SCDigest Editorial Staff

SCDigest Says:

The key benefit, Montreuil says, would be the removal of complexity from many aspects of logistics operations, ushering in a new era of opportunities for automation, process standardization, and other efficiency gains. What Do You Say? Click Here to Send Us Your Comments Click Here to See Reader Feedback

Most of logistics professionals understand the benefits of the simple ocean shipping container, created in the 1950s by SeaLand and its legendary CEO Malcolm McLean. That invention, which standardized the handling unit for sea transportation of cargo, was actually a critical factor in the growth in global trade for the next half century, as recently captured in the book The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, by Marc Levinson.

Is it way past time for a domestic equivalent?

Yes, according to Benoit Montreuil, current President of the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education.

“Even the container paradigm switch has not yet succeeded to have pervasive penetration within facilities or in smaller size transportation,” Montreuil writes in a recent column on the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) web site. “Most handling, storage and transportation is still stuck with the huge complexity of dealing with general merchandises or a myriad of unit loads, instead of standardized modular containers designed for ease of handling and transportation.”

He adds that “Even though MHIA has an industry group for returnable containers, we are still far from the equivalent of the world standardized shipping container. In 1993, I voiced this move toward modular transportation and handling, with very limited success.”

Of course, there are some examples, such as the CHEP type pallets required by many retailers for full pallet shipments from consumer goods companies. Still, in general these steps towards more universal standards have been very limited.

Montreuil thinks universal domestic container standards could revolutionize supply chain and logistics.

“I am making a stand here that the greatest achievement yet to be made in handling, logistics and transportation is really to enable easy, open and efficient access to, deployment of, and interaction with objects throughout the world,” he states.

(Distribution and Materials Handling Article - Continued Below)