Auto-Consolidation Via The MachShip API

Auto-Consolidation Via The MachShip API

What is auto-consolidation?

Auto-consolidation is a feature of Machship that is enabled on a per carrier basis, where we combine newly created consignments into existing consignments at the point they are created, rather than making a new consignment.
The primary reason for doing this is to save on freight costs, but there are also integration simplification advantages where your ERP or WMS can simply create consignments and not have to manage them being combined as MachShip can manage that.

Auto-consolidation workflow

The workflow for auto-consolidation is as follows:
  1. An unmanifested consignment is created with a consignment id and barcodes generated, and labels likely printed - we will call this our "original consignment"
  2. Later on, a second consignment is created going to the same customer, with the same carrier and service selected
  3. Prior to allocating a consignment ID and barcode to this new consignment, we first check to see if there is an existing consignment with the same FROM and TO details, and the same carrier and service, that is in an unmanifested status.
  4. If a match is found, we add the line items from this newly created consignment to the matched consignment, and trigger the printing of the additional labels instead of making a new consignment - in this case it would mean these new line items are added to the original consignment from step one.
  5. If no match is found, we continue to delegate the consignment id and barcodes for a new consignment.

Requirements

For auto-consolidation to occur, the following criteria are required:
  1. Created under the same company id
    1. "companyId": "1111",
  2. All FROM AND TO details match
    1. toName
    2. toAddressLine1
    3. toAddressLine2
    4. toLocation - suburb, postcode
  3. Carrier, Service and account match
    1. carrierId
    2. carrierServiceId
    3. carrierAccountId
  4. Existing consignment is unmanifested

Common Questions & Issues

Can auto-consolidation work with least cost routing?
No, auto-consolidation cannot work with least cost routing - you must pre-allocate the carrier, service and account when you create the consignment for auto-consolidation to work.

What happens to the reference fields during consolidation?
References are concatenated together with a comma - so new references are appended to the first consignments values.

Is there a way to enable auto-consolidation for some consignments, but not for others?
The way to do this would be to look at the required fields and ensure they do not match in these instances.
You could add a unique ID to the contact name for example.

How does this effect the labels that are printed?
If you printed 3 initially, they would be 1 of 3 through to 3 of 3. Then, if you added two more, those labels would say 4 of 5 and 5 of 5.

    • Related Articles

    • How to Manifest via the MachShip API

      The manifesting of a consignment or a series of consignments in MachShip will finalise that consignment in the MachShip system and send through the consignment data to the transport provider. This data transfer will take place via the preferred ...
    • Machship API Integration Workflow Guide

      The objective of this article is to give you a quick-start guide in working with our API to achieve common integration workflows, and how that affects which API endpoints you wish to use. API Authentication & Documentation Our API accepts and returns ...
    • How to Edit Consignments Via The API

      The following article will cover how to edit a consignment via the API. The main use cases for an edit workflow include: Adjusting item weights/dimensions Adding new items Removing items Note: This article will not cover the basics of creating ...
    • Creating Pending Consignments using the MachShip API

      One of the key efficiency targets for any business is to cut out manual tasks and automate as many processes as possible. In the Supply Chain and Logistics sector, a key blocker to this achievement is having prior knowledge of the final shipping ...
    • A guide to creating Consignments via the API

      Creating consignments is at the core of MachShip's functionality. Consignments describe everything related to a job that needs to travel including the pick-up location, delivery location and the individual items themselves. On top of this, a ...