Neyr UK, the automotive parts supplier, is realising major handling improvements having switched to using re-usable packaging from Linpac Materials Handling. The versatile pallet-based Boxer Pac units are being used for the internal handling of large components at its County Durham-based manufacturing plant to store 2m fender liners for customer Toyota. They have replaced a system of expendable one-trip packaging.
Neyr UK plant manager Chris Pennison says: “The most immediate benefit comes from the fact that we no longer have to buy large quantities of expendable packaging and pallets each month. Switching to Boxer Pac makes this a fixed rather than a direct packaging cost to the business, with a predictable pay-back time.”
He continues: “The cost to Neyr UK of using one-trip packaging extended well beyond the containers themselves; from the tape needed to secure them, to the labour required to assemble and flatten them down before disposal, which itself presented us with another cost to bear in the form of an industrial skip load of packaging waste to dispose of each week.”
Storage versatility has improved as the risk of the one-trip packaging getting damp and ripping prohibited its use in many areas of Neyr’s site. The plastic construction of Boxer Pac means it is not susceptible to damage from climatic change, so can be stored in many different locations, including outdoors. It can also be stored securely several high provided the stack’s base weight does not exceed 1,500kgs. Decanting into Toyota’s own containers for delivery has also been made easier by removing any potential for packaging error:
“Boxer Pac houses exactly the same number of units as the Toyota containers so it is easy to check that the right quantity of product has been packed,” say Pennison. “The boxes also feature label holders for easy identification and better traceability as they travel through our internal supply loop.”
