How to Tackle Impact Damage
Key Takeaways:
- Learn what causes impact damage.
- How SpotBot 4G Plus technology and functionality help prevent damage.
- Tips for using monitoring data to analyze the effects of impact.
Businesses that ship products need effective strategies for mitigating product damage during shipping. Impact damage during shipment is a cause of significant business losses. Companies can reduce losses from impact damage in many ways, but here are the two more efficient ones.
The first is using monitoring and tracking technology to track shipments, and the second is using the data returned to improve shipping processes or packaging. Shipping tracking technology provides product monitoring around the globe.
You can stay connected to your products throughout their trip and download or view data as needed. The SpotBot 4G Plus connects you to your supply chain. Created for use in the life sciences, automotive, electronics, power generation, aerospace industries, and more the SpotBot 4G Plus provides detailed location, impact, temperature, and humidity data delivered to the SpotSee Cloud via cellular network or Wi-Fi connections.
This guide describes how monitoring and tracking technology can improve product quality and revenue by reducing losses from impact damage.
Common Causes of Product Damage
Improper handling and inappropriate packaging during shipping contribute to 60% of product damage and loss. This is a huge number that showcases a need to understand the common causes of damage during transit.
Impact
One of the most common issues is impact. This is caused by excessive or prolonged vibration and dropping or otherwise jolting a package from various heights or distances.
Even dropping a package from a height of only 3 feet can cause enough shock impact to crack a screen or loosen delicate parts on a circuit board. Vibration is another cause of product damage from impact and is caused by multiple tiny impacts over time. Products transported by truck or rail are subjected to frequent vibration caused by mechanical operations and unevenness of roads and rails.
Temperature
Temperature fluctuations can affect many sensitive products, including food, pharmaceuticals, and electronics. Time of day and extreme weather conditions can account for some temperature variations, making products too hot or too cold. For instance, plastics crack in cold conditions or warp and melt in high temperatures.
Tilt
Transporting items at an angle, or tilting, can subject them to undue stress, affecting their structure and function. For instance, tilting a refrigerator during transport can disrupt its internal mechanics and cooling efficiency, potentially causing long-term damage or reducing its lifespan. Any additional impacts experienced during the move compound this stress.
Humidity
Humidity often goes hand in hand with exposure to temperature variations. Humidity, when low, increases the incidence of static electricity discharge. When humidity becomes too high, condensation penetrates packaging or product seals and corrodes the product.
SpotBot 4G Plus: Technology and Functionality
Technology can help monitor shipments and reduce damage from impact, temperature fluctuations, and other factors. This technology includes devices that monitor the product’s journey during shipping and handling.
A monitoring device like SpotSee’s SpotBot 4G Plus can detect, track, and monitor product shipments worldwide. It can also track impact, temperature, tilt, and humidity. What you get is data, but not simply a mound of data. The SpotBot 4G Plus provides direct reporting that analyzes your data. Managers can use the reports to determine if packaging needs to be improved or who can be held accountable for product damage.
Analyzing the Effects of Impact Damage
What do you do with shipping and tracking data from monitoring devices? You need to take that data in the form of reports and discover where your strategic advantages and challenges exist. You can effectively analyze real-time data to address shipping issues within your supply chain. Additionally, you can find ways to improve business processes to reduce costs and create strategic advantages over your competition.
How can you manage damage to products that aren’t detected? When product damage isn’t immediately visible, it can lead to defective products being installed and used. When a product fails in the field, even if it was damaged during transport, it falls on the manufacturer to correct it. Corrections come in the form of warranty repairs or refunds, which are time-consuming and costly.
Manufacturers can alter product design and/or processes by analyzing data to reduce impact damage. From improved processes and design come reduced costs and increased business revenue. Your business depends on maintaining a reputation for quality products. Defend your reputation by leveraging technology to help improve products from design to delivery.
Implementing SpotBot 4G Plus to Mitigate Impact Damage
SpotSee has the technology you need to mitigate the impact and other sources of product damage. When you attach data loggers, indicators, or trackers to shipments, you will receive data on how your products are treated when they leave your dock. Using technology like the SpotBot 4G Plus, you can identify consistent issues with shipping conditions.
Data recorders, indicators, and trackers are an added layer of protection to monitor product shipping. Many SpotSee products can be used multiple times, so you save on cost. Using data recorders to monitor impact, temperature, tilt, and humidity can help decrease product waste by 50%.
SpotSee offers a variety of products that cover all product damage variables, including impact. Each product provides cost-effective product tracking and monitoring in various methods. It’s time to track and keep your products safe within the supply chain. Know and understand what products face during shipping and delivery. Ensure your processes and packaging are optimized to reduce impact damage regardless of source.
Save on warranty coverage and product replacement costs. Find the right quality carriers to service your shipments with continuous tracking. Protect your product quality from design to delivery with SpotSee damage tracking technology.
Contact SpotSee to learn how to monitor your supply chain, reduce business costs, and increase product reliability and customer satisfaction.
