Developing sustainable logistics: our efforts as an architectural product manufacturer to solve the 2024 problem and reduce driver working hours

Circumstances remain harsh in the logistics industry, including the driver shortage, increasing age of drivers, problems of long working hours and low wages, environmental issues, and a sudden increase in home delivery. We are also less than one year out from the “2024 problem,” when a regulation will apply to the maximum overtime hours for truck drivers. The SCM Department, which is in charge of the supply side of YKK AP’s monozukuri via an integrated production system, is making various efforts for product quality and supply stability. We spoke about the SCM Department’s initiatives with Hiroyuki Yotsuyanagi, head of the Logistics DX Promotion Office in the SCM Department. He works at the Hokuriku DC in Namerikawa City, Toyama Prefecture, which handles the largest distribution volume among our 10 logistics sites in Japan.

Our windows, doors, and other products come in many shapes and sizes. Some are flat, and some are more than five meters long. In contrast, we also ship small packages with just a few screws. Residential architectural products are becoming heavier these days due to better thermal insulation and higher performance. For example, some entrance doors can weigh more than 50 kilograms, and some large triple-glazed windows exceed 100 kilograms. We also have many fragile products made from glass and other materials, posing major difficulties in the logistics process.

We began palletization in 2015 and have been loading products on pallets ever since, but they were introduced as efforts at individual sites to improve loading efficiency, rather than as a companywide standard. The SCM Department established a team and worked with specialized business operators to start developing a new pallet. The old type had a thick wooden bottom and steel frame. We fully reviewed the construction, starting from scratch, to successfully create a new type of lightweight, thinner, stronger pallet that is compatible with the old type and easy to operate. The internal volume is 8% larger than before, and the load limit was increased from 400 to 600 kilograms. They can be stacked 10 at a time when returning empty pallets, compared to the previous number of eight. We paid particular attention to empty space at the top of low-floor trucks (*1), which we hadn’t been able to use effectively. By adding ribs to the side boards, we further increased vertical loading space by 25%.

The new pallet holds more cargo, but there was also the issue of how to effectively load pallets on truck loading platforms (called “palletization”). When depending on worker skills to load large quantities of cargo with different sizes and lengths, gaps can be left between boxes depending on how they are stacked. This reduces load size, leads to the unnecessary use of more pallets and trucks, and results in inconsistency. We developed the Y-Caps system to derive optimum methods for combining items. In this new system, each product or pallet is regarded as a single cube. It uses a cubic load optimization theory based on the operations research (OR) method. We solved each issue to bring it into practical use, such as considering the unique cargo characteristics, and reproducing the multi-step palletization process from the production line to the shipping site. With Y-Caps, in the truck assignment phase we can clearly visualize the necessary number of pallets, how they should be loaded, and how many trucks are needed. Moreover, we can focus on empty space and consider adding additional cargo to make more efficient arrangements.

We started full-on palletization (with both tangible and intangible measures) in 2016. Our initial palletization rate of 54% grew to 92% in FY2022.

Unit-loading makes loading and unloading much easier and quicker than before. Direct loading required two workers who spent three hours loading and three hours unloading, for a total of six hours. Pallets are transported by forklift; it takes just 15 minutes to load cargo and 15 minutes to unload it, for a total of 30 minutes. This is a 5.5-hour reduction for a single process. We’ve also achieved better work efficiency for other processes by using pallets to streamline preparations before loading and sorting after unloading.

As a company that ships products, YKK AP will continue making creative efforts to expand our unit-loading and strive for smart logistics with other business operators in that industry.

With the goal of work style reform in the logistic industry, the revised Labor Standards Act that comes into effect in April 2024 sets a maximum of 960 annual overtime hours for truck drivers. In principle, this puts a strict limit on their yearly work hours, from 3,516 (the current average) to 3,300. Although this is expected to improve the working environment for drivers, it will decrease the daily cargo carried by each driver. Some have pointed out the risk that this will worsen the labor shortage and lead to an inability to deliver items. We call this the “2024 problem.” Due to our close ties with logistics, in 2019 we endorsed the “White Logistics” Movement led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and we have worked to streamline our logistics and boost productivity with the aim of steady, sustainable logistics in and after the year 2024. We are also making efforts to further reduce driver working hours after establishing the unit-loading transportation system.