Working out Parcels sizes of Multiple Boxes?

[TotallySport]

Hi

Does anyone know if there is a system to get the dimensions of seperate boxes which have been order together, put togetthere to get the best dimensions?

Eg I need to send thee boxes to the same person

box 1 = width 5cm x depth 5cm x height 7cm
box 2 = width 2cm x depth 1cm x height 7cm
box 3 = width 7cm x depth 1cm x height 15cm

now I need an equation on how do add these in some way to say they smaller box they will fit into is width x depth x heigh regardless of which way we have set the three dimensions.

Any thoughts would be appriciated.

 

[gibby]

get intouch with your couriers as each do it a different way.

G

 

[TotallySport]

lol, never thought of that I will do thanks.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

There is a volume calculator on the Parcelsplease website that could help you;
http://www.parcelsplease.co.uk

But remember, that each carrier has a different formula, and each carrier has different maximum limits/dimensions.

 

[TotallySport]

There is a volume calculator on the Parcelsplease website that could help you;
http://www.parcelsplease.co.uk

But remember, that each carrier has a different formula, and each carrier has different maximum limits/dimensions.

Thanks for the info, but thats not what I was looking for, unless I am missing something.

But what I want to do, is automate part of my system so when someone orders 3 items, the system works out the size of the box it will fit into, which inturn will work out the volumetic weight, and therefore we can price international courier prices more accuratly.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Got you! No I don't know of anything but I'll PM you an email address of a 3PL company I know that have a lot of ancillary software products.

 

[CaterTrade]

I was trying to figure this out last night and I think if you wanted to do something yourself then it would be extremely complex. First you'd need to work out the total volume by adding each dimension to two other dimensions from the other boxes * each dimension added to two other dimensions from the other boxes * each dimension added to two other dimensions from the other boxes. Then randomise the dimensions and repeat. Once every possible permutation has been worked out then you'd have every volume for the boxes either stacked or side by side and at every way round. Sort the results and record the minimum volume. Then you'd need to work out if putting two together on top of one other is possible by adding the dimensions of to and seeing is they are smaller or larger width/depth dimensions than the other one. Record the volume. If the volume is smaller then that's your minimum volume'd bounder box, it it's bigger then the previous volume is the answer.

I tried writing it in PHP to get my head round it but gave up half way through when the FOR loops got to complicated for a Sunday evening

 

[enigma1]

First of all you need to get rid of the terminology wxdxh and treat them all as dimensions to simplify things.

Presumably you will have some predefined box sizes (with fixed dimensions) to ship the items with, in which case you need to take the predefined dimensions of the box to ship and based on that rearrange the dimensions of the items in question.

So say the available boxes to ship say are:
5x10x20
10x20x30

You sort out the boxes in question so the lowest numbers of each come at the same position with the same order as the fixed ones So in your example lets rearrange them:
5x5x7
1x2x7
1x7x15

Then you have better picture of the code/formula that needs to be implemented. You can add the dimensions and check if they fit for each box to ship. Adding up the dimensions of the boxes in question now you get:

7x14x29

Then you can check which box they fit in. There are already specs and modules for various carriers with some ecommerce packages that do this kind of thing but if you are implementing it for a specific carrier you still need check the spec. Some carriers assume a certain order and limits in dimensions.

 

[TotallySport]

Thanks for the info, we don't have prefined box sizes, but although I see the advantage, all we need is to get a rough size.

However you way of working it out is slightly flawed, becuase you wouldn't always need to add the sizes up, eg is a size is 15cm long then surely the other 7 cm boxes will fit within that space, and wouldn't need adding, however although all the boxes might fit in a 15cm x 7 x 5cm (all the largest sizes) there is still going to be alot of empty space, and what happens is 1 thing is long and wide but flat?

ooooo this is getting complex indeed

 

[enigma1]

Sure you can optimize the space further but you cannot rely on the maximums. For example 3 items of 1x1x1 won't fit in a 1x1x1 box. And you need a reference to optimize it into usually. But you asked for an optimum here is a simple approach.

Work with the volumes first take the total volume (294) and break down the primitives by taking the 2 max dimensions of all items then estimate the 3rd, for example:

Take the volumes:
5x5x7 = 175
7x15x1 - 105
2x1x7 = 14
Total 294

Get the 2 maximums
15x7

calculate the 3rd taking into account the volume:
15x7xX = 294 => X = 294/105 => X = 1.43 round it to 2
That should give a possible optimum box.
15x7x2

It's really simplistic but it may do what you want.

 

[TotallySport]

Thanks sorry for the delay, although that obvisouly as none of the dimensions would fit into the 2cm dimensions used in the last example.

Actuall the smallest dimesions I can work out are:

15 x 7 x 5

As the two with 7 as the longest sides would fit along the sides of the 15.

Also a thought on comparisons to existing packaging we buy in, how does it work for flat envolopes, the hieght is 0 yet it fits items in?

I guess I have a little more work to do.

 

[enigma1]

Yes, you're right, I missed that part basically once the final dimension is calculated (in this example 2) to add a comparison operation if the calculated dimension is less than the max dim value.
5x5x7
1x2x7
1x7x15

So the final (2) calculated based on the total volume can be compared with the max dimension for the first col on the above and be replaced with whatever is greater (2 or 5 in this example).

For items in envelopes theoretically they do have dimensions although in most cases weight is used instead. The height may be negligible but it is still > 0.