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Shipping problems warrant 'krafty' solution

Mathews Conveyor saves time, money and reputation by re-evaluating its void-fill packaging for the shipment of small spare parts.

A customer service employee at Mathews uses the PadPak Jr. to prepare spare parts for shipment.
A customer service employee at Mathews uses the PadPak Jr. to prepare spare parts for shipment.

Materials handling equipment manufacturer Mathews Conveyor, Danville, KY, prides itself on what it considers “the best warranty in the industry”—customer service availability 24 hours/day, 7 days/week for one full year. With customers relying on this promise, the customer service department must ship replacement parts quickly and reliably. It soon became apparent that, while response time wasn’t a problem, ensuring that the often-heavy parts survived shipping was. Mathews took action in August ’98 by installing a PadPak® Jr. protective packaging system from Ranpak® (Painsville, OH), which was introduced to the company by distributor Crown Packaging (Louisville, KY).

“I expected it to ease our shipping problem,” says Mathews Conveyor customer service representative Carmen Hampton. “But it solved it completely.” The leased PadPak Jr. automatically converts three-ply kraft paper into flexible pads with excellent cushioning characteristics. Pads can be used for void-fill, wrapping, blocking and bracing, or cushioning items of varying sizes, shapes and weights.

During shipping, “we’d have cartons damaged in transit, and parts, such as axles, pins and bearings, falling out,” Hampton says. “Because many of Mathews’ customers are on a just-in-time schedule, missing products cause problems due to delays in production and extra expenses involved with installers on-site waiting on parts.”

The search

Mathews’ former method of packaging these heavy parts, which can weigh up to 50 lb each, consisted of cutting down a large box and folding it around the material to be shipped. Then the bundle was strapped down with nylon tape. This method, combined with rough handling in transit, sometimes allowed parts to slide back and forth inside the shipping box, eventually wearing a hole in the side of the box and causing parts to escape. Mathews lost both time and money when parts didn’t reach their destination intact; replacement orders cost $30 to $40 each for rush delivery, and sometimes Mathews’ production had to be interrupted to manufacture the necessary parts.

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