The customers operation manufactures various types of high-value gases that are exported from Canada to Europe, Australia and China by air and sea freight. The customer was shipping its cylinders full of product in a standard type of steel cage that could fit many cylinders at a time, even when the customer needed only 2 or 3 cylinders.
Customers not only disliked the bulkyness of the steel cages but also the fact that they had to pay a daily rental fee to them and pay for the return freight of the cages. The customers’ exports were being affected. A new, creative, solution was needed.
Familiar to developing solutions for unusual cases, Nefab's team of packaging experts analyzed the situation with the customer personnel and got to work immediately. Nefab presented the customer with an innovative solution: for exterior protection the tried-and-tested Nefab ExPak Type S consisting of 6 mm birch plywood box and steel profiles was suggested. The internal dunnage suggested consisted of high-grade honeycomb material that would hold the cylinder(s) in place and mold itself "around" the shape of the cylinders thanks to the weight of the filled cylinders. To test the integrity of the packaging materials, Nefab's proposed solution was submitted to strict drop tests based on IATA Packing Instruction 650 for outer packaging. As expected, Nefab's ExPak S with inner honeycomb dunnage successfully passed the tests.
Benefits for the Customer
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The ExPak S' lightweight helps the customer and its customers save on shipping costs
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Our customers, customers are now saving money previously spent on steel cages rental fees and return freight costs
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The collapsible ExPak S are delivered flat, helping the customer save on warehousing costs
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The lightweight of the solution has also improved ergonomics at the customer and its customers sites
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Three types of boxes cover all sizes of gas cylinders
Custom Designed Reusable Packaging Solution
The customer is virtually alone in offering an exceptional variety of world-class technology in a variety of sectors. The company's wide range of products is complemented with strong consumer and commercial financial services. Since late 1980’s the customer has been one of the most significant multinationals; successful through operating and growth. Nowadays the customer offers a unique opportunity in the process of upgrading its infrastructure following its recent EU membership.
The customer turned to Nefab to work on a packaging solution for a next generation Medical equipment which offers the latest technology. The customer was facing a lot of problems with their current packaging solution. Pallets, paper, bubble and stretch film were costly and created a lot of waste. Packing was time consuming and thus demanded a lot of resources. Nefab suggested a specially designed returnable bag for one of the outbound flows, to replace the existing solution. The bag is completed with zippers and elastic belts. For sensitive parts of the product, Nefab offered custom designed returnable ESD foam and foam tubes to protect the knobs.
Benefits for the Customer
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By using the Nefab solution, the customer saves money on packaging materials.
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By implementing a returnable packaging system, the customer reduced the environmental impact in eliminating waste production.
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By using the new packaging solution the customer has improved the productivity by 50%, reducing the packing time from 30 to 2 minutes. Moreover, they are now ready to increase production from 1200 units in 2008, to 2000 units planned for 2009!