Sealed Air Corporation saves business for Quill
By Staff -- Purchasing, 11/18/1999
The Quill Corporation had a problem. The direct marketer of business products was receiving dozens of customer complaints about the fact that Quill shipped orders packed in messy polystyrene "peanut" packaging. The company had to make a cost-effective change or face losing valuable business.It was clear that Quill needed to find a way to ship orders more neatly. But the company immediately realized that most of the alternatives, such as kraft paper, added too much weight to the packages or slowed down the process too much, increasing costs for both Quill and its customers.
Terry Schwarting, director of distribution at Quill's Lincolnshire, Ill., headquarters, experimented with several packaging materials and systems to no avail. That is, until the Sealed Air Corporation came along with a brand-new technology that would ultimately cut costs and add value for all parties involved.
Sealed Air approached Quill with its new "Fill-Air" inflatable packaging system, which produces a continuous perforated chain of air-filled cushions that can be torn off and inserted into cartons for fast, high-volume void-fill packaging applications. After learning about the system, Schwarting signed up to test out the automated system at its headquarters.
At the time Quill made the switch, the company employed almost 60 people at Lincolnshire to pick and pack orders. Each picker used an order form generated by a computer system to identify the size of the carton to be used. Each order was then placed on a conveyor belt to be verified by a checker. An operator would then dispense polystyrene peanuts through an overhead hopper system before sealing the box. Because the peanuts tended to fly around and scatter all over the place, a janitor would spend up to three hours a day cleaning up the packaging area.
Quill found that the new inflatable packaging system fit easily into the process by replacing the hopper and eliminating clean-up time. The company says only one operator is now needed to control the system. That operator tears off the required number of dispensed air cushions and inserts them into each box before sending it through a case sealer.
A packaging value analysis comparing the old and new procedures revealed that the Fill-Air system added no additional labor or material costs. Quill also sent out customer response cards for feedback on the new packaging and received an overwhelmingly positive response.
When the testing period was over in October 1997, Quill ordered Fill-Air inflatable packaging systems for its regional distribution centers all over the country and added a second Fill-Air system in Lincolnshire to enable packers to handle peak-hour orders between 4 and 7 p.m.
"It's a lot easier to order and use the fill air," says Lynn Johnson, a corporate purchasing agent for Quill. "It's still protecting the shipments but does not add weight or cost."
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