How to slash your transportation costs and reduce your carbon footprint
Packaging can deliver more than just product protection within your operation. Get it right and it will offer so much more – from significant savings in transportation costs to an increased payload.
And by maximising the surface area of your pallets and increasing cubic capacity, you could cut down on vehicle runs and reduce your carbon footprint.
Here’s two pointers to consider:
Firstly, look at the products you are packing – are they being packed to maximise protection whilst also delivering the best possible cubage for your product? A slight reduction in the pack size could deliver increased pallet yield or decreased PIP rates.
Secondly, look at your carton dimensions – if the pack was resized you might be able to increase the surface area used on your pallet and add further layers.
Remember, the key to all of this is remembering that protection is still paramount – there is no point in reducing your transport costs if your damage and returns are going to increase. A packaging professional can advise you on the best way to proceed for your products.
Case Study
We worked with a leading automotive manufacturer to re-engineer its shipper cartons.
- Shipping 18 cartons per pallet (size 321x321x335mm), the surface usage of the pallet was only 64%, with a cubic capacity of .504 meters.
- We changed the dimensions of the existing shipper pack to 391x391x260mm and increased the number of cartons per pallet to 24 – increasing payload capacity by 33%. Pallet surface usage increased to 82.8% and cubic capacity to .768 metres.
- The number of layers on the pallet increased from 3 to 4 but the pallet height remained within the 1.2 metre limit.
- The impact on transport costs was significant; this company now loads an additional 8.5 pallets worth of stock on a Euro Trailer if they single stack, or an additional 17 pallets worth of stock if they double stack!
If you’re interested in investigating transport costs savings, contact Macfarlane Packaging today: www.macfarlanepackaging.com/contact
