How Custom-Designed Wooden Crates Save Big Money

Think custom-design means expensive? Allow me to change your mind. In this post, I'll show you how expert crate design and a return program can add up to big savings.

I'll even back it up with a real-life example of a returnable crate design that resulted in immediate payback for one manufacturer.

Customized clip crates are used to ship toilet prototypes between testing facilities.

Reducing Waste Saves Money

A crate made to fit your specific product reduces waste. Think about that. Using the exact amount of the right materials means you won't be paying for stuff you don't need.

Packaging engineers take into consideration every detail of your product including size, weight and handling requirements. The result is a durable and custom wooden crate optimized to use the least amount of resources. Less waste can make for a big reduction in your build cost and transport fees.
  

The More you Reuse, the More you Save

Plain and simple, reusability is often the biggest factor in reducing costs. The more times you can return a crate, the more opportunities you have to increase your savings. 

Return costs are based on pick-up locations and volume. Last year The Nelson Company managed return programs from over 2,500 pickup locations. Want to know if your operation is a good candidate for returning and reusing wooden crates? Check out my reverse distribution blog post, Packaging Return Program: Is it for me? 
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Payback can be Quick

This is where custom design gets interesting - especially if you've been dealing with shipping damage. Let's look at that example I promised. A toilet manufacturer now uses custom clips crates for shipping their prototype toilets to laboratories across the globe. The toilets need to be tested at multiple labs and then brought back for further analysis. Reusable clip crates were a natural fit.

The new custom-designed clip crate eliminated damage and saved the manufacturer $1 million.

The customer's old way of shipping was causing damage rates as high as 25%. The new design reduced damage to 0% and paid for itself in about one trip. The clip crate design is easy for workers to pack up plus the company only needs 10 of these perfectly-optimized shipping crates to get the job done. As expected, each shipment of prototype potties in custom crates improves savings.

Ready to save big?

If you've been avoiding custom design because you feared it would cost too much, I hope this post showed you it doesn't have to be that way. If you've been tasked with reducing your damage rates or shipping costs, ask a question below or drop me a line and let's get to work on saving money.

Post by: Kent Longardner, Technical Sales Manager