• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Staples Takes Top Prize with Move to Smart Packaging

Staples Takes Top Prize with Move to Smart Packaging

January 2, 2014
SupplyChainBrain

As the second largest e-commerce fulfillment business in the world after Amazon, Staples ships millions of packages each year, and until recently most of those boxes contained a lot of air as they were much too large for the contents packed inside. That changed in 2012 when Staples, in collaboration with Packsize International, implemented a "Smart-size Packaging Program" that produces customized packaging tailored to each order.  

Traditionally, pre-made boxes were purchased in multiple sizes and configurations, and stored until needed, says Robert Dennen, senior packaging engineer for Staples. However, "40 percent of your shipping volume is in air." With Packsize's On Demand Packaging technology, boxes are now customized for each order through an integration of systems, equipment and processes.

The impact? There has been a reduction of more than 15 percent in corrugate, an approximate 60-percent reduction in air bags and about a 20-percent reduction in break-pack cube, for an estimated 8-percent improvement in overall cube of orders.  In addition, 74 percent of Staples workers say the solution has made their job easier. 

Corrugated packaging has wide appeal to consumers and is versatile, cost-effective, easily customized, and lends itself to product protection during shipping. However, environmental impact concerns and process optimization are primary considerations for the supply-chain environment, Dennen says.

That means companies strive to use the minimum amount of packaging at the lowest possible cost to meet their sustainability goals. Ultimately, full U.S. implementation of the technology is projected to reduce the network's carbon footprint by more than 25,000 metric tons annually.

Hanko Kiessner, Packsize International CEO, says leading companies no longer purchase boxes. It may be counterintuitive, but they are finding the time required to make packaging on-demand is less than that required to find and move packaging purchased conventionally.

For Staples, time is of utmost importance. Each day, from its U.S. fulfillment centers, Staples ships 650,000 to a million cases, operating  under a robust logistics system that guarantees any order placed before 5 p.m. will be delivered the next day to 96 percent of the population.  Approximately 40 percent of these cases are less-than-full-case orders.  These so-called break-pack orders have traditionally been picked into 7 to14 corrugated box types with the system selecting the best-fit box type based on the dimensions of the items in the order.  Nevertheless, almost 40 percent of the cube is wasted.

When Staples first considered the viability of the Packsize system, one major requirement was the solution's ability to keep pace with Staples' current order cycle times. "We could not reduce Staples' ability to meet its customer service in any way," says Kiessner. "One of the primary challenges was the total speed."

With delivery time sacrosanct, Packsize officials adapted their technology to interface with Staples' order management system to automatically calculate via an advanced algorithm the optimal box size for every incoming order and route it to the proper fulfillment center and the most suitable machine at that center.

But time wasn't the only concern. In 2010, based on customer feedback, an updated sustainability strategy, and a carbon footprint review, packaging became a key focus area for Staples.  As part of this new emphasis, the first packaging reduction goal at Staples was established a 20-percent packaging reduction in the U.S. by 2020.  A "race to the top" with up-stream product suppliers and a review of outbound packaging alternatives were thus initiated.

The outbound technologies considered included the Packsize International On Demand Packaging system. A pilot was completed in Staples' fulfillment center in Orlando in early 2011.  During this initial phase, Packsize and Staples teams collaborated on everything from equipment layout and systems integration to process design.  Once the pilot was successfully completed, the team turned to planning the full implementation. 

Here's how the On Demand Packaging technology works. It places a package converting machine with a very small footprint together with a stack of corrugated material on the pack line. This gives workers the ability to instantly create a box that matches the product to be packaged and shipped.

A one-piece flow application integrates the on-demand system directly into the packaging process and can be designed for mixed-model lines. The system (which can take up as little as 86 square feet) is moved within a few feet of the pack line and boxes are made, one at a time as the product progresses toward the pack station.

The technology integrates data from the production system using the factory ticket barcode or other inputs so that the most current box style and size is made according to the bill of material. That way, the packaging method can be continuously upgraded and improvements implemented immediately without disposing obsolete inventory.  There is almost no material handling other than replenishing the corrugated at the machine.

Says Kiessner: "The No. 1 customer complaint is excessive packaging. We can fly a man to the moon - we did it in the '60s with not that much computing power - and we can't have better packaging?"

One of the first buildings to adapt the case-making solution was in Oak Creek, Wis., a Staples fulfillment center that packs and ships an average of 3,500 cases a day. In August 2012, the facility began operation of two Packsize EM7-25 corrugated converting machines, each capable of producing up to 300 cases an hour.

The EM7-25 is a converting machine that creates custom cases from Packsize's proprietary z-Fold corrugated stock, a 97-percent recycled material that can be creased, cut and scored into an infinite number of box sizes and styles.

Essentially, Packsize z-Fold can be made into any FEFCO style box. FEFCO is the international standard guide to cardboard box designs.  Because this is an on-demand system, the box size the company wants to output is programmed into the machine.  For the EM7-25, a customer can run all of the FEFCO codes except ones with angle cuts and scores.

According to Kiessner, the only limitations on the size of box that can be created with the unit are those imposed by the fulfillment system in which it travels. "From a Packsize equipment perspective, we can make a box for a couch or a gigantic conference table," he says. "The constraints are more dependent upon what can travel through a building than on the equipment."

Staples had implemented the "smart-size packaging" program in 15 facilities as of March 2013, and plans complete installation of the solution in all of its U.S. e-commerce fulfillment centers by year's end.  Beyond that, the company is evaluating expansion of the program across the global supply chain, pending WMS upgrades in several countries.

Resource Links:
Packsize International
Staples

Keywords: inventory control, retail supply chain, order fulfillment, sustainable packaging, environmental footprint, logistics & supply chain

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

KEYWORDS environmental footprint inventory control logistics & supply chain order fulfillment Packsize International Packsize's On Demand Packaging retail supply chain Robert Dennen senior packaging engineer Staples Supply Chain Management: Retail Sustainable Packaging
  • Related Articles

    Staples Takes Top Prize with Move to Smart Packaging

    With Acquisition, Staples Looks to Have Bigger Presence in E-tailing

    Staples Permits Vendors to Make Direct Sales from Its Mobile Commerce Site

SupplyChainBrain

100 Great Supply Chain Partners Issue 2009

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Cuomo Seeks to Buy Vaccines Directly; EU to Push for 70% Vaccination by Summer

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. and China Trade

    How China Won Trump’s Trade War and Got Americans to Foot the Bill

    Global Supply Chain Management
  • AT&T

    How the Pandemic Has Altered AT&T’s Global Sourcing Strategy

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. Vaccine Shift Stirs New Unease as 128 Million Join Line

    U.S. Vaccine Shift Stirs New Unease as 128 Million Join Line

    Coronavirus
  • container port

    New Global Visibility App Sees Delays Before They Happen

    Logistics

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing