Cases, pallets and four intervalsSIC 46900 · non-specialised wholesale trade
SIC 46900 is the wholesale half, and the word that does the work in it is non-specialised. The goods on one order need not belong to one category, so the thing being specified is not a range. It is a consignment: a set of outers, built onto a stated number of pallets, going to one place on one booking.
Nothing on this page is a quoted duration. A lead time is a sum of four intervals, and this office states which interval an order is sitting in rather than offering one figure that covers all four.
What an order has to fix before it can be picked
| Ref | Field | Left open, it causes |
|---|---|---|
| O1 | Quantity, with its level named | A delivery out by a factor of six, twelve or more, depending on the line |
| O2 | Minimum residual life, in months | A consignment accepted on paper and rejected at the receiving bay |
| O3 | Pallet type and maximum height | A pallet built taller than the receiving door, or too tall to double-stack |
| O4 | Mixed or single-line pallets | A goods-in count that has to be done unit by unit at the far end |
| O5 | Delivery window and site access | A tail-lift booking against a bay that has no tail-lift clearance |
| O6 | Who signs at the far end | A delivery note returned unsigned, which is a count nobody has agreed |
O1 is the field that causes the most expensive mistakes and the easiest to prevent. An order for sixty of a line whose outer holds thirty-six units is sixty bottles, three hundred and sixty bottles or two thousand one hundred and sixty bottles depending on whether sixty meant units, inners or outers, and all three readings are grammatical. The converter below settles it in writing before a pallet is built.
Building the pallet from the case count
A pallet is built from layers, a layer from cases, and a case from inners. Every one of those three steps is a multiplication, and each one is a place for a figure to be read at the wrong level. The arithmetic is set out below in the same order the pallet is built, so a receiving bay can check it against the delivery note without recalculating anything.
| Step | Multiplication |
|---|---|
| M1 | Units per inner, times inners per outer, gives the case count |
| M2 | Cases per layer, times layers, gives cases per pallet |
| M3 | Cases per pallet, times the case count, gives units per pallet |
The four intervals, and what closes each one
| Interval | Runs from | Closed by | Closed by whom |
|---|---|---|---|
| I1 | Enquiry in the mailbox | Every field on the specification answered, residual life included | Both sides |
| I2 | Specification agreed | Order confirmed in outers, pallet configuration and window stated | The buyer |
| I3 | Order confirmed | Pick checked line by line, pallet wrapped, labelled and noted | This office |
| I4 | Pallet ready | Collection inside the booked window | The carrier |
Only I3 is entirely this office's to close, which is the reason the four are reported separately. An order waiting on a residual-life figure is not slow; it is incomplete, and no amount of work in the bay moves it on. Naming the interval tells a buyer whose desk the order is on.
Documents a consignment generates
| Ref | Document | Raised by | Proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Agreed specification | Both sides | What was ordered, field by field |
| D2 | Pick list | This office | What left the rack, by batch |
| D3 | Pallet label | This office | What is on the pallet without unwrapping it |
| D4 | Delivery note | This office | What was handed over, once it is signed |
| D5 | Carriage paperwork | The carrier | What the carrier accepted and under which requirement |
Aerosols and nail lacquer are treated as dangerous goods for carriage, so D5 is the carrier's document and the carrier states the requirement for the consignment. The pallet is built to that instruction and the pallet label is written to match it, which is why an aerosol line is never added to a confirmed order after the paperwork is raised. The retention period for each of these five is on the records page.