Who said supply chains are boring?: A Day in The Life of a Packaging Box

Last year I began accepting external authors for my blog, which is humbling to say the least. Here is another submission from the folks at Intella forklift parts. It's a humorous and clever look at logistics.

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Forklift jack from Intella.

Good Morning! My day began early – before the sun was up – as I arrived at the Intella LiftParts Warehouse from ATIB Chargers. I was struck by a feeling of déjà vu, as if I’d been here before – but I’ll shake off that feeling to share my day with you. I’m a packaging box carrying aftermarket forklift parts from the manufacturer to the distributor, then to customers everywhere.

I arrived this morning via a container truck – it was a bit bumpy, but the journey was quick. On arrival the driver checked me in and the warehouse team member registered my arrival with his scanner and unloaded the pallet on which I was traveling with his trusty forklift. Next, I traveled on the fork lift into the holding area and was placed with other packing boxes carrying similar cargo.

A short while later, the pallet packaging was broken open efficiently and I was taken to the picking area by the warehouse staff members. In case you don’t know the lingo, the picking area is where the “pickers” review orders and “pick” the packages to fill the orders. More scanning followed as I found my place among the other boxes and awaited order fulfillment.

My wait was short, as an order for the part I was carrying came in late in the morning, and the next phase of my journey began. Once again, I was scanned. If you aren’t familiar with warehouse and distribution, everything is made simpler and more efficient these days by warehouse management systems designed to improve both efficiency and customer service. I was picked and quickly routed to the shipping area where I was again scanned and then labeled for delivery. Next, I made my way via lift truck to the staging area to await pick-up and delivery.

A bit later in the afternoon, the UPS delivery driver picked me up along with lots of other packages processed that day to fill customer orders. As we made our way to the UPS facility for processing, I was again struck by the feeling that I had done this all before! But no matter, on the UPS delivery van, I made my way with the other packages to the UPS facility, we were again scanned, tagged, and routed to our intended destinations.

I arrived with my precious cargo, a forklift battery charger, safely inside at the intended destination the following morning. The customer signed for me and quickly removed the packing tape, to reveal the content. The new charger was hurriedly sent to the customer’s maintenance department to be installed near the forklift while I was broken down and placed in the company recycling bin for the next step of my journey – a trip to the Recycling Facility. While I waited, satisfied that I had done my job well, I was once again overcome by that strange feeling of déjà vu – as if I’d done this all before.

Guest Post by Intella forklift parts

Full disclosure, I take no compensation for running this article