PART II | LESSON 5: THINK LIKE THE PACKAGE MATERIAL HANDLING ACADEMY

Lesson 5 Worksheet: Think Like the Package

Work these in order and don't flip back to the lesson until you've taken a real swing at each one. The point isn't the right label, it's learning to feel the ride before you draw a line.

Easy Way or Hard Way

Two cartons, told by their leading dimension. Circle how each one is riding, then write the one detail that made you call it that way. Remember the rule underneath: at least three rollers under the package at all times.

CARTON 1

A 15 by 8 carton rides down a roller conveyor with its 15-inch side pointed forward, running in the direction of travel.

Riding Easy way Hard way
CARTON 2

Same 15 by 8 carton, but now it comes off a divert turned so its 8-inch side leads. The rollers underneath didn't change.

Riding Easy way Hard way

Name the Family

Six things that might show up in a customer's mix. Check the family each one belongs to. If it isn't a carton, a tote, or a soft pack, it's specialty handling, and that's the one you can't afford to find out about after the system's built.

ItemCartonTotePolybag / Soft PackSpecialty
Rigid corrugated case of canned goods
Padded envelope holding a paperback
Reusable bin with a lip and base flange
Passenger tire, shipped loose
Poly mailer of folded shirts
Suit on a hanger, no footprint at all

Ride the Polybag

Put a padded mailer on a roller conveyor in your head and push it forward. Write what it does at each of these three points, and why it's not behaving like the carton behind it.

1. It accumulates against the package in front of it under pressure.

2. It crosses a transfer onto a takeaway.

3. It reaches the scanner.

RIVERSIDE PROJECT NOTES

Dana's team sent over the WMS product report. Four products, and this is your first real look at the material the whole system has to carry. Read each row like a package, not a spreadsheet line. No calculator. Write a one or two sentence behavior read for each, in the package's voice where it helps.

ProductDimensionsWeight% VolMy behavior read
Small Case8" x 6" x 4"3 lbs4%
Standard Case13" x 9" x 3"12 lbs78%
Tall Case10" x 8" x 14"18 lbs12%
Large Case22" x 15" x 7"28 lbs6%