40% cost savings for a cleaning supply manufacturer

The problem: the different containers

When packing in the boxes different sized open cavities arise again and again. These must be carefully padded so that the goods do not move or collide during transport. Especially the big canisters could damage the small, light products. What the next problem is: the different requirements for the packaging material. Lightweight products, such as sponges or cloths, do not necessarily need the same stable and therefore expensive padding material as large detergent packages. And only using the more expensive heavy- duty quilted pillow materials would be extremely inefficient.

The previous situation: inefficiency everywhere

The previous situation: inefficiency everywhere Many manufacturers in the packaging sector work the same way. Since it is not clear in advance which packaging case will be needed next, the most stable and expensive padding materials are normally kept in stock. With around 4,500 carton packages per day, this would not have been very economical for this client. But this form of inefficiency would have been the smaller problem for him. The working conditions of the packers caused the management the biggest headache: they had several air cushion machines placed in the middle of the packing hall supplying all the air cushion. There was now a huge wasted space.

The employees did not know how many and which quilted pillow was needed the next day. So the late shift always produced oversized cushions "on suspicion", so that the next day shift was provided with sufficient padding. This was necessary, among other reasons, because the quilted pillow was not at the packing station and the packers had to run constantly through the hall to get padding supplies. Due to the different types of packaging, every packer had to always make sure that he had pads for small, medium or large products. So the staff ran constantly through the hall to get the right air cushion chains for their temporary storage - in the long run too many movements and handles!

The solution: Individual economic efficiency

The experts from FLOETER looked closely at the customer's situation and analysed their needs. In order to decrease the travel of employees, they removed the standalone solution and distributed several small AirWave1 air cushion machines directly to the packing stations. Moreover, in order to meet the demand for 3 different types of air cushion (for light, medium and heavy packaged goods), 3 machines with 3 different air cushion types were distributed at each packing station. The AirWave1 machines not only work faster than the customer's previous machines, but they also save time and packing material, as all packers always have the right material on hand directly at hand. At 4,500 parcels per day, this results in many kilometres less running distances and less cubic meters of fillers.

And best of all: more space!

9 machines at 3 different packing stations? Does not that need terribly much space? After all, the cushions must also be available in a total of 9 different packaging stations! The answer is no. The experts at FLOETER suggested using so-called "overhead units". These are dispenser units that can be placed directly above the worker: grid baskets, each consisting of three chambers and three integrated machines, in which the air cushions can be automatically produced and collected. This ensures that there is always suitable cushioning material available at the packing station and that the precious space that is needed anyway for the many boxes is not wasted by the air cushion storage. A threefold good solution!