Truck Scales have become an integral part of the freight industry
There are numerous freight forwarding and logistics companies that operate in extremely sensitive environments.
Even a small error can have a big impact on the overall satisfaction of their customers, and eventually on their profits. This makes it crucial for such businesses to get every detail right, especially their weighing and shipping practices.
Flawless weighing practices help freight forwarders reduce the variance between the shipping weight and the stated weight, prevent overloading and achieve optimal and safer loading of the vehicles.
Moreover, you can also maximize your profits, elevate safety and provide reliable services.
You can achieve all of this with the types of weighing scales that are appropriate for the nature of your business.
Hence, let us look at the best suited truck scales for freight forwarders and related transport companies.
Portable Truck Scales
These scales are extremely useful when portability is critical for operations. They are an affordable solution that also offers versatile weighing options for several measuring units.
They are suitable for freight forwarders as they as have the capacity to handle heavy loads in motion.
You can customize portable truck scales to allow for the use of various peripheral components such as large load terminals, receipt and ticket printers, and digital weight terminals. They can also be designed to run in dynamic or an in-motion weighing mode.
The freight forwarders can use this advanced feature to weigh heavily loaded trucks without having to stop.
Weighbridge Truck Scales
Weighbridge truck scales have the ability to weigh high-volume materials efficiently. They are a good investment if you have permanent or semi-permanent weighing sites that generally require heavy-duty truck scales.
You can effectively optimize your weighing operations and achieve faster throughput, which is critical for profitability of every freight forwarding business.
These scales are made with durable material and have stronger weight sensors and rugged designs to keep up with the tough industrial conditions they are employed in. Due to this, they are dependable and produce accurate results every time.
Based on where and how you want to use the weighbridge truck scales, you can either opt for above ground or pit mounted varieties of these scales. You can also pair them with a wider range of industrial accessories, indicators and software for customized weighing and data management solution.
These scales primarily function by using several load cells that are capped off with flat load plates, thus providing accurate readings.
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On-board Truck Scales
These scales offer freight forwarders an extremely cost-efficient way of monitoring and calculating the weight of the vehicle.
Numerous on-board weighing systems are designed using the latest on-board weighing technology which can monitor the change in electrical resistance caused by the strain from the cargo.
As a freight forwarder, you also have the option of customizing the scales to meet the unique weighing requirements of your facility, without creating faults in their system.
The on-board truck scales come in a design that has a wiring system which ensures instant application. When you start your vehicle, the on-board truck scale system will become active.
The driver won’t be able to make any changes to the system without seeking proper authorization. This means that the driver can only monitor the weight via the display system. If the truck exceeds the set weight, an alarm provided in the system will go off, thus helping you avert overloading.
Due to the reliability, efficiency and accuracy provided by truck scales, they are the most recommended for freight forwarders, especially those that run a large fleet of trucks. Moreover, they are easy to use too.
Choose the truck scales carefully based on the requirements of your business and it will surely have a positive effect on your profits.
Author Bio:
Kevin Hill is the content editor and online marketing manager at Quality Scales Unlimited.
Always an early adopter and fast learner; Kevin combines his technical knowledge with content marketing in creative ways to give Quality Scales Unlimited a competitive edge.
Thank you for the detailed description of the weight scales across different scenarios, very good article.
Appreciate photos of weight scales to be added to the article.
Thanks for the good work doing in the shipping industry. I real enjoying reading your article.
Interesting, but ultimately there will always be some kind of variance. Customers, whether import or export, should realize that is always down to the CFS calculation and shouldn’t expect forwarders to jump the gun. Everything other than CFS is just an indication. VASTOS always applies.
Thus the truck scale used for general cargo at the POD?
Hi Hariesh,
Good article and so true especially if you consider the VGM requirements for SOLAS. But also there is another angle, as a trucker you need to optimise the payload of your vehicle without exceeding the legal restrictions of the country you are in, so knowing the TARE weight of the unit is important and then knowing what the legal load you can carry assists in routing the correct unit to the customer. If you keep a record of all overloads or under loads then you can put in corrective actions so you are working as close to the legal limit as possible – maximizing payload. Secondly when using scales it is important to make sure the company supplying the scales is reputable and you can check on this through various agencies like SANAS ( in South Africa) also you need to make sure the actual scale can do the job you are wanting it to do ( has the type been registered with any national agency who can confirm this) and lastly when you get it is installed always check the technician who calibrates the scale is trained to do so.
Then you will have a trouble free system.
Then how do you verify the accuracy of the scale in between calibration periods? I look for an internal system to check the scales daily or weekly which does this, usually by putting a precalibrated weight onto the scale each day to see it is still accurate. Keep a record of this as it will be evidence if there is a dispute. and prove to any auditor that you are monitoring yourself to ensure you are always within the law.
Cheers
Chris Walden