Improving Productivity While Reducing Labour and Waste with Sealed Air’s Fill-Air Rocket System

Case Study: Beauty Product Distributor

Overview

Crawford Packaging was contacted by an international distributor of beauty products who was experiencing issues with their existing protective packaging solution. The Distributor was using an overseas air pillow system and pre-filled bubble packaging. The combination of the two materials are used to form both their protective and void fill needs. Located in a downtown metropolitan area, the Distributor was experiencing poor space efficiency to store the large rolls of bubble packaging. These rolls used a large amount of space and were difficult for employees to handle and store. To make matters worse, the offshore air pillow system was regularly breaking down, with no service options offered by their existing supplier.

Crawford’s Packaging Specialist met with the Distributor for a free packaging consultation. The consultation reviewed their packaging solution and assessed their existing void fill equipment. Following the assessment, the Specialist recommended the Distributor replace their existing void fill packaging machine with the Sealed Air Fill-Air Rocket. The Fill-Air Rocket would help to increase production, reduce downtime, and potentially eliminate the need for using and storing rolls of pre-filled bubble packaging.

Challenge

The Beauty Distributor was experiencing poor productivity and throughput due to their existing air pillow system. The system was from an overseas manufacturer and a third party was needed for all repairs. The Distributor was also having to handle and store large rolls of pre-filled bubble packaging. These rolls required a large amount of space for storage and labour to manage.

 

Process

Crawford’s Packaging Specialist met with the client for a consultation and review their existing packaging solution. After the review was complete the Specialist recommended the Distributor use the Fill-Air Rocket. The Distributor was offered the chance to undergo a one-week trial period. The trial would allow the Distributor to test the new machine and test the fit in their packaging operation. Crawford also provided the Distributor with packaging machine training to ensure an effective trial.

 

Solution:

The Fill-Air® Rocket™ is an on-demand void fill packaging system designed to meet diverse fulfilment needs. Drawing on decades of best-in-class experience, the Fill-Air® Rocket™ system is fast, simple, light, and compact. The Fill-Air® Rocket™ can produce 100 feet of air pillow cushions per minute. The Fill-Air® Extreme™ and Fill-Air® Extreme Efficiency™ films are available in three widths (8”, 10” and 12”) and can be converted to two different lengths. Operators can create six possible air pillow sizes for maximum flexibility and versatility.

Learn More

Results

After the one-week trial, the Distributor found that the Fill-Air Rocket drastically improved their packaging process. The Fill-Air Rocket has replaced the old void fill system improving packaging efficiency and productivity. With the Fill-Air Rockets versatile sizing The Distributor no longer needs to supplement pillows with pre-filled bubble packaging.

 

Increased Efficiency and Productivity

The new Fill-Air Rocket system has eliminated the downtime the Distributor was experiencing. The reduction of downtime helped the Distributor to increase throughput levels and increase packaging efficiency. Efficiency has been further increased as packers can produce up to 12 different pillow sizes. This has eliminated the need to trim and size the pre-filled bubble to improve protective packaging.

 

Reduced Storage and Labour

The variety of pillow sizes has allowed the Distributor to pack their products without the need for large pre-filled rolls of bubble packaging. The elimination of the large rolls has helped the Distributor reclaim the space previously used for storage. Employees no longer must spend time managing the stock and ordering and rolls.

 

Crawford Support

Crawford worked with the Distributor during the Fill-Air Rocket test period with training through the Packaging Equipment Training Program. This ensured the Distributors staff had the proper knowledge to effectively test on the machine. Since the installation of the Fill-Air Rocket Crawford Packaging has offered complete supported. This can include two after purchase programs, the Preventative Maintenance and Packaging Equipment Repair programs. The programs ensure that the Fill-Air Rocket runs a peak performance for its lifetime and any issues are repaired quickly, limiting downtime.

 

Recent News & Articles