Like all businesses, manufacturing companies understand the importance of keeping customers happy. Besides providing excellent customer service, competitive pricing, and exceptional quality, manufacturers want their products to be delivered to the customer's door quickly and safely.
Unfortunately, in their quest to ensure that products are safely and securely packaged, many manufacturers end up over-packaging which is not only costly, but can sometimes lead to damages.
Conversely, manufacturers looking to save money may opt for inferior wooden crates which almost always leads to damages. Not only do these practices compromise the product, it wastes time, money and materials, which can do even more to damage the bottom line.
Read enough already?
The wooden crate experts at Valley Box Company Inc. have put together three vital protective measures every manufacturer should know about before shipping.
In general you should always investigate new ways to protect your shipments. This will help you stay on top of the very latest advances in wooden crate design, which will help keep your processes in tune with the times and ultimately protect your shipment.
1. Choose Adequate External Protection
Damage to products during transit costs companies millions of dollars each year. Part of the problem may be that the manufacturer settled for lighter or low quality exterior shipping crates to save money. When you buy wood crates, while this may help you save on shipping costs, light or cheap materials will be much less effective at protecting your products. Remember the external technology of a package can be just as important as what's on the inside.
Take ordinary wooden crates and get it upgraded with external components.
- Paint can extend the life of the shipping crates, make them less susceptible to water damage and make it easier to identify.
- Butterfly latches and link locks can make the package secure.
- Handles, hinged lids, catch cables can make the package easier to handle by personnel.
When dealing with corrugated packaging remember there are varying levels of strength starting at single wall, then then double wall, all the way to triple wall.
- Do not over pack cardboard containers and cartons
- Double check stacking strength, bursting strength, cardboard quality grades, and so on.
2. Choose Adequate Internal Protection
When you buy wood crates, notice most exterior shipping crates can be similar in design, but its also what's going on inside that really provides the protection. Placing your product into a box and shipping it without adequate internal protection may lead to extensive payload damage due to vibration, impact or environment conditions during transport. Customized solutions for securing your product internally are one of the best ways you can ensure your product is adequately secured inside the package.
In the heavy duty spectrum, when you buy wood crates, custom made components can be connected directly to the container's base and support your product's payload during shipment. To prevent abrasion to the product while in transit saddles can be lined with cushioning products like foam, carpet, and rubber neoprene. Isolators can be used in conjunction with a floating deck to offer unprecedented vibration protection.
Light weight semi-durable products can be wrapped in sheets of foam, bubble or loosefill. Void fillers such as inflated air tubes may offer even more protection, and at a lower cost. For example, it may take eight rolls of bubble wrap to do the job of just one air tube or cushion to protect your shipment.
3. Choose Adequate Freight
When it comes to freight forwarders and other common carriers it might be in your best interest to pay for the added insurance. It will increase the cost of shipping, but it will save in the end should damages occur. Make sure to keep all paperwork, sales receipts, and pictures if they are taken to expedite any claims.
Warning labels, stickers, labels, stencils all help to make sure packages are handled with care. Your internal packaging and protection are critical. When shipping, make sure to know what the carrier’s (UPS® and FedEx® in particular) packing requirements are, which can be found on their websites.
All freight companies provide a PRO # which is used to track shipments. This is attached to the BOL and the item shipping. Most freight companies have tracking on their websites. UPS® and FedEx® use their own tracking numbers and shipments can be tracked on their websites as well.
All freight whether over the road or UPS/FedEx, you will need to know if the address is residential or business and if it will require any additional services such a lift gate delivery, home delivery, call ahead etc. Each additional service adds to the freight cost.
