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'Green' lights for Cambridge

This lighting and accessory manufacturer switched from paper-based void fill to a biodegradable mold-in-place system that sheds light on productivity and environmental issues.

A prewrapped lamp base is lowered into the lower base layer of Enviromold within a carton
A prewrapped lamp base is lowered into the lower base layer of Enviromold within a carton

Cambridge Lamps, a veteran of the lighting industry, typically relied on newspaper and corrugated inserts to package and ship its lamps and lighting accessories to department stores and interior designers. But as demand increased in recent years, the Hialeah, FL-based company realized that it needed something less labor-intensive.

About 18 months ago, Cambridge switched to Enviromold®, a biodegradable mold-in-place void-fill system from Storopack (Cincinnati, OH) and licensed through Enpac (Wilmington, DE). The change has brought Cambridge savings in time and labor, as well as some decidedly green benefits.

"We used [corrugated] wedges and newsprint for years because they were readily available and easily understood," says Gary Seymour, vice president of operations at Cambridge Lamps. "You could call them low-tech and simple. Operators liked paper because it didn't require a lot of complicated machinery to maintain, use or apply." Although simple for the operator, this method required custom die-cut corrugated inserts for its 1ꯠ SKUs. Also, a variety of box sizes was necessary to accommodate the lamps' different sizes and shapes.

This complexity is why Camridge was using 12 operators per shift to pack between 150 and 170 boxes/day. This labor-intensive process included manually placing lamps into shipping cases, inserting corrugated pieces around the lamp bases to secure them, and then filling any void space with newsprint. During busy periods, operators worked overtime.

After testing a variety of technologies, Cambridge heard about Enviromold. Says Seymour, "We were in the process of going with expanded polystyrene peanuts when we heard about a new material that didn't exhibit the same disposal issues [as peanuts]."

Enviromold is a dry starch-based component that resembles a PS peanut. When moistened with water, it forms a maleable molding material. It's poured around a product in a shipping case to form a solid one-piece custom mold. After use, it dissolves in water or it can be composted with other natural materials.

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