The changing of the box
Who knew that a simple change from one box type to another would save a company nearly $200,000 in annual labor costs. Well, to be honest we did, and we'll show you how. Sometimes it's a simple change in packaging products that can improve your bottom line. In this case study a company in the telecommunications industry was looking to solve their main pain point: labor costs. After an IPS site assessment, we showcased a new way for them to assemble their boxes and pack their items. The Pop-up box was the solution to their major pain point.
- Labor savings - $186,368 in labor per year
- Floor space savings - Eliminate "pre-building" and "staging area"
- Tape savings - $5,785 per year
- Reusability - Multiple usage now possible
The Pop-up box
The Pop-up box requires less handlers resulting in a huge annual labor savings. Let's see how the company was currently paying their employees to stage packaging boxes. They used 2 material handlers during the 1st and 2nd shift - 4 material handlers total. Each handler worked 8 hours per day = 32 total work hours per day. Do some quick math and you get 224 work hours each week. A little more math for the yearly amount of 11,648 work hours per year. Their material handlers are paid at $16/hour for a grand total of $186,368 in labor per year. That's just what it cost them in the staging area of their packaging process. Nearly $200,000 a year to get their boxes assembled in the staging area. Now you know why they'd like to cut their labor costs if possible.
That's where the Pop-up box came in to play. Our site assessment showed they were a great fit for the Pop-up box, so we showed them how it worked.
The Pop-up box achieves the same throughput of 18,000 boxes per week with just 2 material handlers for the staging area. We calculated a savings of nearly $193,000 per year in labor costs. This allowed the company to allocated their resources elsewhere instead of the expensive cost of labor for 4 material handlers. A simple solution that just seemed to Pop-up to us when looking at their process.
Their cost of materials went down as well, with a savings of $5,785 per year on tape alone. The way the Pop-up box is constructed, allows it to be taped and secured using less tape. This also all but eliminated the "pre-building" and "staging area" of their process. Pop-up boxes require a smaller space to be set up, providing more floor space to their warehouse.
We calculated a savings of nearly $193,000 per year in labor costs. This allowed the company to allocated their resources elsewhere instead of the expensive cost of labor for 4 material handlers.
More cast studies
Packaging is more than just the box: it’s all about how you pack that box. And we’re here to help you do just that. Here are some other case studies showing how we helped other companies save. Can we help you?
- 5 ways to reduce packaging costs
- Case study: Stretch wrap for the beverage industry
- Case study: Custom poly bags produce results
- Case Study: Packaging automation increases production rate and decreases costs
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