during handling. Forklift impacts can break the boards, leaving the load with a weakened foundation. Once a pallet is compromised, it is more difficult for the load to remain stable, making failure more likely.
If that isn’t enough, your freight is sharing the trailer with pallets of all different sizes, shapes, and weights. Trailers are seldom loaded to minimize movement, and it’s typical that no dunnage is used to control load movement.
That means there may be considerably more space around your pallet, providing more opportunity for it to move.
This illustrates an important point: The same pallet can encounter substantially more handling and opportunity for movement in an LTL network than it does in an FTL shipment.
Your wrap configuration didn’t necessarily become worse. The transportation environment changed and what worked well for your FTL shipments may simply not provide enough containment for the additional forces and handling associated with LTL.
So, what can you do?
We have studied the effects of these LTL forces on loads by simulating them in our lab. From the data we collected, we developed technology designed to dramatically increase the chances of successful LTL shipments.
Our Rapid Bander technology stretches the film until there is little to no elasticity (or stretch) left. This means that once a pallet is wrapped, and exposed to the forces I described, the film will not continue to stretch. That’s critical because if the film continues to stretch under force, it will dramatically reduce load containment, resulting in a higher rate of load failures.
We also incorporate reinforcement filaments that add strength and prevent the web from breaking as the load is being wrapped.
You may be thinking that this must cost more. However, the relevant measure is not simply the cost of a roll or the cost per pound of stretch film. It is the cost of film per successfully wrapped pallet, and ultimately, the cost of preventing damage and rework, because at the end of the day, what you are really buying is load containment.
Rapid Bander uses substantially less film while producing significantly greater load containment. The result is a reduction in the total film cost per pallet while improving load containment performance.
When shipping conditions change, your load containment strategy may need to change with them. A configuration that worked reliably for FTL shipments may need additional performance for LTL. Evaluate the actual forces your freight encounters, then select a wrapping system designed to withstand them.
Thanks for asking!