A Dimensioner is a tool that measures the volume and dimensions of an object. Knowing the volume and dimensions of a product allows a business to design their packaging, shipping and storage procedures to maximise valuable transport and warehouse space and increase throughput and profitability.  

 

With the huge global growth in online shopping, the number of parcels being delivered each year continues to increase. In 2018, 87 billion parcels were delivered globally and this number is expect to rise to 200 billion in 2025. With this number of parcels being shipped around the world, dimensioning and weight data is becoming vital for logistics, couriers and freight companies to maintain and improve efficiencies and profitability.

 

As well as couriers, any company that provides or uses a courier service would benefit from knowing their products dimensions and weight to calculate storage and accurate shipping charges and to maximise their profit.

 

Importantly. our Resolution Dimensioning Solutions have the option of being supplied with a scale in order to simultaneously measure a products weight as well as dimensions and thus provide even more valuable data for analysis.

Courier, Express and Parcel (CEP) companies, Postal Companies, Freight Companies, E-Commerce and Retail Companies all employ dimensioners in their warehouses and the most forward thinking companies use they dimensioning data to maximise efficiency in packaging and shipping.

In recent years, all freight carriers have switched to a pricing policy that takes the freight dimensions into consideration in addition to their weights. As such, having a systematic approach to measure every item of freight has become a very important requirement and has increased industries awareness about dimensioners.

Dimensioners have been used for the over 35 years and during that time different technologies have been employed for calculating dimensioning. These technologies can be categorised into 4 generations.

Generation	Technology	Comments
1st	Ultrasonic or Infrared Point distance measurement	Objects must be aligned to the corner   Not possible to measure irregular objects
2nd	Lasers	Accurate but costly   Objects must be in motion   Difficult deployment. Black objects cause problems
3rd	3D Cameras	Affordable and flexible   Not as accurate as laser-based dimensioners
4th	3D Cameras + Machine Learning	Accurate, fast, simple-to-deploy and affordable

 

Which is the best type of Dimensioner?

The best type of dimensioner is one that uses 3D imaging technology to provide fast and accurate results at a really affordable price. The Resolution Dimensioning range uses 3D imaging and can provide accurate dimensioning results in 0.05 seconds at a fraction of the cost of other out dated solutions on the market.   

Dimensioners can also be grouped into two types: static and dynamic. Static dimensioners require the object to be stationary during the measurement. They are compact, easy-to-use and more affordable than dynamic dimensioning solutions. However, although larger and more expensive, Dynamic Dimensioners are fast and can process thousands of freights per hour, a vital requirement for many industries and applications.

 

A. If the number is around 100-300 freights per measurement station, then static dimensioning is the way to go, otherwise, a dynamic dimensioning system should be used.