Our President Katherine Putnam was quoted in The Springfield Republican 2010 Outlook on February 14, 2010. Here is a link to the article. In it she speaks about how many consumer products companies were unwilling to invest in new wrapping machines due to the economy in 2009.

In the past year, we have had two customers shift from shrink wrap to overwrap for their candy boxes.  In one case, it was to achieve costs savings in wrapping material. This customer is now looking at the energy savings that accompany getting rid of a shrink tunnel. Oddly though, the energy savings seem less important than the upscale look of their overwrap packaging  which they find more attractive than the shrink wrap.

What is the difference in the two processes?  Shrink wrap uses polyethylene film which is fitted around a package loosely, crimp-sealed around the edges and the excess cut off. It is then shrunk 20% in a heat tunnel to fit the package. The excess film that was cut off is sometimes recycled.

In contract, there is no excess film with overwrap. The tuck and fold is neat to the package with no windows in the wrap. Heat is used for spot welding of the long seam and the tuck and fold.  Overwrap uses polypropylene film which is less expensive pound for pound than polyethylene of the same gauge. Because polypropylene film is crisper, you can fold it like paper and achieve that high end gift wrapped look. Because it is not shrunk, you can use registered film and have artwork on it.

We had one customer who achieved a 3 month payback on his switch to a high-end registered polypropylene laminate overwrap on a bundle rather than a shrink wrapped box with smaller boxes inside. He had additional savings in corrugated box costs, since his packages were smaller without the box.

So when do we recommend you use shrink wrap? Use it for ultra- low volume runs where the cost to set up or changeover is too high. Use it for oddly shaped packages that are not suitable for a tuck and fold wrap/ gift wrap. If you want your package to be neat, and have a high end appeal, look at overwrapping it. Package can offer some low volume overwrap solutions.

You need a packaging machine. You pretty much know what kind of machine you like. You place an order for your wrapping equipment. Now What?

1. Show up for the Factory Acceptance Test. These guys are your partners in a successful installation.  In fact, come visit ahead, if you can, to see how it is going in the last two weeks. This is the ideal time to spot flaws or errors. Be firm about what is critical for it to work in your plant, but not nit-picky, so that the important things are correct before it arrives. Setting a tight time table can set you up for a late delivery, but it is better to make sure that the machine is correct before it leaves the hands of the guys who built it than to meet the time table and need lots of rework or downtime in your plant.
2. Read the manual. It is not art work for your office. Have others read it too. Ask for two copies so you have the spare. So that you can ask good questions, get it ahead of the FAT. A good manual is important. Make sure it comes with exploded drawings, so that if you have a questions later, you can discuss it with the manufacturer using their terms.
3. Establish a designated “owner” in your plant for your new machine. It cost your company a lot and you need to invest some personnel time in understanding how it works, so you can get the most for your money. Make sure that the new “owner” is someone on the plant floor with a mechanical understanding who will be doing the set ups for that line. In an ideal world that person comes to the FAT in the builder’s plant. Not having an “owner” means that no one will know the ins and outs of the machine and will create more downtime while different people play with different settings on the machine. This is especially important if you run multiple shifts. Have the ”owner” do the set ups and instruct others.
4. Buy consistent consumables. Every time you change material, the settings on the machine may need adjustment. This takes away from your smooth operations. Sometimes material suppliers make changes without telling you. Sometimes those who sell on price make substitutions without notice. You want to control when you make changes in your material, not be reactive to unforeseen changes.
5. Ask questions. The better you understand your machine the better it will perform. Ultimately you will know your machine better than the people who built it.

The SUSTAINABLE word is now so heavy with meaning that it seems scary to say out loud. So let’s just talk about it as that spot where preserving our planet and making a profit meet.

I don’t think we have a single wrapping customer who does not want to achieve both of those goals but they sometimes feel stymied by the conflicting priorities and the how -
• how to reduce costs,
• how to look at greener processes,
• how to evaluate what their vendors are doing,
• how to keep their customers happy,
• how to get the consumer onboard,
• how to control any of these variables.

It makes herding cats look easy.

After a business has looked at gaining efficiency through Lean techniques and implemented Kaizens, the opportunities are still often ones that involve people and institutions outside the facility gates. Just as looking at the timing of vendors deliveries played into a lean project, looking at what and how those vendors provide to you can play into a life cycle analysis.

Wikipedia defines Life Cycle Analysis or Assessment as “the investigation and valuation of the environmental impacts of a given product or service caused or necessitated by its existence.” It goes on to write, “The goal of LCA is to compare the full range of environmental and social damages assignable to products and services, to be able to choose the least burdensome one.

Most Life cycle analyses are done using cradle to grave. That means looking at a product from the raw material to the post-consumer disposal of all the parts. There are many directories that help with calculations for transportation, energy use, and common metrics but some of the information comes from within your own processes. It is possible to do a life cycle analysis gate to gate that looks only at what happens inside your facility, but logically that is only a baby step toward the bigger goal.

Total Cost Assessment is a newer concept now getting a lot of play. According to Lise Laurin of EarthShift, “Total Cost Assessment is the consideration of all environmental and health (E&H) costs associated with a decision, including direct costs, risks and liabilities, and costs borne by others.” It looks not simply at the cost to produce and deliver a product but the costs born by the business, employees, vendors and by society and tries to quantify all the costs. This notion behind this is that some costs are born by society and some by employees that might at some point be born by the business. Think of the number of environmental clean ups that many companies did not expect to pay for when they made the mess, or the clean water costs of making paper or beer, or the healthcare costs for cigarette users or asbestiosis.

You may think LCA and TCA are the same thing but Total Cost Assessment is not designed to have you change anything simply to recognize all the costs associated with a good regardless of who pays it.

After doing a TCA, the alternative costs of changes that are suggested by an LCA might not look too high.

You might think of the as complements, just as a screwdriver and a wrench are often used together.