Supply Chain Moves: Week of November 9th, 2020

Labelmaster Supply Chain Moves

 

SUPPLY CHAIN MOVES
Brought to you by: Labelmaster Software

Week of November 9th, 2020

Linking technology news with Dangerous Goods compliance

With the surge of e-commerce orders expected to continue through the holiday season and into 2021, manufacturers, retailers, carriers and logistics providers are all looking to technology to help keep pace.

To help companies keep a pulse on technology trends impacting business and the movement of dangerous goods throughout the supply chain, Labelmaster has launched “Supply Chain Moves,” a bi-weekly report linking the latest technology news to dangerous goods compliance.

Let’s examine the recent supply chain technology and industry news.


TECHNOLOGY

  • A Paradigm Shift: Intelligent Supply Chain Planning Systems: AI and machine learning have made supply chain planning systems more intelligent. This is manifested in people augmenting decisions made by the system rather than the traditional way of systems augmenting the human decision-making process.

3PL TECH


Technology & Dangerous Goods Compliance

The e-commerce industry has continued to surge throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and all signs indicate that this will continue through the holiday season. And some of the fastest-growing, most popular gifts use large format lithium-ion batteries: power tools, leaf blowers, lawn mowers, chainsaws, snow blowers, e-bikes and more.

These rechargeable batteries—and the products they power—pose a transport hazard, including a small but significant risk of spontaneously catching fire due to a process called thermal runaway if the batteries are not packaged correctly and short circuit. That’s why lithium batteries are classified as considered dangerous goods, and why large format lithium-ion batteries are fully regulated hazmat.

Shipping dangerous goods is complex and complicated, so some companies shy away from these items. Yet there are customers who want to receive these products, and your competition is shipping to them compliantly every day.

In a recent blog post, Labelmaster outlines 13 things every e-commerce shipper should know about shipping large format lithium-ion batteries. Here are just a few:

  1. Any lithium-ion battery rated higher than 100 watt-hours (Wh) is fully regulated Class 9 hazmat.
  2. Large format lithium-ion batteries require UN specification packaging, special labeling and special documentation.
  3. If your standalone lithium battery shipment will be transported by air, it can only travel via cargo aircraft.
  4. Anyone who is involved in preparing or handling them for transport must have full hazmat training for all modes by which they’re shipped.
  5. There are different rules for shipping batteries packed with or in equipment.
  6. If you are a manufacturer or subsequent distributer you will need to have test summaries on file for each type of battery you ship.

Whether you ship a handful of large format lithium-ion batteries or a hundred thousand, you make sure your shipments are safe and compliant. Non-compliant battery shipments can hurt your bottom line, and in a worst-case scenario can injure or even kill workers in the supply chain.

Check out the full blog post to learn more about how to safely and compliantly ship lithium batteries this holiday season.

To learn more about dangerous goods software or how to establish a safer, more compliant supply chain, visit https://www.labelmaster.com.

Have questions about dangerous goods transport? Call the Labelmaster Regulatory Hotline at 1.800.621.5808.


DGIS Challenge: You can make more money shipping hazmat. We'll prove it.

As the industry’s most robust, flexible, and advanced hazmat shipping software, Labelmaster’s DGIS can actually help your operation make more money. DGIS validates shipments and prepares DG declarations so quickly, you can handle more shipments every hour. And more shipments mean more revenue.

Try your own numbers in our calculator to see the added revenue DGIS can generate for you.

Labelmaster Software Partners

Authors

*

Top