Well wrapped

More companies are now looking at ways they can reduce costs while maintaining or increasing volume throughput. As retail fulfilment models change and store roles evolve, many companies will need to re-visit (and in many cases re-invent) the way in which they do things. Shifting from the traditional store shopping, towards increasing online sales, companies need to understand the clear difference in business requirements.

The crucial importance of packaging can often be underestimated by many organisations, searching for the cheapest product with the key focus on price can often leave companies paying more in the long run for labour.

The protection provided by cheap packaging products is often not sufficient and therefore companies can find themselves covering the associated costs of goods damaged during transit.

Kite take pride in their expertise with a key focus on being a truly dynamic company, they invest heavily in research and development and constantly look to innovate around improved pack performance, improved velocity and limiting environmental impact.

Kites specialist packaging technologists work closely with customers on standard pack design and pack velocity to demonstrate how the two go hand in hand. A recent example saw a customer present a specific box size requirement, Kite demonstrated to them four different boxes all able to carry the same amount of product, but with different designs built around differing packing methods.

The specialist team focused on the price of each box, the time to assemble and an assumption of labour cost per hour. The image below demonstrates the outcome. In brief Kite demonstrated how pack velocity can make a different to the overall cost. Box 0201 is the cheapest box, but due to the design takes 31 seconds to assemble, making the assumption that labour will cost £10 per hour this will cost a total of £0.86p, box 0713 takes 8 seconds to assemble and with the labour assumption costs £0.22p per box. Even though box 0201 is 0.057p cheaper, once considering the cost of labour box 0713 comes out cheaper, is a higher quality box and quicker to assemble. Companies do not often realise the money that can be saved when taking in to consideration the time to assemble and the cost of labour.

For low volume users Kite Packaging supply a wide range of products such as the Speedman Box, a low cost ready to use, manual paper void fill system equivalent to 3 and a half bags of void fill. Kites white postal boxes are quick and easy to assemble and manufactured from high quality material, with a white coating to make them look more presentable. Their range of Air Shock with integrated valves for using a hand pump or compressed air are inflated on demand, the uninflated pouches take up very little space and can be deflated after use and recycled.

For medium volume users Kites ‘wrap and hold’ is an environmentally friendly, high performance and cost efficient replacement for bubble wrap, loose fill, foam in place and pre-moulded foam. Designed for medium volume users the system offers a universal packing solution that is secure and reduces costs. Kite's 5x5 hand dispenser system offers consistent and optimised pallet wrapping giving improved puncture resistance and provides maximum efficiency for hand wrapping meaning less stock needs to be carried. Kite's Speedman Pro Paper System is a versatile system offering continuous speed adjustment if needed. Built with efficiency and speed in mind this paper dispensing system offers high speed production, supplying the amount of high quality void fill as desired by the user. 

For high volume users Kite's Paper Jet system is a high speed system, producing high quality paper cushion on demand, operating at approximately twice the speed of other comparable systems, it is a revolution in terms of efficiency, speed and quality, and with an incorporated overhead hopper basket is ideal for high volumes and space saving. Custom size boxes are also available on Kites website, along with a range of custom printed products. Turntable and Robot pallet wrap machines are ideal for large warehouses and for businesses moving in to a more automated pick, pack and dispatch operation.