How many of you have been astonished at the non-sustainable waste of packaging at your door from all the eCommerce deliveries the last two years? Below is a relatively simple picture of a box in a box in a box. I’m sure you’ve seen an item that could have fit into an envelope delivered in a huge box for who knows what reason.
I have been in the transportation industry for decades now, always looking for ways to reduce weight, reduce size, reduce cost, maximize fuel economy, maximize safety, maximize driving time—I have often said my goal has been to do things more AND less—some things we want MORE of and some things we want LESS of. I’m glad to see, we are headed back to doing things better—MORE and LESS.
At the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference in early February, I was surprised to find a vendor booth for a shipping product. Usually I see software vendors, machining houses, machine tool manufacturers, robot manufacturers and the like. Since the booth was unusual and I had arrived early, I sidled up to it and talked with the person. Much to my surprise, here we were north of Seattle, WA and the two of us had attended the same parochial grade school in Detroit. What were the chances of that?
After we got done with the chit-chat about teachers, choir directors, daily mass, and wearing a tie every day from the first grade, we got down to talking about his extremely strong, corrugated fiber boxes. Check out www.ecorrcrate.com to see what I am talking about. They can even create custom designs that would eliminate that box in a box situation. The boxes are shipped flat and can be built up quickly.
Since then, I came across a machine that can make custom-sized boxes at 700 per hour. Check out www.GXO.com and their video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUJKqlID01U
My faith in innovation, improving sustainability for our planet, and manufacturing remains strong with such applications of recyclable, corrugated paper board.
