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SeaShell drives away damage

Disk drive manufacturer Seagate reduces damage by 60% and saves more than $4 million per year in freight and materials costs by switching to a thermoformed ‘SeaShell’ clamshell.

This rigid APET clamshell provides shock protection for Seagate's disc drives during handling and shipping. Bar codes can be sca
This rigid APET clamshell provides shock protection for Seagate's disc drives during handling and shipping. Bar codes can be sca

For decades, electrostatic discharge (ESD) bags have functioned as the primary package to protect computer hard disk drives. Seagate Technology, Inc. used the bags for years for its own drives. But late last year the Scotts Valley, CA, firm switched to a rigid one-piece hinged clamshell that it created exclusively to protect its drives, which it spells “disc.” Unlike the bags, the rigid clamshell provides shock protection during product handling and shipment.

Called SeaShell™, Seagate’s patent-pending package is thermoformed by Ivex Packaging (Cumberland, RI). Ivex is the sole producer of SeaShell domestically and the primary thermoformer of the clamshell in the foreign markets Seagate serves. Seagate relies on a single material supplier, Klöckner Pentaplast of America (Gordonsville, VA), for the 20-mil sheet used to thermoform the protective pack.

“ESD bags have been the disc drive industry standard since the early ’70s,” says Ron Matheison, Seagate’s manager of corporate packaging. “But we needed shock protection that the bags could not provide.” While training workers on proper handling techniques helped, there was still room for improvement, he adds.

Seagate has done just that. The company says the pack has reduced damaged product returns by 60% and saved $4.8 million per year in materials and shipping costs.

Seagate designed and developed SeaShell, which it began using in September ’99. Ivex made prototype “one-up” molds of Seagate designs during the development process. The project was spearheaded by executive director of quality Troy Merrell, with key contributors Matheison, senior packaging engineers Todd Redder and Jay Hazekamp, and Ivex sales director Craig Metheany.

Less handling

The key benefit SeaShell provides, says Matheison, “is reducing handling damage. We have 60 percent fewer drives coming back from our customers due to damage.” Most damage comes from handling, he says, and can occur at any point in the integration or distribution process.

“The human body is the largest generator of ESD,” he points out, “and there was a lot of handling with the ESD bags.” The clear clamshell eliminates one major handling step compared to the bag: scanning. “We apply a bar-coded label to the drive itself, and our customers scan the label for information about the drive,” says Matheison. “The scanner could not read the code through the bag, so customers would have to pull them out to scan them. Now they scan right through the clamshell.” That reduces handling of the part and the potential for ESD damage.

“No matter where it happens, a damaged drive is going to cost Seagate money to repair, handle and ship out another drive,” notes Matheison. Fewer returns, of course, translate into more satisfied customers, which is another crucial benefit for Seagate. But the financial advantages are no small change, either.

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