When we reported this summer on a closed-loop/reverse logistics setup between Ecospan and one of its customers, it surprised us to discover that bioplastic return containers were cheaper than their cardboard cousins. The key was the reuse and recycling model Ecospan devised for its very large consumer electronics customer.
It turns out that closed-loop/reverse logistics systems using regular plastic return containers are already fairly common, especially in the automotive industry. We found this out from comments made on that article by Clinton McDade, senior designer of plastic products for Schaefer Systems International. His company designs and sells products, equipment, and systems for automated warehousing and distribution, material handling, transport, and waste technologies, including custom and standard injection-molded plastic containers.
Closed-loop systems using regular plastic return containers are already fairly common, especially in the automotive industry. With containers like Schaefer's NewStac, these systems can even speed up assembly. (Source: Schaefer Systems International)
McDade told us one of his company's largest divisions is the returnable packaging solutions one, which sells closed-loop systems. "Our products, which are mostly plastic, replace disposable, easily damaged containers, such as paper corrugated boxes and wooden pallets," he said. "The systems we sell include plastic pallets and top caps with matching injection-molded totes in multiple sizes."
In the US, some of the main users of these systems are first-tier suppliers to car manuacturers. They must deliver components to the assembly plant in approved packaging. Usually, this includes a plastic tote container, reusable dunnage (packaging inside the tote that separates products), labeling, and tracking and routing information.
One plastic tote container used in automotive applications is Schaefer's NewStac, which was designed specifically for that industry. The dunnage itself has multiple uses, including preventing damage and surface abrasion. The dunnage also holds parts at a certain orientation, so workers can grab, say, a side mirror without having to rotate their wrists, put it on the car assembly, and hit it with a pneumatic screwdriver.
"These systems are, in effect, little closed-loop just-in-time supply systems that run continuously," McDade said. The repair cycle, including returned products and packaging, is a much smaller part of the product delivery system. The return containers come back empty from the assembly plant, and the component suppliers put new products in them and ship them back to the plant, closing the loop.
These closed-loop systems are becoming more common in other industries, such as large mass merchandising. "Plastic returnable systems are usually more cost-effective over the long term than disposable systems, as in your bioplastic example, but the up-front costs are higher."
The containers can make as many as 150 trips a year. They are usually purchased in volume at the beginning of a specific car program, and they usually last as long as the car model does, McDade said.
At the end of the program, all of the boxes, pallets, and top caps can be ground up and recycled to make new product. This larger end-of-life loop is more complicated than you might think. The bioplastic makers can do this more easily because they have a controlled source of waste material, but in our industry, we need huge volumes. Our bulk box uses 118 pounds of plastic. So we need consistent, reliable, repeatable suppliers with high volumes of plastic from multiple waste streams. That's difficult, since [the quality of this plastic] is not regulated.
Clinton, thanks for chiming in. I didn't realize Schaefer's containers were also Designed for Recycling, another topic of interest to Design News and its readers.
GTO - You are correct - many times, the accessories added to the plastic containers can cause a problem when recycling, requiring removal of said components before grinding.
In Schaefer's designs, we addressed this by eliminating dissimilar materials so that a whole box can be placed in the grinder with no added handling. We replaced the steel rods usually used in hinged lids with plastic hinge clips, metal rivets with plastic push pins, designed our collapsible containers to lower the loads on the pivot pins so that we could use PP pins, not nylon, and make our add-on cardholders out of the same material as the boxes they attach to.
Labeling protocol has also improved and for the most part, eliminates the high number of labels that get permanently affixed to the plastic tote. One approach is to use a placard - it is a shiny surfaced 4x6 label that sticks to the box permanently - all tracking labels are placed on it and easily removed at the end of the delivery loop. The placard substrate causes no problems when ground up.
Returnable/reusable containers are typically more durable than disposable containers. While the up front cost may be more the overall cost of the returnable containers can be less than disposables. The containers can be custom designed for each application as well. A company near me has been doing this for quite a while. Take a look at PolyFlex Products: http://www.polyflexpro.com/index.html
Having worked as a teir one supplier to Ford and GM for over 25 years, they have been doing this for quite some time. One side note is that sometimes the returnable dunnage becomes obsolete. This is either the product that is shipped in the returnable is obsolete and no longer used or the returnable size is obsoleted (this meaning that the assembly line has revised workspaces and the returnable does not fit the new configuration). Most of the time, we as suppliers had to purchase the returnable packaging and then amortize the cost into the part price. Some suppliers simply do not want to take on that cost.
When the returnable is obsolete, recycling is hit or miss. Ideally, these are thermoplastic containers that are 100% recyclable. Reality is that they are usually covered in labels, or have metal attachements for drop down openings (used to enhance the assembly function). These tend to sit on the suppliers backlot in large stacks (in fact we have three large stacks). As a result the recycling companies do not want to disassemble and/or pay the shipping costs. This is getting better as recycling is cost effective, but still not enough.
One other side note, some of these bins work great to organize stuff at home in the garage!
Ann, you are right. I know in my childhood age, we used to have banana leaves for serving food at home and for packing food to school/colleges. Still as a part of tradition we used to have feast in Banana leaves during functions and festival seasons like Christmas, Easter etc.
Actually, no-waste packaging is a lot older than the industrial age. Banana leaves and other large pieces of fibrous plant material can be used as a (nonedible) wrap or plate for cooked food and then wrap more food to cook it. And there are many more examples from pre-industrial times.
Thanks, Lou, that's a good point about consistency of packaging in the plastic return containers. What surprised me is that they can actually be designed to help production line workers be more productive.
Sorry - I couldn't resist the headline. This is a good example of product lifecycle thinking, something that we could use more of. I'm reminded of a story attributed to Henry Ford in which he specified an elaborate and expensive crate for shipping car engines. Most engine manufacturers no-bid the project due to the cost. Henry got the last laugh, though when these elaborately constructed crates were dismantled to become the floorboards for his Model T cars. It seems that "no waste" packaging was a concept pioneered by the automotive industry.
Ann, another advantage of this type of reuse is that the containers are consistent over time. In the many round trips obtinaed from each container, you are getting a piece that is known to work in your production environment. If you were having to replace disposable containers all the time, you might not end up with a product that is exactly the same. This can eaisly happen when a supplier of containers is swithced or an existing supplier makes a change.
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