Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods is one of the few golf ball manufacturers to package golf balls in three-count shrink sleeves rather than traditional three-count folding cartons. The material costs two to three times less than folding cartons, and inventorying thousands of flat labels on rollstock has inventory advantages compared to stocking paperboard cartons. Besides, Wilson marketers believe that golfers respond to the novel look and feel of the brightly printed film once they open the telescoping paperboard box that serves as secondary packaging.
From 2002 until early 2004, the Humboldt, TN, packaging operation behind Wilson’s shrink-sleeved golf balls was largely a manual one. Five operators were required to package four dozen balls/min. But in 2004, an automated system was installed. On this line, 13 dozen balls per minute is the typical rate, and the number of operators has been reduced to four.
