Optimized shipping

Delivering a product to a customer in a sustainable way can be a difficult matter. Even though the CO2 emissions from our logistics department contributes little to our overall energy consumption, we believe that a sustainable company must know how to deal with sustainable logistics. Our work in sustainable transportation encompasses everything from what type of vehicle we use to minimizing unused cargo space.

Vehicles used in transport

An important part in our endeavor for a sustainable transportation is choosing a well-suited vehicle. If possible, we choose to transport our products by ship or train because these forms of transportation are more fuel-efficient compared to other alternatives. In addition, we also put requirements on the selected transport service providers to make sure they live up to certain sustainability standards while opting for green alternatives whenever possible.

Packing optimization

In order to reduce the transport-related emissions, it is important to limit the number of trips taken. To achieve this, Nolato is developing new ways of utilizing unused cargo space. One way is to optimize packaging, making sure more products can be placed in the same amount of space. One example of this is optimizing package height in order to leave no room between the package and the roof of a truck. In only five years, Nolato Gota has increased the amount of products transported in each shipment by 50%. This shows how effective optimizing packaging can be.

Another way of tackling this problem is to persuade the customer to buy exactly the amount needed to fill up the transport. Instead of transporting a half empty truck, it is more cost effective and environmentally friendly to ask the customer to buy in bigger quantities.

Sustainable and reusable packaging

It is important to stabilize packaging during transportation to ensure that the products stay intact throughout the travel. The most common packaging material is shrink wrap. Although effective, the material is not suitable for one-time use; instead, it is important that the material is recycled in order to make transport more sustainable. 

Reusing packaging material requires good logistics

Working together with the customer makes it possible to reuse the packaging because it can be redelivered back to Nolato. In cases where this cooperation is not possible, Nolato tries to use cardboard boxes that can be recycled instead.

The future of shipping

Our wish is that we in the future will be able to simulate our transport-chain so that we can optimize it perfectly. With our experience in factory flow simulation, we believe this might not be in a very distant future. Today, we are always measuring and comparing our statistics from our shipping. All of our sales departments seek to increase sales, while at the same time decrease transports. Constantly wanting to improve and having a good environmental awareness is what makes us different, but also what will make us reach our goals.