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ADC Telecomunications Finds Korrvu® Packaging "On The Number"
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Business is good at ADC Telecommunications' electronic assembly plant in Minnetonka, Minnesota -- so good, in fact, that the protective packaging the company was using to ship circuit boards needed to be replaced to meet growing customer demand worldwide. A surge in the production schedule at the Minnetonka facility left Packaging Engineer Randy Fering determined to reduce storage requirements and cut material costs for his packaging stations.
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The Korrvu® retention packaging is flexible enough that one customized design protects a wide variety of circuit boards in 12 diverse sizes
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ADC Telecommunications is a global telecommunications and networking systems supplier. The company supplies equipment for cable television, broadcast, cellular and enterprise networks. ADC products and systems perform critical roles that ensure the quality and reliability of broadband networks throughout the world. The packing operations are an important link in the ADC distribution chain.
Twelve different sizes of circuit boards are packaged in this area. That equipment is sent to addresses in the U.S. and overseas. With a diverse array of product sizes and a distribution schedule that varies daily, flexibility is a key protective packaging requirement. As the manufacturing facilities at the Minnetonka plant were expanded, the operation was out-growing its old protective packaging system.
"We were using folded corrugated with convoluted foam glued to the interior to protect the circuit boards," said Fering. "It took three sizes of that packaging to protect our 12 different circuit boards."
Storage space for packaging materials was becoming tight. The corrugated / convoluted foam combination took up 100 square feet of warehouse space. Fering used a rack storage area and three storage bays. Using 100 square feet of space to store a relatively small number of protective packaging units was becoming impractical.
Fering took his case to Sealed Air Corp. sales representative Darryl Anderson. working together, the pair determined that Korrvu® retention packaging would exceed all of ADC's requirements.
First introduced in 1996, Korrvu® retention packaging secures a product within a retention frame with a proprietary transparent film. The elastomeric film is extremely puncture and slip resistant and holds products securely. The film is flexible enough that one pack can accommodate a wide variety of products.
"The edges of the clear film are attached to the retention frame," Fering explained. "When the side flaps on the retention base are folded upwards, the center of the film is loosened to form an insertion pocket. The circuit boards are slipped into that pocket. Then the retention flaps are folded down to tighten the film and hold the circuit boards firmly in place."
Fering tried a test run incorporating one retention pack, designed for a single circuit board, into his existing operations.
"The Korrvu® pack passed with flying colors," Fering said. "The next step was to create a universal retention pack that could hold any of the 12 circuit boards. The success of that project let us phase out the old packaging entirely."
The side flaps of the retention base are folded upward, loosening the film and creating an insertion pocket to easily load the circuit board |
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The retention flaps are folded down to tighten the film and hold the circuit board firmly in place. |
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The finished package is simply inserted into the carton and is ready for shipment. |
Space efficiency was one of the immediate benefits of the new pack. Since the Korrvu® product stores flat, 2 000 units can be stored in the area that once held only 400 units of the old packaging.
"Our shipping volume had increased to the point that we needed more packaging units on hand than we could store," said Fering. "The Korrvu® retention packaging solved our problem. It is five times more space efficient than the convoluted foam it replaced. Keeping more materials on hand means that despite the constraints on floor space we don't have to bother with constantly reordering packaging inventory. That has really improved our operations."
The new packaging has improved the bottom line too. Material costs are down by 25 percent. Labor costs have dropped the same amount.
The transition from the old packaging to the new was seamless. The Korrvu® pack is extremely easy to use, so employees required little training. Sealed Air Corp.'s Anderson was on hand to answer any questions when the new packaging was put into use.
End users have nothing but praise for the new pack. The transparent film allows them to see the contents as soon as they open the box. The convenience of packaging that stores flat is helpful to them too. Disposal is easy because the Korrvu® retention pack is 100 percent curbside recyclable. The inclusion of at least 30 percent recovered paper fibers in the corrugated is an additional benefit for environmentally conscious companies.
At ADC Telecommunications, Korrvu® packaging has received rave reviews. The company is saving warehouse space and reducing protective packaging costs. And with the new packaging, the production line is running smoother too.
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