Creating Items when only cubic cm/m and total weight is available

Creating Items when only cubic cm/m and total weight is available

In order to accurately price a movement with carriers, MachShip requires:
  1. Length
  2. Height
  3. Width
  4. Weight
  5. Quantity
  6. ItemType
The reason that we need these dimensions over a pure cubic number is because various carriers have surcharges that can be impacted by these values, and the size of items can affect which vehicles are able to take the goods, and therefore the services that we can make available.
Examples of surcharges that are affected include:
  1. Over length surcharges
  2. Tailgate fees for items over 30-40kg
  3. Per item fees
If your system does not have the capability to generate full box dimensions, there are a few basic rules and formulas that you can use to generate these values while still ensuring we are able to get you as accurate as a rate as possible.
In order to accurately generate pricing, we need the full set of dimensions and every effort should be made to provide these as accurately as possible. The formulas and methods laid out below should be considered "workarounds" and only used in circumstances where there is no other choice.

Turning Cubic, Weight & Quantity Into Items - with longest side and largest weight

This first scenario will assume that you have five pieces of data available to generate your boxes.
  1. Total Cubic in M3
  2. Total Weight
  3. Total Quantity of Items
  4. Longest item
    1. This is the longest dimension on any item on the consignment
  5. Largest item weight
    1. This is the heaviest item of all the items
The two additional values at the bottom are important as they will allow us to flag in any overlength or item weight based surcharges or service restrictions.
If you're confident that your freight doesn't meet these requirements, then you can use the simpler formula in the next example - but if at all possible, these values should be included in your calculations.
In this example, we are going to assume the following values for our calculations:
  1. 0.6m3
  2. 45kg total
  3. 3 items
  4. 2 meters longest dimension
  5. 25kg largest item
Here are the calculation steps to turn this into box data:
1. Divide cubic by items to get 3 equal items = 0.6m3 / 3 = 0.2m3 per item

2. Convert cubic to dimensions
Cubic is calculated using L x W x H, so we need to reverses that
- We know one dimension is 2 meters.
- 0.2m3 / 2m = 0.1m2
- square root of 0.15m2 gives us two equal sides = 0.316m
- convert to cm x 100 = 200cm x 31.6cm x 31.6cm
- these are you item dimensions

3. Set one item to the max weight and divide the others by the remaining items
  1. 1 x 25kg
  2. 45 - 25kg = 20kg remains
  3. 20kg / 2 = 10kg for remaining items
4. Final items are:
  1. 200 x 31.6 x 31.6 = 25kg x 1
  2. 200 x 31.6 x 31.6 = 10kg x 2
This would ensure any over length surcharges have been included, the total cubic cm is close and the total weight and items are accounted for.

Turning Cubic, Weight & Quantity Into Items - without longest side and largest weight

If you don't know the longest side, or the largest weight - or these aren't a factor for your carriers and services, the math becomes a bit simpler.
In this example, we are going to assume the following values for our calculations:
  1. 0.6m3
  2. 45kg total
  3. 3 items
Here are the calculation steps to turn this into box data:
1. Divide cubic by items to get 3 equal items = 0.6m3 / 3 = 0.2m3 per item

2. Convert cubic to dimensions
Cubic is calculated using L x W x H, so we need to reverses that using cube root
- cube root of 0.2m3 gives us three equal sides = 0.585m
- convert to cm x 100 = 58.5 x 58.5 x 58.5cm
- these are you item dimensions

3. Divide the weight by the items
  1. 45kg / 3 items
  2. = 15kg per item
4. Final items are:
  1. 58.5 x 58.5 x 58.5 = 15kg x 3
To get the cubic closer to exactly matching you may need to set 2 decimals on the final cm value when rounding.

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