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Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

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Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#31

Post by crote »

vld5 wrote: post #10
rbaudibert wrote: post #9

I've had some friends in the logistics industry ask about a mobile app for this. How hard would it be to convert that to mobile? Are you depending on some complex libraries for the solver, or did you implement the algorithm yourself? I have 0 to no knowledge of C#.

I implemented the algorithm myself and although I don't have much experience with mobile apps programming I think that converting it to other programming languages or adapting it for other frameworks would be fairly easy. The real problem is the 3D rendering which is done using WPF 3D (Windows only), so I would need to completely rework it.

If you're going to rework it, perhaps consider making it a web app? Wrap it in Electron for desktop use, I bet there's something similar for iOS / Android.

That'd make it available as both a dedicated app for power users, and an (ad-supported) variant for occasional use.

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#32

Post by MisterBastahrd »

I suppose this would be useful for large supply chains. Once you get away from that and move to shipping from warehouse to store, though, this would be a largely be a waste of time. Stacking a pallet with various different sized boxes and shapes is a bit of an art form that is largely learned through trial and error until you "get" it (I was on a full time night stock crew while I was in college). It would literally take more time for workers to refer to the layout than it would for them to simply stack the goods onto the pallet.

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#33

Post by rabotnik »

Closi wrote: post #6

Looks great! If you did do something related to truck fill, would be great to see if it could be generalised to 3D bin packing. I’m currently working a free / open source warehouse management system so great to see other people working on supply chain problems!

Would love to hear more about a FOSS WMS - which aspects are you focusing on initially?

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#34

Post by rabotnik »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #32

I suppose this would be useful for large supply chains. Once you get away from that and move to shipping from warehouse to store, though, this would be a largely be a waste of time. Stacking a pallet with various different sized boxes and shapes is a bit of an art form that is largely learned through trial and error until you "get" it (I was on a full time night stock crew while I was in college). It would literally…

Pallet stacking can also be done automatically (with robots), and there are solutions (only privately developed/owned to my knowledge) that calculate optimal stacking for heterogeneous loads - interlock boxes for stability, weight (distribution & total), height, etc. Each box is characterized on induct (weighed, scanned, sometimes manually updated with metadata on crushability/fragility). Then an algo figures out best way to put the boxes on a pallet. I've seen this for grocery, but applicable in other use cases.

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#35

Post by ssl-3 »

MisterBastahrd wrote: post #32

I suppose this would be useful for large supply chains. Once you get away from that and move to shipping from warehouse to store, though, this would be a largely be a waste of time. Stacking a pallet with various different sized boxes and shapes is a bit of an art form that is largely learned through trial and error until you "get" it (I was on a full time night stock crew while I was in college). It would literally…

It's only time-consuming for workers to follow the planned layout when those workers are human.

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#36

Post by Closi »

tomtom1337 wrote: post #30
Closi wrote: post #6

Looks great! If you did do something related to truck fill, would be great to see if it could be generalised to 3D bin packing. I’m currently working a free / open source warehouse management system so great to see other people working on supply chain problems!

This sounds interesting! Have you published it yet?

Not yet but will shoot you a message when I do!

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#38

Post by avgDev »

Closi wrote: post #6

Looks great! If you did do something related to truck fill, would be great to see if it could be generalised to 3D bin packing. I’m currently working a free / open source warehouse management system so great to see other people working on supply chain problems!

I would maybe like to contribute to WMS. Wrote a WMS for a company I work for.

I use .net, C#, SQL, blazor.

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#39

Post by Closi »

rabotnik wrote: post #33
Closi wrote: post #6

Looks great! If you did do something related to truck fill, would be great to see if it could be generalised to 3D bin packing. I’m currently working a free / open source warehouse management system so great to see other people working on supply chain problems!

Would love to hear more about a FOSS WMS - which aspects are you focusing on initially?

Amazing! I’m trying to make a WMS that’s very easy to customise (rather than configure) - will come with a highly opinionated set of base processes but then will be built in a way that it’s incredibly easy to edit them (rather than building a million parameters/toggles).

Handset processes are installed like apps.

Re: Show HN: A Modern Palletization App

#40

Post by thy77 »

Just lasted 2 days moving pallets barrels and cylinders. I needed the customers to accept non-full 300 lb barrels instead of the full 500 lb. Couldn't do it. Pallets and wrapping were to load a bit easier but often we cut the shrink wrap at the first stop and the pallet had stuff for like 3 stops. Seems like the shrink wrap was practical to keep stuff from flying around but also regulatory, cops could write a ticket.
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