In this guide 6 sections
Short deliveries start with the job quantity. They fall through gaps: too little over-run, unbooked rejects at finishing, miscounted packs, or a note written from the order, not the pallet. Trace one job from order to delivery note, compare the count at each stage, and write the gap in a single row.
Check the job quantity first
Open the job card first. Read the quantity actually released to the press, and see whether it was the customer’s order or the order plus an over-run allowance. Many shortfalls are decided right here.
Over-run is not a fixed number. A long run absorbs waste, but a short run on a complex die cut can lose a large share to make-ready and rejects before the first good carton. Ask who set the allowance.
If the same product was short last time, compare the two job cards line by line, including board grade, die number and the over-run each one carried. Different allowances for one carton explain many complaints.
Follow the rejects through finishing
Waste at the press is usually booked. Waste at finishing often is not, even though cartons tear at stripping, glue fails on the folder-gluer, labels misregister at rewinding and pouches leak at the seal.
Ask the operators how they record rejects. A tally chalked on the folder-gluer or a note scribbled on a pallet never reaches the office, so the system still counts every sheet as good quantity.
Look for a gap between the quantity leaving the press and the quantity reaching packing, because a short delivery is usually born in that gap. Measure it on one job.
- Sheets or metres leaving the press
- Rejects at die cutting, stripping and gluing
- Rejects at slitting, rewinding or sealing
- Quantity received at packing
Test the packing counts
Packing counts go wrong in plain ways. A pack meant to hold five hundred cartons holds four hundred and eighty, and the buyer finds out only on opening the third pallet. A pallet carries a planned count. A bundle is split to fit a gap.
Packs are counted by weight, by machine counter or by hand, and the record should name which method was used at each stage. A weighed sample can drift when board weight varies, and a hand count can slip late in a long shift.
Compare the pallet label to a physical count on three pallets from the same job, opening the wrap and counting every pack by hand. A mismatch is a repeatable cause.
Compare the delivery note with the pallet
The note is where shortfalls surface. If it is raised from the sales order it states the ordered quantity, even when fewer cartons were loaded onto the vehicle.
Raise the note from what was scanned or counted onto the van, with pallet count, packs per pallet and any loose packs. The driver’s signature proves the handover.
For a late delivery, compare the promised date, the date ready at packing and the date loaded onto the vehicle, then look for the largest gap. That gap shows whether the delay sat in production, in waiting for a van or in the call-off itself, and who therefore owns the fix.
- Promised date and requested date
- Date ready at packing
- Loading date and vehicle
- Customer receipt date and count
Turn one trace into a habit
Pick the last five complaints and trace each from order to note, putting the count at every stage in one row. One stage will probably shrink every time.
Then fix that stage. It might be a booked reject at finishing, a standard over-run table by product type, or a rule that notes are raised only from scanned pallets.
Review the traces monthly. Then customer service can answer a buyer on the phone, with the pallet count and the loading date on screen, without walking to the warehouse.
Short delivery trace sheet
One sheet traces one job. A header holds customer, job number and promised date, and the table beneath it has one row per stage from order quantity to delivery note quantity. Rows in between cover released quantity, press output, finishing rejects, packed quantity and loaded quantity, each with a tick for counted or estimated. Further columns record who counted and by what method, and a final line notes the gap and its likely cause.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How much over-run should a packaging job carry?
There is no fixed figure. It depends on run length, die complexity, substrate and the reject history for that product, such as a window carton or a laminated pouch. Use past job records to build a table by product type, and review it whenever a complaint shows the allowance was wrong.
Why are finishing rejects often missing from records?
They happen late, on busy machines, and get tallied on paper or a pallet note that is thrown away when the pallet is wrapped. Without a simple entry at the machine, the office sees only the quantity that left the press, and the loss stays invisible.
Who should own short and late delivery complaints?
Customer service takes the call, but one named person in dispatch or production should own the trace and the fix. Shared ownership usually means no one acts.