SECTION 5 - THE INPUT SCREENS.

(Covers main menu, container database, item input and input cargo summary) -

In this section more detailed information is given on the operation of the various data input screens within CARGOMANAGER. Many of the features of these screens were described during the guided tour and the discussion here assumes that you have carried out at least one investigation using CARGOMANAGER.

Having started CARGOMANAGER by selecting the CARGOMANAGER Icon or Start / Programs / CARGOMANAGER the main menu screen is displayed.

The main buttons on this screen allow you to:

• Input a New Problem

• Recall a consignment list (datafile) which has previously been saved.

• Examine the online manual (which has both a traditional index and additionally provides search facilities within the browser).

• Use a consignment datafile generated from your own applications (a Linkfile). This might have been generated from a spreadsheet or database for example.

• Update the database holding container dimensions.

• Update the database holding potential cargo items.

If you select to tackle a new problem then you are then prompted for a Cargo Description - this can be any text description which describes the consignment - then select Proceed.

You are then presented with the Container Database screen shown below.

The database contains information on up the 50 container sizes and these can be edited to suit your needs. The edit procedure can be selected from the main CARGOMANAGER screen.

IF YOU ARE USING AN EVALUATION COPY OF CARGOMANAGER then the Container Database will only contain one container size fixed by us. In all other respects the software will be fully functional.

Having selected the container size to be used the next screen requires you to input details of the items which will form the consignment. This includes the dimensions and characteristics of the case / contents, the number available for packing and any priorities.

The screen display provides for details for each case type to be entered on a separate 'page', and up to 15,000 case types can be defined. The details requested on the container / cargo screens include:

Cargo Code / Description - a character / numeric entry of up to 40 characters.

Container Description - a character / numeric code of up to 25 characters.

Container INTERNAL Length, Width and Height - integer values in the range 10mm to 30,000mm.

Maximum Container Load - The maximum load within a container - a numeric value in the range 1 kg to 60,000 kg.

In making entries on the Cargo screen the use of the enter or tab keys move the cursor to the next entry box. Alternatively the mouse pointer can be used to position the inserting point into appropriate entry fields.

The (by default empty) permitted orientations boxes immediately below the three dimension entries cater for cargo items which do not have a fixed vertical orientation. (To tick such a box click the left mouse button once - click again to remove the tick).

The two following tick boxes (also initially blank) allow for a particular dimension of the item to be forced to be lengthwise in the container - one or other of the two boxes might be ticked if we needed to force this arrangement - here no such restrictions apply. This might apply for one-way pallets.

The next entry which is required is 'Case Weight'. Values up to 999.9Kg are valid.

The left bottom portion of the screen allows you to specify whether the item MUST be placed on the container floor; whether other items can be placed on top, and the number of such items which may form a stack - default 99. 

Obviously some types of cargo are by their very nature necessarily placed on the floor of the trailer / container, either one layer high or perhaps a few layers high. Marking such items as heavy and setting a layer limit of 1 or more will ensure that a suitable loading plan will be produced. 

Normally CARGOMANAGER assumes that it is acceptable to stack other - non heavy items (i.e. items which need NOT be placed on the floor) - on top of those items marked as being heavy. If this is not the case then BOTH 'Item must be placed on floor' and 'No other case types on top' tick boxes should be selected for the heavy item and a maximum number of layers (1 or more) specified.

Items which are specified as having 'No other case types on top' will be limited in height to the number of layers specified. If a limit on the number of layers high is set, but no indication is given as to whether the item must be on the floor or must have no other case types on top, then the latter will be assumed.

There is an opportunity to relax the constraints so that Heavy items of different types and Fragile items of different types may be mixed. This is described in Section 6.

Remaining Data Items:

Towards the bottom right of the screen we can enter the number of such items to be loaded (0-20000) and the priority (normally 1-99, but a larger range can be used if required). If all items have equal priority then the default value of 1 should be used for all items. If some items have a higher priority then values 1, 2, 3 etc can be used where 1 is associated with item(s) of the highest priority etc. Use of the smallest range of priority values (1 to X) will speed up computation times. Once all details are complete for the whole consignment the Cargo List Complete option is selected.

The limit on the number of individual items which CARGOMANAGER will attempt to fit into a single container is 20,000. Thus the upper limit on the total number of cases which may be input assumes that several container loads may be input at once.

A summary is provided at the bottom of the input screen of the items input so far.

Rapid Data Entry.

Whilst manual entry of details into the Cargo Specification screen is relatively quick and easy two far quicker techniques may be employed. Both make use of the Item Database. As described in Section 10 this can be created and updated in a number of ways (from a spreadsheet, using the inbuilt database etc.), and holds details on products, their dimensions and other loading constraints. Once the database has been created then it can be used during data entry in one of two ways:

• After entering a Case Code (and pressing tab/enter) the Item Database is automatically checked for a match. Assuming one is found the dimensional / orientation information etc. is added to the screen and the cursor advanced to the Number to be packed field. (this action can be de-activated using the Itemsearch option).

• Alternatively (or additionally), you can display the whole of the Item Database on screen in a scrollable re-sizeable window by selecting (from the top of screen) the Itembase option. This is shown below. You can then double-click on any entry in the database window and (once again) the product information will be entered into the Cargo Specification screen. You can then enter the quantity to be packed and then select Add Item to add any further items to the cargo list. Note that this works in a slightly different manner depending upon the possible use of Shift or Caps Lock keys.

The automatic display on screen of the Itembase is a feature of this release (without the need to select Itembase). This will occur automatically whenever the database has 2 or more entries. The Itembase window can be closed at any time, can be moved around the screen, and can be re-displayed whenever needed using the Itembase option at the top of screen.

Container Size Selection.

The size of the container to be used will normally have been selected on the previous screen (or when the cargo list was first entered if packing a 2nd or subsequent container). You can change the size from this screen in two ways - select the Contdims option to display the current dimensions and edit as required or selecting the Contbase option to display the whole of the container database and selecting an entry from that database. You can also used the BestCont and MultiCont facilities described in Section 11 and Section 12 respectively in situations where the container size is uncertain and guidance is required.

Obtaining the Best Possible Packings.

The values entered above have a very significant impact on the quality of the loading arrangements achieved. Before specifying the orientation, heavy, fragile and number of layers values at a value OTHER THAN their defaults the points detailed below should be considered.

Where the normal stacking height of a product exceeds the loading height of the container, need the product be specified as fragile?

In many instances limited packing height will mean that products which might have a fixed vertical dimension within a warehousing situation will not be restricted in the same way within a container loading situation.

CARGOMANAGER, will, as in the case of manual load planning, be best able to provide good packings if few constraints are placed on possible orientations etc of the cases being loaded. An 'ideal' cargo will be one in which no fragile or heavy items exist and for which any case orientation is valid.

Also, when loading a single product into a container / pallet, you will be presented with the dialogue shown below. One of three options may be selected.

The first of these will attempt to pack as much of the cargo using any of the packing methods available to CARGOMANAGER. This may be a loading from the floor or from the end of the container. The second and third options are self explanatory and the one most appropriate to the practical circumstances should be selected. The 2nd option will attempt to minimise the length of the container used. It is recommended that in all instances where you wish to minimise the length used (whether single or multiple product types are loaded), then the Complexity option (Packing Options Screen) should be set at a maximum value of 2. For mixed cargo sets the options on layerering etc set on the packing options screen should be utilised.

On this screen, in addition to the 'Back', 'BestCont', 'MultiCont' and 'PackCalc' options there is the 'Options' button. This allows users to tailor the packing rules used by CARGOMANAGER to suit their particular loading environment. This is discussed in great detail in Section 6 of this manual.

As described on screen BestCont enables loading comparisons to be obtained for loading single container loads (Section 11) and MultiCont deals with multiple container packing using multiple identical containers of one or more sizes (Section 12).

On selecting the PackCalc option you are then prompted for a filename.

If you wish at some future time to re-run CARGOMANAGER using the same consignment data, perhaps changing slightly the quantities or dimensions then you now have the opportunity to write details of the Container and Cargo to disk for possible future recall.

If you do not wish to do so accept the suggested filename 'saved.dat' to hold the details.

One name LEFTOVER.DAT is NOT valid. This is a file used by CARGOMANAGER to (automatically) save details of unpacked cases which you may wish to place into a subsequent container.

If the name of an existing file is given then the user is prompted to overwrite the file or insert select another name.

Additionally, as described earlier, you can select the ItemBase option which will add all the dimensional information entered on the data input screens to the data held already in the Item Database. Where an entry has the same Case Code / Description as an existing entry then the new information will replace the old.

Another feature which may be of assistance here is the Table option. This allows you to view in a tabular form the cargo specified and quickly change the quantities associated with any or all of the current entries. This can be useful when the exact quantities are unknown until the last minute but the item codes are known well in advance. This screen is shown below.

Thus quantities can quickly be changed and their effect on loading easily ascertained.