The concept is to ship instrumented packages via both UPS and Federal Express from various origins to various destinations. Acceleration, temperature, and humidity will be recorded and used to calculate/interpret velocity change, drop height, impact orientation, impact surface stiffness, and tosses. One size and weight dummy package will be shipped, and recorders from both IST and Lansmont will be used as the instrumentation.

This test plan describes an initial pilot project to measure the small parcel, second-day shipping environment. This test plan will focus on helping define the process for data collection and analysis. The information gathered during this phase will be instrumental in composing a final test plan. This document is not intended to be a comprehensive assessment of the second-day shipping environment, but an initial pilot program to better define the feasibility and process.

Information requested is:

Confidence in test plan using the one size, one weight and given sample shipments

Guideline and formula’s (or graphs/tables) per variable on calculating confidence factors.

Consequences in adding one or more variables

This is new information provided by the Equipment group.

A wooden mockup shall represent the dummy product and will be designed such that one IST or one Lansmont portable field recording devices can be mounted rigidly. The portable field recording device shall be orientated similar to the shipping container to record top, bottom, front, back, right side, and left side .

- Outside dimensions of dummy product 17" X 15" x 8" (43.2cm x 38.1cm x 20.3cm)

This dummy product must be made from common materials that can be obtained anywhere in the United States. Attachment B will contain all drawings and specs.

This sample must have a detailed drawing so that duplicate samples can be produced consistently.

The cushioning material must be able to protect the portable field recording devices with maximum G forces below 50 G’s when dropped from a height of 60 inches. The cushioning material shall have uniform density. The cushion material must be able to obtained anywhere in the United States.

The Shipping container shall be an inside dimensions of 23" x 21" x 14" (58.4cm x 53.3cm x 35.6cm). This shipping container shall be made of doublewall flute (B/C) corrugated with a minimum bursting strength of 275 psi with a liner/medium makeup of 42#L-26#M-33#L-26#M-42#L and shall be #3 white in color. The manufacturer’s joint shall be glued.

A total of eight 3" (7.6 cm) thick polyethlyene laminate corner blocks of 1.2 pound (0.54 Kg) density will be used to cushion the dummy cushioning (designed to 50 G from 60 " drop (1.5 m)). Shipping container and foam to be changed out each complete trip.

The portable field recording devices shall be packaged into the shipping container so the corner of the dummy product is towards the manufacturer’s joint (figure 1). The shipping container shall be taped closed using a minimum 2 inch wide clear box sealing tape in a H pattern on both the top and bottom flaps (figure 3). The total combined shipping weight of the dummy product and the packaging material shall be 25 pounds (11.3Kg).

Figure 1

The shipping label shall be orientated on the top flaps (surface 1) with respect to the manufacturer’s joint (figure 2).

Figure 2 - Identification of box surfaces*.

There shall be a return label inside of each shipment to aid in product recovery if the external ship label is degraded.

4.0.1. Portable Field Recording Device calibration

Each package needs to be calibrated with varying drop heights. This information might determine a signature for each recording device per sample package. It would be ideal if this signature could produce a graph of velocity change verses coefficient of restitution.

Signature pulses should also be available on kicks, tosses and other package impacts. This information shall be documented for each dummy product/packaging system.

All portable field recording devices to be used in the study will be subjected to a drop height calibration prior to starting data collection. The calibration will be performed at the SJSU lab and will consist of the four replicate drops using a free fall drop tester, for each of the following parameters:

Drop heights: 12, 24, 36, 42 inches (30.5, 61, 91.4, 106.7 cm)

Orientation: one flat, one corner, one edge (orientation will be picked at random)

The total procedure will therefore be consisted of 4 x 4 x 3 = 48 drops.

A portable field recording device will be considered within calibration if the deviation from true height is less than 5% (example, for a 42 inch drop (106.7 cm), accepted readings are between 40 and 44 inches (101.6 and 111.8 cm), etc.). If all readings can be adjusted by using a single correction factor, then this factor will be used in the analysis and the unit will be used. Otherwise the unit will not be used in the study.

Each portable field recording device will be referred to by their trade name and serial number.

Portable field recording devices will be sent for calibration to:

Dr. Jorge Marcondes

San Jose State University Packaging Laboratory

One Washington Square

San Jose CA 95192-0058

As soon as the portable field recording devices are sent for calibration, senders will fax SJSU Packaging Lab at (408) 924-2955 to inform them that a portable field recording device is being sent. In the fax, please indicate the sender and the contact numbers and address for return.

Carrier account: A carrier account will be needed for SJSU to send portable field recording devices back to users.

Calibration label: SJSU will indicate the calibration date and any correction factor to be used, by sticking a "calibration label" on the right side of the portable field recording device.

The IST and Lansmont equipment shall be as close to identical as possible. The full scale for each portable field recording device shall be 50 G’s. The internal clocks and date shall be set to Pacific Standard Time.

The shipping label shall be orientated on the top flaps with respect to the manufacturer’s joint.

Before shipment, drop the packaged portable field recording devices 3 times, with a 1 minute lag between drops, from 36 inches on to the bottom surface. This will be used by the analysis group as a calibration check and when the recording has begun. These 3 drop events will eliminated and not be used in the analysis of that trip.

Beta Phase - A packaged system will be shipped 3 times through each carrier. There shall be 6 participating shippers and 6 receivers involved in the beta phase (table 1). The packaged system will be shipped through normal air shipments to the main sortation hub for the specified carrier. The package will undergo the normal sortation process then will be rerouted back to the original shipper. This boomerang shipment will be equivalent to one complete shipment. See figure 4 and 5 for details.

Table 1

Figure 4

Figure 5

All shipments shall be 2nd day express. It is understandable that some of these shipments might actually be traveling by ground. This is still considered part of the 2nd Day system. This test plan shall be limited to only two carriers. These carriers are United Parcel Service and Federal Express. The confidence factor of data will determine the number of locations that the products are shipped to.

Shipment must be made on Monday or Tuesday and returned via carrier hub by Friday. Packages shipped over the weekend will most likely go only by ground.

Retrieve raw data files from unit without processing. Raw data files will be sent to SJSU for analysis. The data should not be analyzed before sending to SJSU.

The information from sections 3 and 4 shall be documented in a given form for each shipment. This form (attachment_A) shall also include both recorders serial numbers and the dummy product’s serial number (if applicable). This form shall also include trip number, place/date/time of shipper, as received condition, date/time of return shipment, and file name (noting the different extension for each recorder). Details of the expected route, actual route (if known), company and people names/addresses and phone numbers shall also be included in the report. The date, carrier and carrier’s tracking number shall also be recorded.

Other notes to consider are carrier’s label location and weather conditions.

This form shall accompany the recorder during shipment.

Carrier Web Site Tracking - Print out

The following naming protocol was develop to add intelligence to the filename structure. The structure consists of 8 variable characters with a three letter extension for the differing field data recording devices (figure 6). The 8 variable characters are broken down into six groups of alpha and numeric characters. The first 2 alpha/numeric characters identifies the company shipping the field data recording devices. The next two numeric characters describes the weight of the package in 5 pound increments. The fifth numeric character in this series identifies the shipping method(s) used. The sixth alpha/numeric character identifies the carrier used. The seventh alpha/numeric character identifies the region(s) where the shipment took place. The eighth alpha/numeric character identifies the shipment number in the series.

Each company participating in the MADE study, registers and obtains a 2 alpha/numeric code which will be used to identify their company. The 2 alpha/numeric code starts with 01 and go through 99, then 1A through 9Z, then A1 through Z9, then finally AA through ZZ. The alpha characters "I" and "O" have been removed to prevent confusing them with the numeric characters "1" and "0" in the file name. Overall, this will allow 1,107 individuals to participate.

Two numeric characters will be used to describe the gross weight of the packaged product in 5 pound increments. The two numeric code starts with 01 and go through 99. This will allow shipments up to 495 pound to be measured. To identify which number to use, simply divide the gross weight of the packaged product by 5 and round up to the next whole number. As an example 25 lb. would be number 05.

An octal based numeric character will be used to describe the shipping method(s) used. The octal notation will be additive and used to describe the known modes of transportation encountered during the field measurement. Below is the numbering system and an example of how it can be used.

1 - Air Transport

2 - Rail Transport

4 - Sea Transport

Example 1: The shipment is going from the Western US to the Eastern US by two day express and will only see truck and air transportation modes.

Truck + Air = 0 + 1 = 1

Example 2: The shipment is going from the Eastern US to Asia Pacific by common carriers and will experience truck, rail, and sea transportation modes.

Truck + Rail + Sea = 0 + 2 + 4 = 6

Each carrier participating in the MADE study, registers and obtains an alpha/numeric code which will be used to identify their company. There are 34 slots available for carriers. The alpha characters "I" and "O" have been removed to prevent confusing them with the numeric characters "1" and "0" in the file name.

For this study, Federal Express will be "F" and United Parcel Service will be "U".

An alpha/numeric character will be used to identify the region(s) where the shipment took place. The primary regions and their alpha/numeric designation (1 - A) are shown in table 2 and figure 7. Additional combination (B - Z) are available for multiple regional shipment. The alpha characters "I" and "O" have been removed to prevent confusing them with the numeric characters "1" and "0" in the file name.

Table 2

Figure 7

An alpha/numeric character will identify the shipment number in the test series. The table 3 below shows the alpha/numeric character assignment. The alpha characters "I" and "O" have been removed to prevent confusing them with the numeric characters "1" and "0" in the file name.

Table 3

Table 4

The following will be the file name series the shipper should use. (XX represents the unique company code assigned above)

Table 5

Upon retrieval from one trip the portable field recording devices shall have the shipping data down loaded to a 3.5 (1.44mb) floppy diskette. Procedures are outlines in Attachment C part B.

Using the carrier's web tracking feature, logon on to their web site, load in the tracking number and print out the tracking results. This will be used to try and isolate where the recorded events took place. The tracking web addresses are below.

Table 6

The data disk(s) and web page tracking print outs shall be sent to the following address:

For files collected as round trip, the data will be split so that the results can be estimated for single shipments rather than round trips. For each file, and each way of the trip, data will be analyzed, converted and reported in terms of:

distribution (frequency) of drop heights (or equivalent drop height)

highest drop, second and third highest drops, highest 1% and highest 5%

distribution of impact direction

temperature and relative humidity (min, max, average, std. dev.)

After all files are obtained for each package type, an additional analysis will be performed and will be reported in terms of:

drop height (or equivalent drop) height distribution for all trips

highest drop, second highest and third highest, highest 1% and highest 5% for all trips

Distribution of the highest drops, second and third highest drops for all trips

Distribution of the 1% highest drops for all trips

Distribution of the 5% highest drops for all trips

distribution of impact direction for all trips

temperature and relative humidity (min, max, avg, std. dev.)

Proper distribution models will be determined for each case above (Weibull and Log Normal have been suggested and will be investigated to fit the data).

Attachment A Shipment Form

Package and trip documentation form

(to be included with all shipments, and sent along with the raw data for data analysis and processing at SJSU)

If this form is found anywhere, please mail it to:

Dr. Jorge Marcondes

SJSU Packaging Laboratory

One Washington Square

San Jose CA 95192-0058

If this package was opened either accidentally or because of missing outer label, please contact SJSU immediately at (408) 924-3210 and the sender as indicated in section 3 of the form.

 

 

Attachment B Dummy Product Spec

Outside dimensions of dummy product 17" X 15" x 8" (43.2cm x 38.1cm x 20.3cm)

Attachment C Instructions for Senders

1. System, calibrated at SJSU, containing an EDR-3 or a SAVER , hard mounted on a wooden block (you should have received the corrugated fiberboard boxes and the foams to be used with this system).
1. User’s Manual for EDR-3 or SAVER
2. Software for EDR-3 (DOS) or SAVER (2 disks) (Windows)
3. Connection cable for EDR-3 (serial port) or connection cable for SAVER (parallel port)
4. Hex wrench for opening/closing EDR-3, or hex wrench for SAVER (if it needs battery replacement)
5. 5 Labels to be attached to disks and sent to SJSU with raw data
6. 5 Labels for mailing data disks to SJSU for analysis
7. 5 forms to be filled out and placed inside the package for shipment; these forms will be sent to SJSU together with the disks, for each trip.

1. You need to have at hand the "MADE Test Plan version 5.0" (you will need "Appendix C", with changes noted below).
1. You need an IBM compatible PC with a serial and a parallel port free, Windows 3.1, and some hard disk space (10 MB)
2. Set computer date and time
3. Install Dynamax (DOS based for EDR-3) or Saverware (Windows based, for SAVER).
4. The recording unit is hard mounted to the wood rig. The unit does not need to be removed from the wood rig for connection to the computer.

1. If unit off, Turn unit ON by pressing toggle lock switch to DOWN position and pressing and holding Select button.
2. Make sure computer date and time are current.
1. Go to directory for Dynamax (DM default), type "D".
2. Open EDR-3 unit with hex wrench and connect cable to a COM port and the unit. Press and hold select to put into communication mode
3. Go to "communicate" in the menu select items.
4. Go to "set user doc", give filename according to test plan. Add all relevant information. When finished, hit "esc".
5. Go to "set RCPs" and "enter menu", and choose parameters as per "Appendix B" in the report, with the following modifications: Sample frequency : 500 Hz, Pre-trigger length: 400, Post trigger length: 50, Trigger level: 5. Ensure that the following parameters are set as follows: trigger duration threshold: 2, maximum event length: 450, overwrite limit: 100, temp. sample period: 30 minutes; Auto off time: 14 days.
6. Press "esc" and check battery with "get RCPs". Should be 9 but if 7.5 - change batteries.
7. "esc" and "esc", "send and start"; wait for the "done" message to appear at the right side of the screen. (overwrite any previously recorded data), "esc", "exit"
8. Disconnect cable from unit, close unit replacing its cap by securing it with the 4 bolts (do not over tighten).

1. Make sure computer date and time are current
1. Start SAVER software
2. Connect cable between unit and computer, using the printer port
3. Click on "setup gateways"
4. On the unit, push the "ON" button; wait until LED stops blinking (approx. 2 minutes)
5. Click on "drop height," or if setup is previous saved to file, then click "Load Setup" and file name, revise setup as needed.
6. Click on "query unit". Click on "OK" in instrument configuration. Save instrument calibration click "yes". For setting up next time, just click on the unit’s serial number, and click "OK".
7. Select "maximum drop height" as 72"; "estimated trip length" as 14 days; "drop height resolution" as "fine". Click "OK".
8. Fill out "trip text" information, with all relevant information. Click "OK".
9. Click on "Advanced Setup" (this will be done to ensure that the raw data file will fit on a 3.5 inch 1.44 MB disk).
10. For ‘SIGNAL TRIGGERED DATA", change the following parameters: samples/sec.= 1000, sample size = 1400 (now "recording time" should show "1.4 sec."); signal pre-trigger: 93%, memory allocation: 98 events.
11. For "TIME TRIGGERED DATA", change the following parameters: wake up interval: 30 minutes. Make sure the "Record Waveform" is NOT chosen, and that "Record T/H and Static Signals" IS chosen. Click OK.
12. Click "send setup to SAVER". Click "OK" on "setup SAVER clock". Click OK, exit.
13. Click "Talk to Instrument," click on "Check Status" and check battery. If status is below 2.4, replace with 4 C-cell batteries, exit, and hang-up.
14. Disconnect cable from unit.

1. Go to directory for Dynamax (DM default), type "D".
2. Careful - it is possible to overwrite existing file by hitting "D" and then hitting the "enter" key.
1. Open EDR-3 unit with hex wrench and connect cable to a COM port and the unit.
2. Go to "communicate"; Go to "get recorded data".
3. Choose "filename.RAW"
4. Wait until all events are transferred; "esc" and "exit"
5. Disconnect cable from unit, close unit by securing lid with 4 bolts (do not over tighten).
6. Turn unit off by: put in Communication Mode with the lock switch up.

• Toggle lock switch down 7 times and leaving in down position on the 7^th time.
• Hold select button until 2 lights come on.
• Release select button and lock toggle switch up.

1. Start SAVER software
1. Connect cable between unit and computer, using the printer port
2. Click on "talk to instrument"
3. Click on "read back data"; wait until reading is finished.
4. Answer "NO" to the question "process the instrument data now?"
5. Save as "filename.DI1"; Exit
6. Disconnect cable from unit. On the unit, push the "off" button.

After retrieving data from the unit, save it to disks (one files should be made for each trip, with the appropriate extension: RAW (for EDR3) or DI1 (for SAVER).

Using the carrier's web tracking feature, logon on to their web site, load in the tracking number and print out the tracking results. This will be used to try and isolate where the recorded events took place. The tracking web addresses are below.

Use the enclosed labels for the disks and for the mailing envelope to be sent to SJSU. Before sending, backup data and keep a copy in your files. Send disks, tracking results, and shipment form (attachemnet A) to:

Dr. Jorge Marcondes

SJSU Packaging Laboratory

One Washington Square

San Jose CA 95192-0058

Please email marconde@sjsuvm1.sjsu.edu or fax (408) 924-2955 communicating when each trip is finished and disks are sent to SJSU.