With machines costing anything from £2,000 to £250,000, it's vital that transit packaging is capable of adequately protecting the machines from damage while also remaining cost effective.
Before we began working together, the company transported its goods in made-to-measure wooden cases that were both costly to buy and labour intensive to use. Individual machines were fastened to the base of the packing case and then had walls assembled around them; a time consuming job involving three or even four employees, since the huge cases weighed around 120kg each and were required to meet ISPM15.
We looked at their operations and worked with them to develop a packing solution that would save them both time and money. First of all, we were able to standardise their range so that 80% of it was covered by 12 cases of different sizes, leaving only 20% requiring bespoke packaging products. Although we continued to use a timber pallet base to accommodate the weight of the machines, we adopted the use of a corrugated outer sleeve and a lighter duty corrugated cap a system that worked perfectly.
The move away from using entirely wooden cases hasn’t just reduced the cost of packing materials, it has also cut labour time by half and made ordering far simpler thanks to the use of standardised cases. They estimate a total cost saving of 25% over the previous packaging system.
