“We were spending quite a bit of time packaging our products,” says Tim Keenan, materials manager for the 60-employee company. “We needed to find some quicker means that didn’t involve automation, which didn’t make sense for us.”
The solution was PF PalletTop® from Laminations. Made of recycled fibers, the 0.12’’-thick, 100% recyclable PFPT replaces top-of-load protectors that were inefficient in terms of material and time. The 48.5’’x96.5’’ PFPT unfolds easily to form a sturdy square or rectangular shape atop the pallet load. It also holds vertical edge protectors in place at the four corners for ease in unitizing stretch wrapping and banding loads.
The PFPT began to streamline Wind Mill’s shipping process last winter. The preformed laminated paperboard pallet tops are unfolded and applied to a load with one motion. And the tops don’t have to be held in place, a feature that makes them perfect for stretch-wrapping operations.
“We’ve seen a savings of about 15 percent in the labor time it takes to package these units for shipping,” Keenan says. “That has more than offset the cost of the added materials. We have actually reduced our packaging time, increased our production, and saved money.”
Wind Mill has experienced additional marketing benefits by having Laminations print the PFPT with the Wind Mill logo in two colors along with its slogan. Many of Wind Mill’s customers reuse its imprinted PFPTs on their own products. “We get a lot of additional branding exposure out of that,” Keenan adds.
