Packing Materials
The Smart Packing algorithm must know what packing material options you have available to determine the best way to pack an order. Packing materials are used to prepare items for shipping. You can add packing materials either manually, or through the import action using the Packing Materials screen.
The Packing Materials screen displays a table view of all packing materials that have been added to your system, regardless of whether they are enabled. You can also filter your table view by selecting one or more options under the Filters section:
Search: Allows you to search your table view for a specific packing material.
Kind: Allows you to filter your results by type of packing material.
Status: Allows you to filter your results based on whether the packing material is enabled in your system.
Type: Allows you to filter your results based on the carrier the packing material is intended for.
There are three buttons located at the top of the Packing Materials table:
Add Packing Materials: Use this button to add new packing materials to your account. This can be done either by manually entering packing materials from the Packing Materials page, or uploading packing materials to ShipHawk via CSV file.
Actions: Use this button to enable, disable , or delete selected packing materials from the table.
Generate Barcodes: Use this button to generate, download, and print packing material barcodes to have on hand for each workstation at each warehouse.
Add Packing Materials
Clicking this button will populate the Add Packing Material pop-up screen, where you can enter information about the new packing material you want to add.
This screen is separated into two sections:
Create Packing Material
Name: Enter a unique name that describes your packing material in the Name field.
Kind: Select the option that describes your packing material type: box, evelope, or pallet.
Material Weight: Enter the weight of the packing material in this field.
Max Weight: Enter the maximum weight that can be packed into the packing material in this field. NOTE: If you do not have a max weight that can be packed into the packing material, you can set this value very high so that it will not impact Smart Packing.
Outer Dimensions: Enter the packing material’s length, width, and height in the Length, Width, and Height fields under the Outer Dimensions section. These dimensions should be the outer dimensions of the packaging. Outer dimensions are fixed in space, the system does not assume these can be flexed in any direction.
Inner Dimensions: If you selected box as the packing material type (in the Kind field), you can enter the box’s inner dimensions under the Inner Dimensions section. Inner dimensions are useful to include if you package your products with any kind of insulation or loose fill materials. This ensures the packing algorithm selects a box with appropriate outer dimensions for fitting both the product and insulation (filler) material.
If you selected envelope as the packing material type (in the Kind field), you must then specify the Envelope Type (Poly Mailer / Poly Bag, Padded Envelope / Bubble Mailer, Paper Envelope, Rigid Mailer, or Other). You also have an additional Inner Dimensions setting: Max Height. Envelope dimensions will flex depending on the items packed inside the envelope. ShipHawk reduces the width and length dimensions as the height increases. The default Max Height for most envelope types is 50% of the shortest dimension between length or width. The Max Height for rigid mailers defaults to 27%, based on the limit flex of rigid mailers.
Max Pallet Height: If you selected Pallet as the packing material type, you must enter the Max Pallet Height you want Smart Packing to be able to pack onto that pallet. This does not include the pallet height.
For example, if your total pallet height can be 96 inches including the height of the pallet itself, your max pallet height should be 96 - the pallet’s height. If your pallet is 6 inches tall, this would mean the max pallet height should be 90.
Add Another Material: To add multiple packing materials at once, click the Add Another Material link at the bottom of the Create Packing Material section.
Assign to Warehouse(s)
To assign specific packing materials to specific warehouses, click to expand the Assign to Warehouse(s) section. New fields will populate:
Bulk Action: If you have multiple packing materials, you can assign them in bulk to specific warehouses by selecting the warehouses from the Bulk Action drop-down field.
Warehouses: To assign an individual packing material to specific warehouses, select the warehouses from this field for each new packing material.
Adding Packing Materials Via CSV
If you have a high number of packing materials, it may be easier to add them via CSV.
To do this, press the drop-down carrot on the Add Packing Materials button and select Import Packing Material (CSV). When you select this a screen will open that has a template linked that can be used to add packing materials. That template can be used to upload many packing materials at one time. You will need to fill out the columns in that CSV and re-upload it to ShipHawk. Below are the details about those columns:
public_id: this will need to be set to mc_xxx for all packing materials, ShipHawk will create an internal ID for the packing materials once the CSV is uploaded.
is_active: should be set to TRUE for all packing materials you want to be active in your account.
name: same as Name is described above, this should be a unique name for each packing material.
packing_type: this can be box, pallet, or envelope.
length, width, and height are all the same as the Outer Dimensions described above.
max_weight: this is the same as Max Weight described above.
max_stack_height: this only applies to pallets and is the same as the Max Pallet Height described above. For other packing types, this column should be left empty.
warehouse_code: this can be used to assign the packing material to certain warehouses. Multiple warehouse codes can be entered and should be separated by commas if so. If you want the packing material to apply to all warehouses, this can be left empty.
inner_width, inner_height, inner_length: these are the same as the Inner Dimensions described above.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do NOT want to define inner dims, leave these fields blank, do not enter 0 because ShipHawk will not accept inner dimensions of 0 and your CSV will be unable to upload.