Digital efficiency in logistics: Intelligent planning of loading meters and load distribution
Transport logistics is coming under increasing pressure due to volatile procurement and sales markets, high energy costs, and growing demands on delivery capability and sustainability. Inefficient route structures, suboptimal utilization of loading space, and fragmented system landscapes lead to unnecessary costs, wasted resources, and reduced responsiveness in day-to-day business. At the same time, the complexity of operational planning is growing beyond what humans can manage – especially when multiple restrictions such as time windows, capacity limits, and customer priorities come into play.
This article highlights five key efficiency levers that companies can use to sustainably optimize the cost structure of their transport logistics, improve the quality of their planning, and increase their resilience to short-term disruptions. The basis for this is the targeted use of modern technologies, data-driven analysis methods, and AI-based decision support.
1. Route optimization: Reduction of non-value-adding kilometers
A major cost driver in transport logistics is inefficient route planning. Uncoordinated stop sequences, untapped bundling potential, and unaccounted restrictions (e.g., driving time regulations, time slots, ramp capacities) lead to excessively long distances and low transport efficiency.
AI-supported route optimization systems enable the automatic calculation of cost-minimizing routes, taking into account load planning and all operational restrictions. This leads to significant savings in variable transport costs (diesel, tolls, driving personnel) and relieves existing fleet capacities. Relevant KPIs such as kilometers per stop, utilization rate per route, or cost per unit delivered improve sustainably.
Another advantage: dynamic re-optimization allows short-term plan changes (e.g., order loading, vehicle breakdowns) to be mapped automatically, making scheduling more responsive and robust. Dependence on individual experience logic is reduced through systematic decision support—a key factor in times of increasing staff shortages in scheduling.
2. 3D load space optimization: Maximizing load space utilization
Another lever for efficiency lies in the optimal utilization of available cargo space. In practice, trucks are often underloaded, either due to a lack of transparency regarding packaging structures or a lack of digital loading planning.
Modern 3D load space optimization systems automatically take into account geometric dimensions, weight restrictions, stackability, handling specifications, and loading equipment restrictions. This can significantly increase cargo space utilization per shipment—typical potential savings range between 20 and 25% more volume utilization. This directly leads to a reduction in transport frequency, optimizes capacity planning, and lowers costs per ton-kilometer.
In addition, a digitally generated loading plan increases process transparency at the ramp, minimizes incorrect loading, and reduces manual coordination efforts between warehouse, transport, and dispatching. Here, too, system-supported planning replaces subjective assessment and enables consistent results regardless of the experience level of individual employees.
3. Strategic network optimization: intelligently reducing structural costs
Unstable vehicles, limited steering ability, or even damage to tires and axles—incorrect loading and load distribution in a truck not only violates safety regulations, but also leads to unsafe transport and, in the worst case, serious accidents. In addition, each delivery must be planned precisely to ensure that the goods fit on the truck in order to optimize vehicle utilization and avoid special or empty runs. Precise load meter planning is particularly important in the automotive industry, where bulky components such as bumpers or body panels are often transported. Here in particular, optimized truck utilization can save huge sums in transport costs and tons of CO2 emissions.
We therefore show how load meters are calculated, how to determine the correct load center of gravity, and how digital solutions can help.
How are load meters calculated?
To determine the required load meters, the length, width, and height of the goods are first measured. Then multiply the length by the width and divide the result by the usable interior length of the truck. This gives you the load meters required for a single load. To determine the load meters required for the entire load of a loading device, multiply the previously calculated factor by the number of items. When making the calculation, it is crucial to take into account not only the length but also the width and height of the goods in order to ensure safe and efficient transport. Depending on the type of goods, other factors such as weight or stackability may also be important.
In addition, when actually loading the vehicle, care must be taken to ensure that the center of gravity is correct in order to guarantee stability and safety during the journey.
Determining the correct center of gravity
Particularly in the automotive industry, where heavy vehicle components such as engines, transmissions, or body parts are transported, the correct weight distribution in the truck is crucial: even a few centimeters of displacement on an axle weighing several tons can have a massive impact on driving characteristics. Shippers and drivers must therefore always have an overview of the weight distribution of the load. If the load is not distributed correctly, this can have serious consequences, for example:
- Reduced driving stability due to excessive or insufficient axle loads
- Reduced braking ability due to reduced tire traction
- Faster tire wear
- Increased risk of tire damage
- Overloading and excessive stress on the drive axle (for semi-trucks) or the front axle (for trucks)
The permissible payload of a truck may only be applied if the center of gravity of the load is within a certain range of the loading area. Vehicles may therefore only be loaded in such a way that the values for
- total weight or total mass
- axle loads (minimum and maximum load)
- static support load (for rigid drawbar trailers) and
- saddle load
are complied with.
As a general rule, when distributing the load, one-sided loading of the vehicle should be avoided. The center of gravity of the load should be as close as possible to the longitudinal center line of the truck and should be kept as low as possible. This means that heavy goods should be placed at the bottom and light goods at the top. However, it is not always possible in practice to distribute the load evenly throughout the entire vehicle: depending on the type of goods being transported, the center of gravity may be more towards the front or more towards the rear of the loading area.
What is the purpose of a load distribution plan?
A load distribution plan helps to ensure that a truck is loaded correctly. According to the German Social Accident Insurance Institution for the Transport, Post and Telecommunications Industry (BG Verkehr), the load distribution planshows the allocation of possible payloads to the respective distance from the front of the loading area (front wall) to the load center of gravity. It is usually a curve or graph that shows the position on the loading area where a certain mass may be placed so that neither the front nor the rear axle is overloaded.
The values that must be taken into account when creating the plan are specified in the VDI 2700 guideline. These include:
- Axle load(s) empty in t
- Maximum axle load(s) in t
- Minimum axle load(s) in %
- Wheelbases in m
- Length of the loading area in m
- Distance between front axle and front wall in m
- Distance between front axle and rear axle in m
- Distance between center axle and rear axle in m (if available)
This information can usually be found in the registration certificate for the vehicle in question. Alternatively, it can also be obtained from the manufacturer.
Creating a load distribution plan
Once this basic data has been determined, the possible payload is calculated as a function of the permissible axle loads at various points on the loading area. The values are then entered into a schematic cross-sectional drawing of the vehicle: The horizontal axis represents the length of the loading area in meters, while the vertical axis represents the load weight in kilograms or tons. Connecting the values or points in the drawing creates the load distribution plan, which specifies the maximum payload for each position along the center longitudinal axis and the distance of the load center of gravity from the front wall. Based on the plan, the load must be placed so that the center of gravity always lies within the curves shown.
If the goods are symmetrical, it is relatively easy to determine the ideal load center of gravity. However, when goods of different sizes have to be loaded onto the same truck for transport, the calculation quickly becomes complicated: in this case, the overall center of gravity must be determined. In theory, this can be done using a mathematical formula. In practice, however, there are a number of tools that can be used to determine the ideal load distribution, such as digital software solutions.
Determining the ideal truck load with the help of the S2data Platform
There are numerous aids available to make loading vehicles easier – for example, pressure gauges on the truck frame, displays on the dashboard showing actual axle loads, or markings on the sides of the truck indicating the possible center of gravity. There are now also online tools for calculating load meters or creating a load distribution plan. However, cargo space planning is much easier with comprehensive digital solutions such as the S2data Platform.
The S2data solution takes a holistic approach to cargo space planning and optimization and uses algorithms to make cargo space utilization as efficient as possible. It takes into account all relevant factors such as load meters, volume, mass, and stackability to ensure that every centimeter of available space is used without exceeding legal requirements, for example, regarding axle loads.
The integration of the software into existing TMS and ERP systems, as well as data exchange with production, material, and warehouse planning, enables comprehensive transport planning and ensures smooth coordination between different parties along the supply chain. The required loading meters are automatically calculated based on the available data, supplemented by key figures such as volume, mass, axle load distribution, and stacking ratios. The platform always keeps an eye on the total cost of ownership and strives to achieve the optimal balance between cost savings and efficient use of capital.
This is visualized by 3D loading planning, which records the dimensions, weight, and stackability of all goods and creates detailed three-dimensional loading plans. Both regular and special loading units such as mesh boxes or pipes can be optimally positioned in these plans. The algorithms take into account loading regulations, palletizing, unloading sequence, and load securing, so that the dispatcher receives precise instructions and empty runs and suboptimal loads are avoided. In particular, taking the unloading sequence into account in accordance with just-in-sequence requirements is a major advantage for the tightly scheduled transports in automotive production.
Conclusion: Leave precise load planning to algorithms – and save time, costs, and emissions
Overall, digital software solutions such as the S2data Platform thus offer highly efficient, automated support for loading a vehicle – without the manual calculation of load meters or the time-consuming creation of load distribution plans. The software, including 3D visualization, ensures maximum cargo space utilization and, thanks to innovative algorithms, ensures that all legal requirements for load safety are met. Optimal vehicle utilization not only avoids unnecessary costs, but also reduces CO2 emissions – an important aspect for the ecological footprint of the logistics industry.
Further sources (in german):
https://www.ladungssicherung.eu/ratgeber/lastverteilungsplan/
https://www.jh-profishop.de/profi-guide/wie-viele-paletten-passen-in-einen-truck/