Everyone is feeling the pinch of the economy, which makes it a great time to reevaluate your vendor/customer relations and together determine if there are any ways to creatively reduce the price you are paying for corrugated and other packaging products.

Trouble “Trickles Down” Too

As we all look for ways to reduce costs, it is easy to become focused solely on our own individual needs but we are all in this together whether we like it or not. A good “win/win” scenario is not taking advantage of the other person twice, and good vendor relationships and alliances can and should work to the benefit of both parties.

Creative Cost Reductions

We all tend to get comfortable with the status quo and are busy enough to not have time to fix something that does not require fixing. Current economic circumstances suggest that we revisit some of those long existing relationships and buying habits to determine if there are changes that can be mutually beneficial to customer and vendor alike. It may help to begin the process by examining three critical areas:

Order Quantity – there are many situations on many products including corrugated where a lower price is available if you are able to buy in a slightly larger quantity. Material prices tend to rise and fall but set up costs typically and consistently escalate. Amortizing these set up costs over a larger quantity and minimizing their impact is a great way for sellers and buyers to both gain and potentially reduce costs. (more…)

The photo above is an extreme close up of B, C, E, and F flute corrugated board. The top two samples – B and C flute – are by far the most common for corrugated shipping containers, whether stock size boxes or custom made.

Functional Differences between B Flute and C Flute Corrugated (more…)

Image by tomsaint11 via Flickr

We spend a lot of time talking and writing about eco-consistency from a marketing and customer relations perspective, especially in how it relates to secondary packaging. We are convinced that boxes, tape and other packaging materials say something about our green commitment and that it should be consistent with our products and green messaging. Simply put, “walk the walk’.

A different type of eco-consistency also merits discussion and that is making sure our companies and all the people within them are receiving and sending the same green message the same way.

Ideally, whether our customers speak with the CEO or the order picker and packer in the warehouse, the customer gets the same green message from both. The customer should realize that sustainability is not a company promotion or event; sustainability is a culture that permeates the entire organization.

This idealistic and worthwhile goal is not always the reality, even at some of the greenest companies in America. This is the subject of an article I wrote that was just posted on GreenBiz.com and I hope you will take the time to read it and comment on it.

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• Being Green May Help Business in Bad Times (time.com)
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Image by Jesse Wagstaff via Flickr

Late last year I was walking through a green product show and came to an abrupt stop when I saw a sign in a booth offering “biodegradable stretch film”. I eagerly inquired about the product but my excitement quickly turned in to disappointment when I realized the stretch film offered was not really a viable product we could add to our Globe Guard product line.

What Do People Want in Stretch Film?

I have been selling stretch film since it was first invented in the early to mid seventies. Oddly enough, what customers want has not changed all that much over the course of those thirty plus years. Users of stretch pallet wrap still require the following – (more…)

The standard width of pressure sensitive box sealing tape is 48 mm (2″). The standard width of paper box sealing tape is 72 mm (3″).  These standards are both compromises, and as a result, they lead to an unnecessarily high amount of packaging material entering the waste stream.

Extreme Pressure Sensitive Tape Solutions

1. For machine applied PST applications, use 36 mm (1-3/4″) wide tape. Unless the box is particularly heavy and/or subject to rough shipping conditions, the reduced width will not compromise box integrity. When in doubt, test. It is worth the time to test, though – the payoff is a 12% reduction in the amount of material entering the waste stream. (more…)

Some of our readers may be too young to remember but seeing the Tylenol poisonings back in the news has brought back some very profound, mixed feelings.

The Tragedy

For those who may not be aware, in September of 1982, seven people in the Chicago area were poisoned and died after ingesting tainted Tylenol. This horrible event literally hit close to home since several of the deaths occurred within miles of where my family and I lived at the time. Investigators quickly determined the product was being tainted and then placed on the retail shelf for innocent people to buy and take home. There was of course an immediate recall and this product was quickly removed from the shelf. From that moment on food and drug safety, and packaging would never be the same. (more…)

Cornerboard is that L shaped laminated paper board product usually placed on the vertical corners and or possibly on the horizontal top corners of a strapped or stretch wrapped pallet.

Some may wonder why we chose that particular “ancillary packaging” product to highlight on a blog focused of sustainability but cornerboard is indeed functional, and offers benefits in several key areas. Even though it usually results in a better looking, “squarer” pallet of product, it is anything but decorative or excessive. We believe corner board can be very sustainable in its construction and in its use.

Reducing Corrugated with Eco Friendly Cornerboard?

Customers are often able to substantially reduce the thickness (and cost) of their boxes by adding cornerboard to their pallets. Board weight of corrugated boxes is usually determined by the “worst case” scenario, even though those challenging circumstances (for example, double stacking of pallets) do not always occur. Why not use a lighter board for your boxes and add the support with corner board when it truly is necessary? (more…)

If you are shipping any quantity of merchandise it all, packaging automation is worth taking a look at. Automatic corrugated case sealers, shrink wrappers, and stretch wrappers are excellent places to start. Besides the many sustainable packaging benefits of automation, you may find that equipment will -

• Reduce labor and improve ergonomics
• Increase throughput
• Produce more attractive packages
• Improve tamper evidence

(more…)