(Covers the Introduction, MultiCont Operation, PrintAll, Adding Cargo, Levelling Cargo, Further Points)

12.1 Introduction.

As described in Section 11, CARGOMANAGER provides users with TWO facilities to tackle problems where the container size / sizes to be used are uncertain, and assistance is required to determine the most suitable container size for use with a given consignment.

1. The BESTCONT mode of operation (described in the previous Section) tackles problems where the final consignment is likely to require just a SINGLE container, and the user wishes to determine which of a number of available container sizes is most suitable for the load. In such instances CARGOMANAGER will load the maximum amount (volume) of cargo into the various container sizes selected. It will, of course, take into account aspects such as cargo fragility, heavy items and priority / priority grouped cargo.

2. The MULTICONT mode of operation (described in this Section ) tackles problems where a number of identical containers are likely to be required for a consignment, and the user wishes to determine which container size is most effective / most economical for loading the given cargo.

Earlier in his manual, in Section 4.2, the basics of MultiCont operation were introduced in the context of determining the number of identical containers of a single stated size that were required for a given consignment.

In summary, whenever running CARGOMANAGER, following data entry of a Container Size and the Consignment Details three packing modes are available to users:

1. PackCalc packs as much of the given consignment as possible into single container of the stated size.
2. BestCont examines how well each of a number of container sizes selected by the user perform when packing the consignment into a SINGLE container, the results being ranked according to performance.
3. MultiCont examines how well the stated container size (together with - if requested - each of a number of other container sizes selected by the user) perform when packing the consignment into MULTIPLE containers of each size - once again ranking the solutions obtained.

The PackCalc (standard) mode of operation was introduced in Section 3, BestCont is dealt with in Section 11, whilst the remainder of this section covers MultiCont.

12.2 MultiCont Operation.

Before going on to describe the operation in detail it is important to emphasize one important characteristic of multiple container loading - that is that packing as much as possible into the first container, then taking the remaining items and packing as much as possible into the 2nd container and so on may not lead to a multiple container solution which minimises the number of containers used. Using this approach items that 'pack efficiently' may be used up in the early containers, with 'awkward' items being left for later containers.

Whilst CARGOMANAGER initially uses similar packing techniques in loading both single and multiple container loads (i.e. in BESTCONT and MULTICONT), it uses additional packing steps in MULTICONT mode which take account of the characteristic described above. Thus, for example, MULTICONT might utilise a solution for its 1st container which fitted a little less than was possible using BESTCONT, but overall the efficiency over the multiple containers will be at least as good, and probably better, than multiple uses of BESTCONT.

In all instances, following data entry of a Container Size and Consignment Details, MultiCont can be selected from the packing options available. The screen from which it is selected provides you with information on the volume / weight of cargo specified when compared with the volume / weight limit of the container you initially selected. An example of this screen is shown below:

On selecting MultiCont, after firstly saving the cargo list to file, you are then presented with a screen from where you can select which (IF ANY) alternate container / trailer sizes should be examined in addition to the one already defined during data input. If none of the container sizes are ticked then CARGOMANAGER will load the given consignment into multiple containers of the size already specified.

This screen is shown below:

This screen details the container details held in your Container Database (up to 50) and when first run all the Active boxes to the right of the screen will be blank (unticked). Changes to descriptions / dimensions can only be made by selecting ContBase on the opening screen.

• IF the container size you wish to use for this multi-container load is FIXED, and no other container size is available / can be used, then you should ensure that none of the Active boxes are ticked and then select Continue. A packing will be carried out of the given consignment into the given (input) container size, and the number of containers required will be calculated.
• However, IF you are interested in the possibility of using another container size in place of the one size originally input then you can mark those container sizes as active before selecting Continue (as in the above diagram). CARGOMANAGER will then pack the given consignment into multiple copies of the container size you originally selected, and then repeat the exercise using each of the other container sizes you have marked as active. The results are then tabulated and you can select the solution you believe is most suitable. For any given consignment, and any selected container size, a load of up to 248 containers will be packed.

Before actually packing the cargo you will, as in other modes of operation, be able to save your cargo / container data to file (using either a default filename or a name selected to identify this particular consignment).

Having done so a Calculations screen will be displayed showing the progress of the packing process. Following this a screen is displayed which displays the performance of the 1 (or more) container sizes for this cargo. When just one container size has been specified (and no additional ones from the container database), then you will proceed directly to the results for that one container. 

In Multi-Container comparison mode, from the screen (shown below) you can select the container size you are interested in (here we have chosen 40' Std Steel (Maersk) and proceed to display a summary of the cargo loaded into each container.

The text on the above diagram explains what each column represents.

Having selected Solution CARGOMANAGER will calculate and display the number of items packed and utilisation of each container as is shown below.

In this example we have 13 'full' containers and a final 14th container which is less than half full. CARGOMANAGER will allow you to add cargo to the final 14th container, and also (if for example some small additional cargo were available) to add items to any / all of the 'full' containers.

Selecting Continue saves the consignment details for each container to disk and then displays miniature 3D pictures of the containers - 12 pictures to a screen.

 [Just the left hand part of a full screen is shown below]

From this screen any / all of the containers can be selected individually and detailed 2D/3D pictures and Cargo Lists can be produced. The bottom right of the screen has a menu which invites you to select a particular container (or view other pages of solutions - e.g. Containers 13 and 14 in this instance), and then having selected a container continue to display the solution in detail.

The 'Mini 3D' screen acts very much as a menu for further container selection and load plan printing purposes.

We have recently added a further facility to the menu on the above screen - PrintALL, which allows you to print out immediately a 3D load report and consignment picking list for either ALL containers or a selected range of these. You can in addition select whether the three 2D reports associated with each container are to be output, and whether the Cargo Co-ordinate Report is also to be output. When using this function you should note that

a) Just one 3D fully loaded container diagram is produced for each container and 

(b) you can generate a large volume of paper output very quickly!. 

Users who select to examine each container individually (as per previous versions) can naturally select the number of type of reports needed for each container individually. 

When PrintALL is used a single 3D report (with picking list) and optionally 2D and Cargo Co-ordinate reports are output. With most utilities which can be used to produce PDF or other image formats (Adobe Acrobat / CutePDF / Broadgun PDF) for saving to DISK the default filename will be based on the Container Description you input and a single file will be produced containing all the selected reports.

12.3 Adding Cargo.

The packing carried out by MultiCont will normally result in the packing of all the consignment. The two exceptions to this are (a) if an item is too big to fit into the given container size or (b) if the consignment requires 248 containers (or more).

Until the user selects to Add Cargo to any container it will still be possible to return to the Cargo Data (using the Back to CargoData button) and make changes to the data. Once you Add Cargo to any of the containers the additional cargo you enter will be added to any remaining items in the original consignment. 

Additional cargo can be added to any / all of the containers (space and weight limits permitting) - this being done by selecting a particular container, selecting Continue and then selecting Add Cargo from the screen which follows. At any time, when returning to the 'Mini 3D' screen the most up to date loading plan for each of the containers is displayed. However you will NOT be able to go back from the Mini 3D screen to the original cargo set.

Thus a user might, for example, select Container 4, and then Add Cargo. The original cargo descriptions would be shown (with zero quantities against each). Additional quantities of these, or more usually new cargo items, would be added and the new cargo set would be packed (as far as possible) into Container 4. If then, Container 5 was highlighted for examination and, once again, Add Cargo selected, any unpacked items remaining in the Cargo Dataset would form the initial Add Cargo dataset and this, together with any additional items then added would be loaded into Container 5 etc.

Thus once you select to Add Cargo to any container in the solution an 'Additional Cargo' dataset is created which can be used with any container.

12.4 Levelling the Load.

At any time when viewing (full screen) the load a Level Cargo option is available. This will level the load (where possible) in the current container and allow the user to print out load diagrams as required. The original (Unlevelled) load is always used as the base to which cargo is added using Add Cargo.

Only when the user selects to Load further containers with Remaining Cargo (an option only displayed when working with the final container) will the set of multiple container load plans be deleted and a new set of load plans produced.

12.5 Further Points to Note.

• During the calculations phase CARGOMANAGER calculates the loading of each container size in turn, and whilst it is doing so details of the container being examined are displayed on screen. A display window is also presented in the middle of the screen which shows you how the packing is progressing. Normally just 5-20 seconds are required to complete the packing of each container. The display window also contains a 'Break Early' button. This allows you to shorten the calculation phase associated with the packing of each container, but if this is used then the solution obtained may well not be as good as that which would have been obtained if no action had been taken.
• The results (naturally) take account of both the characteristics of the consignment and the container. Thus on occasion a result may appear unusually poor - perhaps due to container weight limits. This would be stated in the results if the US container was selected and a solution requested.
• The only attempt made in the table to rank solutions is by utilisation of the last (part-filled) container. Clearly you may have costs figures available comparing the costs of using each selected container size.
• Having selected the Solution button a table (Screen 6 - Tabular Packing Results) giving the load efficiency of each of the containers (of the selected size) is displayed. Following this you can examine the load plan for any of the containers, to which you may wish to add additional cargo or level the load.
• Also, from Screen 6 - Tabular Packing Results - you can select Best/MCont. This returns you to the screen displaying the various container sizes and their performance. You can then select an alternate container size and examine this in greater detail.

12.4 Obtaining Loading Plans.

MultiCont clearly has an important potential role as a quotation 'estimation' tool, but as shown above the complete set of overall load plans is immediately available. These load plans take full account of cargo and container restrictions, and thus the word estimation is in-appropriate - the quantities reported CAN be fitted.

It may be of interest to users to note that CARGOMANAGER does maintain a list of the items packed in each container after each loading in a file mcontent.out located in the CARGOMANAGER folder. Whilst a few users do utilise this file as a data source, most users will naturally require full graphical reporting.