Optimization of packaging sizes

Abstract

Various embodiments are provided for determining optimum sizes of packaging in a packaging suite employed in a materials handling facility. The packaging may be used, for example, in the shipping of items from the materials handling facility to various destinations. The sizes of the packaging in the packaging suite are determined based at least upon a cost associated with the packaging, packaging materials and shipping costs of the packaging when applied to a shipment history of the materials handling facility.

Therefore, having thus described the invention, at least the following is claimed: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least one computing device, the program having instructions that when executed cause the at least one computing device to perform a method comprising:
 retrieving, in the at least one computing device, a current packaging suite, the current packaging suite comprising a plurality of different packaging dimensions associated with a plurality of respective three-dimensional bounding boxes;   retrieving, in the at least one computing device, a shipment history over a historical period of time, the shipment history specifying a plurality of shipments shipped during the historical period of time, wherein individual ones of the plurality of shipments correspond to at least one item;   determining, in the at least one computing device, a packaging and shipping cost associated with the current packaging suite;   generating, in the at least one computing device, a plurality of adjusted packaging suites by modifying at least one of the plurality of different packaging dimensions by at least a minimum adjustment amount;   determining, in the at least one computing device, a plurality of adjusted packaging and shipping costs for servicing the shipment history using individual ones of the plurality of adjusting packaging suites; and   determining, in the at least one computing device, that at least one of the plurality of adjusted packaging suites yields a lower cost relative to the current packaging suite based at least in part on the packaging and shipping cost and the plurality of adjusted packaging and shipping costs.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the packaging and shipping cost associated with the current packaging suite is determined by applying a cost function to the current packaging suite and the shipment history. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises designating, in the at least one computing device, one of the at least one of the plurality of adjusted packaging suites that yields the lower cost as the current packaging suite. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises:
 iteratively generating, in the at least one computing device, the plurality of adjusted packaging suites by:
 determining that a subsequent adjusted packaging suite from the plurality of adjusted packaging suites yields the lower cost relative to the current packaging suite; 
 designating the subsequent adjusted packaging suite as the current packaging suite in response to the subsequent adjusted packaging suite yielding the lower cost; and 
 generating another subsequent adjusted packaging suite in response to the subsequent adjusted packaging suite not yielding the lower cost. 
   
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises identifying, in the at least one computing device, a break condition when the current packaging suite remains unchanged after a threshold number of iterations. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 4 , wherein iteratively generating the plurality of adjusted packaging suites further comprises:
 determining that the lower cost of the subsequent adjusted packaging suite meets a predefined threshold; and   in response to determining that the lower cost meets the predefined threshold, generating a recommendation to modify the current packaging suite.   
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 4 , wherein iteratively generating the subsequent adjusted packaging suite occurs periodically at predefined time intervals. 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 at least one computing device configured to perform a method comprising:
 retrieving, in at least one computing device, a plurality of packaging dimensions associated with a plurality of three-dimensional bounding boxes of a packaging suite, wherein individual ones of the plurality of packaging dimensions are associated with a respective one of the plurality of three-dimensional bounding boxes in the packaging suite; 
 retrieving, in the at least one computing device, a shipment history over a historical period of time, the shipment history comprising an identity of items associated with a plurality of shipments that have been shipped during the historical period of time; 
 determining, in the at least one computing device, a cost associated with shipping individual ones of the plurality of shipments using the packaging suite by applying a cost function; 
 generating, in the at least one computing device, an adjusted packaging suite by modifying at least one of the plurality of packaging dimensions by a minimum adjustment threshold, the adjusted packaging suite comprising a plurality of adjusted packaging dimensions; 
 applying, in the at least one computing device, the cost function to the adjusted packaging suite and the shipment history; and 
 determining, in the at least one computing device, that the adjusted packaging suite yields a lower cost relative to the packaging suite. 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein generating the adjusted packaging suite further comprises modifying at least one dimension of the plurality of three-dimensional bounding boxes of the packaging suite. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the cost associated with shipping the individual ones of the plurality of shipments is based at least upon a rate charged by a carrier to ship a respective shipment to a respective destination. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the cost associated with shipping the individual ones of the plurality of shipments is based at least upon a greater of a weight-based shipment rate or a volume-based shipment rate. 
     
     
         12 . The system  claim 8 , wherein the method further comprises:
 designating, in the at least one computing device, the adjusted packaging suite as a current packaging suite when the adjusted packaging suite yields a lower cost relative to the packaging suite;   generating, in the at least one computing device, a second adjusted packaging suite by modifying at least one of the plurality of packaging dimensions of the second adjusted packaging suite by a second minimum adjustment threshold;   applying, in the at least one computing device, the cost function to the second adjusted packaging suite and the shipment history; and   determining, in the at least one computing device, whether the second adjusted packaging suite yields a lower cost relative to the current packaging suite.   
     
     
         13 . The system  claim 12 , wherein the second minimum adjustment threshold is less than the minimum adjustment threshold. 
     
     
         14 . A method comprising:
 retrieving, by at least one computing device, a shipment history over a historical period of time, the shipment history comprising a plurality of shipments of items shipped during the historical period of time;   generating, by the at least one computing device, a plurality of packaging dimensions associated with a packaging suite, the plurality of packaging dimensions associated with a respective plurality of three-dimensional bounding boxes in the packaging suite; and   determining, by the at least one computing device, a cost associated with the packaging suite by applying a cost function to the packaging suite and the shipment history, the cost based at least in part upon a shipment and packaging materials cost associated with a selection of three-dimensional bounding boxes that are usable to package and ship the plurality of shipments during the historical period of time.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further:
 generating a plurality of packaging suites and calculating a plurality of costs each associated with respective ones of the plurality of packaging suites; and   identifying a respective one of the plurality of packaging suites with a lowest cost associated with packaging and shipment of the plurality of shipments in the shipment history.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein generating the plurality of packaging dimensions associated with the packaging suite further comprises:
 identifying, in the at least one computing device, a subset of item types in the shipment history that are most often shipped;   identifying, in the at least one computing device, item dimensions of individual ones of the subset of item types; and   designating, in the at least one computing device, the plurality of packaging dimensions to form a plurality of packages large enough to package the individual ones of the subset of item types.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the shipment and packaging materials cost is based at least upon an amount of fill material calculated to occupy a volume of the package unoccupied by at least one item associated with each of the plurality of shipments. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the shipment and packaging materials cost is based at least upon a rate charged by a carrier to ship a respective one of the plurality of shipments to a respective destination. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein generating the plurality of packaging dimensions associated with the packaging suite further comprises generating, in the at least one computing device, a set of random dimensions corresponding to each three-dimensional bounding box in the packaging suite. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 receiving as an input, in the at least one computing device, a total number of packaging sizes in a current packaging suite; and   designating a number of packaging sizes in the packaging suite as the total number of packaging sizes.