ORBIS Helps General Electric Appliance Reduce Incoming Material Damage by up to 85%

Ever-increasing competition spells trouble for companies who can’t keep their costs down, especially for large appliance manufacturers. In the case of General Electric Appliance (GEA) Park, Louisville, Ky., it rarely receives component shipments from suppliers in expendable corrugated containers. These containers presented two main problems.

First, the corrugated containers were not durable. This means that the containers cannot withstand abuse and, most important, protect the contents from damage.

The second problem stemmed from the first: corrugated containers have a short service life. Containers cannot be reused and are disposed of after one use at an added cost to GEA.

To reduce its escalating costs for one-way packaging, GEA chose returnable packaging for inbound shipments from several regional suppliers. These suppliers provide GEA’s washer/dryer lines with components at its large appliance division.

The durable, returnable packaging system took only three months to implement and that included working with suppliers. The return on GEA’s investment will be realized in just 12 to 18 months. The program is successful, and GEA continues to integrate other suppliers into its returnable packaging system.

Although returnable packaging programs can help reduce costs, some companies hesitate to switch to returnable packaging. However, with continually escalating corrugated paperboard prices, more and more companies turn to returnable programs.

GEA turned to ORBIS because of its strong reputation for eliminating single-use packaging costs and its ability to quickly and cost-effectively convert companies to total returnable packaging systems.

ORBIS had to meet several GEA requirements for the returnable packaging system:

• Returnable packaging had to be strong and durable.
• The pallet system used for shipping and storage must maximize space used for inbound material shipped from suppliers.
• The system must allow for high stacking during plant storage. (Most corrugated material cannot be stacked very high and, thus, takes up critical floor space in the plant.)
• The returnable packaging must meet strict fire codes.
• The system had to justify a high return on investment.

With these criteria in mind, ORBIS’ project management engineers recommended its AST (Automated Systems Tote) container designed for automated or manual material handling and picking systems, and its new Rackstar^TM, 48" x 40" one-piece molded pallet. The tote offered superior ribbing structure for durability, and the pallet system accommodated GEA’s current 48" x 40" system that its suppliers use in GEA’s manufacturing programs.

The system also made the most of trailer space, which maximized cube efficiency to position products in containers, on pallets and in trailers. Inside the plant, GE recovered wasted floor space by stacking returnable pallets twice as high as it did with corrugated packaging. The ASTs design allowed positive stacking of containers with or without tote covers.

The containers’ durability and shape also allowed for repeated and easier handling within the plant. Assembly-line workers, too, can easily pick components from the containers.

Inbound product damage was reduced significantly. In fact, ORBIS’ returnable container system reduced the damage of incoming material from suppliers by up to 85 percent.

Not only have GEA and its suppliers experienced labor and time savings, but GEA operators like the new packaging system better.

GEA suppliers in the program no longer have to buy and assemble corrugated packaging for each shipment, because the returnable packaging is restacked and shipped back to them on the next available trailer to complete the returnable "loop". GEA also eliminated the cost of disposing corrugated packaging after each in-bound shipment.