Plastic Container Blog

WEK Minimize Waste In Production By Configuring Reusable Plastic Bulk Containers And Totes

WEK Industries, a Myers Industries, Inc. company, received Honda’s Productivity Improvement Award this year.  Read more about their efforts and the specifics of what they do here.

WEK Industries® Receives Productivity Improvement Award from Honda®
AKRON, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WEK Industries, a Myers Industries, Inc. company, was presented with Honda’s Productivity Improvement Award at this year’s North American Executive Honda Supplier Conference in March.

The Productivity Improvement Award is given to Honda’s top suppliers that initiate activities that result in significant gains in productivity and efficiency. In addition, continuous improvement in manufacturing, delivery, quality and cost control standards must be achieved.

WEK, a designer and manufacturer of custom engineered blow-molded and injection-molded plastic components, supplies all eight North American Honda manufacturing locations from its facilities in Jefferson, Ohio, and Reidsville, North Carolina. Products range from HVAC ducts to air induction components, radiator tanks and many other custom items. WEK has been a supplier to Honda since 1979, when Honda opened their first plant in Marysville, Ohio. Today, WEK engineers a variety of components for the Accord, Civic, Odyssey, Pilot, Ridgeline, Acura TL and Element automotive platforms, as well as Honda watercraft, motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle lines.

“This is a significant achievement to receive this recognition from Honda,” said Brian Moroney, director of sales and engineering for WEK. “Our associates are committed to customer satisfaction and meeting or exceeding the customer’s demands for quality, delivery and value-added productivity initiatives. This award validates their exceptional performance. Our business has created a real partnership with Honda, and we are very proud of their recognition.”

At the annual supplier conference, Honda recognized 63 North American suppliers for top performance in quality, on-time parts delivery and productivity improvement last year. In commenting to the group of more than 500 suppliers and others, Akio Hamada, president and CEO of Honda of America Mfg., Inc. and leader of Honda’s North American manufacturing, stressed the critical importance of these factors. Honda autos built in North America represented 76 percent of Honda’s global record 2007 auto sales.

Over the last several years, WEK has invested in a variety of new technology platforms and capacity to ensure consistent production quality and engineer solutions around manufacturing challenges. In addition, the company instituted new processes to further minimize waste in production, inventory and handling and to maximize plant safety and cleanliness. “Our focus is to empower our associates to improve their work environment,” said Ron Ulery, plant manager for WEK’s Jefferson facility. “We emphasize taking pride in our work and product quality, which promotes customer satisfaction and keeps us growing.”

WEK is an ISO/TS 16949 facility, which is a quality management system related to automotive products that provides for continual improvement, emphasizing defect prevention and the reduction of variation and waste in the supply chain.

“We have a strong focus through the organization on the value we can deliver to Honda and our other customers,” added Moroney. “This includes not only engineering and prototyping, but also product fabrication and secondary operations that save them time when they receive our products. In addition, one of our sister companies in Myers Industries, Buckhorn®, is a North American leader in reusable transport packaging. We work with them to configure reusable plastic bulk containers and totes in which to ship many of our products to customers. These containers not only provide superior product protection in transit, but also take disposable waste out of the supply chain and help customers reduce material handling costs.”

About Myers Industries®

Myers Industries, Inc. (NYSE: MYE), parent company of WEK, is an international manufacturer of polymer products for industrial, agricultural, automotive, commercial and consumer markets. The Company is also the largest wholesale distributor of tools, equipment and supplies for the tire, wheel and undervehicle service industry in the U.S. The Company reported 2007 net sales of $918.8 million. Founded in 1933, Myers Industries celebrates its 75th Anniversary in 2008. Visit www.myersind.com to learn more.

About WEK Industries®

Founded in 1972, WEK Industries, Inc. is a premier designer and manufacturer of custom engineered blow-molded and injection-molded plastic components and products. Markets served range from automotive, off-road vehicle and motorcycle to industrial, commercial and agriculture. Products include HVAC ducts, air induction components, fluid reservoirs, dock floats, waste containers and a wide variety of specialty custom products. WEK is headquartered and has manufacturing operations in Jefferson, Ohio, and manufacturing in Reidsville, North Carolina. WEK is one of five brands in the Automotive and Custom Segment of Myers Industries, Inc.

For more information, contact WEK Industries at (440) 576-6940.

Agrecovery is a new program that reprocesses certain plastic containers and is quickly gaining interest from the primary production sector. Read more about this specifics of this here.

Chemical plastics head underground
5:00AM Monday May 26, 2008
By Angela Gregory
A nationwide rural recycling scheme that turns used agrichemical plastic containers into underground electrical cable cover is fast gaining interest from the primary production sector.

Tomorrow marks the first annual meeting of Agrecovery - marking its first year of success.

Agrecovery is a new programme that recovers and reprocesses agrichemical plastic containers and employs the world’s first plastic shredding truck.

Bruce Emerson, director of 3R Group, said the scheme had proven popular, with an estimated 80,000 containers recovered in the first year. “We expect to treble that.”

Farmers and horticulturists triple-rinse their 20-litre chemical containers and deposit them at one of 50 nationwide collection sites.

They are stored in shipping containers until they are picked up by a truck that shreds them before transporting them to plastic reprocessors in Auckland and Christchurch.

The truck was designed specifically to process agrichemical containers, and in its travels has raised the profile of the programme.

“The highly visual truck has created an enormous amount of public interest and has become one of our best public awareness and education tools,” Mr Emerson said.

The shredded plastic is turned into underground electrical cables. “We can’t give them [the manufacturers] enough.”

Mr Emerson said it was estimated about five million agrichemical containers were used in the primary produce sector a year, many ending up dumped or burned.

The Agrecovery programme was paid for through a levy on the chemical products, a system that had the support of about 85 per cent of the agrichemical companies.

Mr Emerson said plastic waste on farms was a persistent and growing problem for farmers and growers throughout New Zealand.

He was encouraged to see in some regions, like Gisborne, that growers and farmers were rallying together and encouraging their neighbours, colleagues and friends to be part of the programme.

Farmers and growers were also looking for solutions beyond containers including silage wrap, larger drum recovery and the chemicals themselves.

Enviro Pallets, made in Ausralia, are ideal for those needing to ship or store products with that extra few kilos.
You can read more about the specifics of these pallets including the materials that are used to make them here.

JMP (USA) Enviro Pallets are designed as an alternative to standard wooden and plastic pallets.

Standard wooden pallets are often subjected to strict import restrictions and plastic pallets to environmental accusations and high costs.

Made from materials ranging from recycled wood fibres to sugar cane pulp, the JMP (USA) Enviro Pallets, from JMP Australia , are eco-friendly and are in compliance with ISPM 15 Guidelines for wood packaging. No fumigation is required.

This heavy duty pallet is ideal for those needing to ship or store products with that extra few kilos. The JMP (USA) Enviro Pallet is also suited for shipments that need to be double stacked as it has been designed with a flat base.

Size: 1219 x 1016 x 150mm
Weight: 30kg
Dynamic load: 1.5 tonne
Static load: 6 tonne
Entry: 4 way
Pallets per stack: 13

Xterprise Incorporated announces its RFID-enabled asset management application which optimizes the use of Reusable Transport Items (RTIs) in various supply chain environments.
You can read the article in entirety here.

Xterprise Announces Clarity RTI(TM), an RFID-Enabled Reusable Transport Item (RTI) Application, Now Available for the European Market

Clarity RTI(TM) Application Optimises the Use of Totes, Pallets, Bins, Bulk Containers, Roll Cages and Similar RTIs in the SupplyChainLONDON–(Marketwire - March 10, 2008) - Xterprise Incorporated, theleading global supplier of applications for the High DefinitionEnterprise(TM) and a Gold-Certified Microsoft(TM) ISV partner,announced today the release in the European market of itsRFID-enabled asset management application which optimises the use ofReusable Transport Items (RTIs) in various supply chain environments.Reusable transport items play a critical role in many environments tohelp ensure the timely, continuous flow of materials and products toproduction lines, distribution and ultimately customers. Xterpriseand third-party research indicates that more than 50 million RTIs arelost, damaged or otherwise removed from service each year at anestimated cost, globally, of close to $1 billion — a significantportion of which are in Europe. Without proper visibility andmanagement of these valuable assets, stockpiling occurs atartificially high levels at critical choke points, resulting inunnecessary replenishment to meet demand.Xterprise has purposely built the Clarity RTI(TM) application toaddress the unique uses and resulting challenges of managing RTIs asthey move between stakeholders in closed-loop environments typicallyfound in retail, 3pl, and manufacturing organisations. Theapplication provides highly granular visibility and control of RTIassets across all stakeholders, matching supply to demand whilecontinuously measuring fleet performance. Typical customer benefitsinclude higher RTI asset utilization, lower acquisition costs, andgreater transaction accuracy.”The cost of RTIs to shippers, manufacturers and retailers has beenrising in step with the global demand and prices of commodities; assuch, organisations can no longer ignore the bottom-line implicationsof not having these assets at the right location in the correctquantities when needed. Surprisingly, these assets are typicallymanaged with spreadsheets or paper-based systems,” said MikeLetchford, general manager Xterprise Europe. “Without anRFID-enabled, high fidelity application like Clarity RTI(TM), keepingtrack and managing large volumes of RTIs across a constantly movingsupply chain can be next to impossible.”Xterprise has established a pedigree of excellence with ClarityRTI(TM) delivering value in many of the largest and most challengingRTI environments worldwide:– Managing millions of assets and millions of transactions each month for the leading plastic pallet-pooling organisation in North America. The scale of this deployment is second only to the US Department of Defense in terms of assets under management;– Optimisation of high cost RTIs used in production in a large Japanese automaker’s assembly facility;– Actively tracking the exposure of RTIs to ambient environmental variables to ensure safe shipment and integrity of reagents used in pharmaceutical manufacturing as well as liquids used in semiconductor manufacturing;– Automating the complex flow of inbound raw materials contained in RTIs into a lean manufacturing for a leading automotive electronics supplier.The Clarity RTI(TM) application from Xterprise is built on theMicrosoft BizTalk R2 platform featuring a robust RFID framework. Thisensures maximum flexibility, scalability, and interoperability at thelowest possible total cost of ownership.ABOUT XTERPRISEXterprise Incorporated was founded in 2002 as a provider of RFID(Radio Frequency Identification) applications. Today our solutionscombine Microsoft platform technology, continuous improvement andlean supply chain expertise, enterprise supply chain systemsintegration along with RFID technology to deliver previouslyunachievable levels of visibility, assurance, accuracy, processimprovement and value to clients. The growing customer list ofXterprise customers includes Alcon, Allergan, Chicken of the Sea,Corning, Cytech, Dairy Fresh, Dial, Eureaka, ExxonMobil, GeneralMills, Georgia Pacific, Kraft, iGPS, Intel, L’Oreal, Nokia, Samsung,Schoeller Arca Systems, ShopVac, Siemens VDO, The Libman Company, TheUS Department of Veterans Affairs, TIMCO Aviation Services, TNTExpress, Toyota, Wells Fargo and many others. The Xterprise Europeanoffice is located in Beverley, UK, with its global headquarters inCarrollton, Texas, USA (Dallas/Fort Worth). To learn more call +44(0) 1482 881979, email infoEU@xterprise.com or visitwww.xterprise.com.Brand names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respectiveownersCONTACTS:Mike Letchford (European Contact)General ManagerXterprise Europemletchford@xterprise.com+44 (0) 1482 881979Jim CaudillSenior Vice President of Marketing and StrategyXterprise Incorporatedjcaudill@xterprise.com+1 972-690-9460Howard LaMunionPublic Relations for Xterpriselamunion@consulttus.com+1 214-601-0977

Plastic containers are the containers of choice for grape exports because they are more efficient for transportation and allow better air flow for the product.You can read more about this here.

Mexican grapes now heading to U.K., Asia

By Tom Burfield

(May 5, 9:40 a.m.) Most Mexican table grape growers export the vast majority of their product to the U.S. and Canada. However, as produce from Mexico continues to build a strong reputation worldwide, growers are shipping more of their product to places like the United Kingdom, Pacific Rim countries and China.

Pacific Trellis Fruit, Reedley, Calif., has shipped some Mexican grapes to the United Kingdom and exported to Asia last year for the first time, said Omar Abu-Ghazaleh, imports manager.

The buying power of Central America also is increasing significantly along with an interest in Mexican table grapes, so the company also ships to El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica.

In all, the company exports up to 10% of its Mexican-grown table grapes to places other than the U.S. and Canada.

“Nowadays, you have to diversify your markets as much as possible,” Abu-Ghazaleh said.

Plastic containers are the containers of choice for grape exports because they are more efficient for transportation and allow better air flow for the product, he added.

Frank’s Distributing of Produce LLC and Bionova Produce Inc., both in Nogales, Ariz., export primarily flames, some sugraones and a lot of red globes to Pacific Rim markets, said Montie McGovern, director of operations.

The companies export 65% of their red globes to countries other than the U.S.

Some companies ship heavily to the United Kingdom, but for McGovern, those shipments depend on market conditions there and on what product is available from India and Egypt.

The companies enjoy consistent business with Hong Kong on flames and sugraones, he said, but red globes generally are more popular throughout the Pacific Rim.

Stevco Inc., Los Angeles, exports up to 10% of its Mexican grapes, said Jared Lane, sales manager.

Shipments have increased lately as Mexico’s fruit becomes more accepted worldwide, he said.

The company exports all varieties and ships in corrugated plastic containers to places like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China and Hong Kong.

Miguel Suarez, owner of MAS Melons & Grapes, Nogales, Ariz., said he used to export a significant amount of grapes to England, but that business has been reduced as countries in northern Africa increase their shipments every year.

Suarez also has seen a gradual change in the table grape industry in India, which also supplied grapes to England. At first, the industry there consisted of numerous small growers who shipped product of inconsistent quality.

“Apparently, the new generations are getting more organized,” Suarez said.

Farms are getting bigger and quality is improving. That affects Mexican exports, which are produced at the same time.

As a result, Suarez said, his business to Europe has been decreasing every year, especially on green grapes.

Good growing conditions in India and north Africa and an extended Chilean deal mean fewer options for Mexican growers, he said, but opportunities remain for red grapes.

The company has programs in place with buyers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, he said.

Export deals can be much more challenging than shipping to North America, but shippers say they also can be more profitable.

“There are quite a bit of regulations to most of these countries,” said Abu-Ghazaleh, “but where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

The risks are greater when exporting table grapes, Stevco’s Lane said. A shipper must send his highest-quality product, but the returns are higher and generally well worth the risk.

“Our (export) business has stayed pretty steady,” McGovern said, but export volume often is tied to conditions in other growing areas, including Chile, as well as in the destination countries.

Crop size also can affect exports. If Mexico’s crop is light and the North American markets are strong, shippers are likely to export less product, he said.

One of the newest export destinations for Mexican grapes is China.

Pacific Trellis launched a trial program with that country last year.

“It went fairly well,” said Abu-Ghazaleh.

The company shipped mostly red globes, but it also has seen an interest in flames and sugraones. Pacific Trellis plans to increase exports to China this season.

Stevco also ships to China, but volume is shrinking as Chinese production of red globes increases, Lane said. The company ships mostly seedless varieties to that nation.

There is potential for thompson, sugraone and red globes in China, Suarez said, but shipping there can be risky, since a trip can take up to four weeks.

“That’s a long time,” he said, so starting with good grapes that are packed right is imperative.

Apparently many people like the plastic containers and plastic pallets that the U.S. Postal Service uses because loads are turning up missing.  You can read more about this here.

Post office’s plastic gear lost to offices, recyclers
BY BILL W. HORNADAY

Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008

For years, the U. S. Postal Service has waged a costly and losing battle to round up millions of plastic tubs that end up as office organizers, dorm room ottomans or perhaps a porchside planter.

Now it faces a bigger dilemma. Millions of plastic shipping pallets, which are more than five times as expensive as tubs, are unaccounted for as well.

Despite postal markings on each side, these orange and black platforms are often seen bearing other carriers’ cargo. Many sit idle on loading docks. A few end up in oddball places. Others are illegally shredded for recycling — an activity that postal officials and other industries say is on the rise.

“We would like them back,” said Jim Hardie, manager of mail transport equipment for the Postal Service. “Because ultimately, it costs us all. That’s a lot of stamps to buy to replace just one.” The Postal Service adopted plastic pallets more than 20 years ago and is the nation’s largest user. More costly than traditional wooden pallets, they are lighter, more durable and easier to store, postal officials say.

Over the past two years, Hardie has spent $ 74 million for 3. 7 million plastic pallets. That’s $ 20 a pallet and about 37 percent of the typical annual budget for buying processing and transport equipment, he said.

Yet 2006 ended with the same number of pallets in his national warehouse and distribution center inventory as at the start of the year — about 120, 000.

By the end of 2007, that inventory had shrunk, Hardie said.

Tub retrieval remains a challenge as well. Despite annual recovery drives — last year’s drive liberated about $ 1 million worth — Hardie buys 5 million to 7 million tubs a year to keep inventories around 700, 000.

Since 2006, Hardie has spent $ 33. 4 million for 8. 8 million plastic tubs. That’s about $ 3. 80 each. Exhausting $ 207. 4 million on plastic containers since 2004 — nearly two-thirds of that on pallets — may sound exorbitant. Or it could be downright minuscule given the Postal Service’s $ 75 billion-a-year business. But “if every household in America emptied their garage and every business got rid of stuff they didn’t need, I wouldn’t buy anything next year,” he said.

HIDING PLACES When tubs and pallets pile up instead of returning to the post office, they become subject to office workers’ whimsy. Neither snow, rain, heat nor gloom of night dulls their ingenuity. Nor do labels that threaten a $ 1, 000 fine and three years in prison for “theft or misuse” of postal gear.

“I don’t think it’s anything malicious that people do,” said Hardie, noting that the Postal Service gladly accepts returns. “Somehow they get hold of a [tub or pallet ] and don’t know what to do with it.” Instead, pallets have turned up at paint-ball battlefields, a roadside golf ball stand and under haystacks at a farm. Some have surfaced in South America and some European airports, though the Postal Service does not send pallets out of the country, spokesman Mark Saunders said.

“One of our employees was on vacation in St. Maarten and brought back a picture of one that literally washed up on the beach,” Hardie said.

Perhaps the most brazen incident involved a pharmacy across from Postal Service headquarters in Washington. An employee on lunch break noticed a postal pallet loaded with water bottles and summoned the manager.

“He said, ‘ Hey, that’s not supposed to be used for anything but mail, ’” Hardie said. “Then he picked it up and brought it back to the office.” But when a pallet turned up in a primate exhibit at a Midwest zoo, Hardie said, “I gave them that one. I wasn’t going to go in and get it.” Officials at the Milwaukee County Zoo said several orange and black pallets are used in its primate exhibits, but were donated and lack postal markings.

Tubs have become bookcases, footrests, TV stands and toolboxes. More eclectic uses have included drums or donation bins for street musicians, ballot sorting in elections and a numbers box in a cruise-ship bingo match.

In 2002, an Indiana man was reportedly arrested for growing marijuana in mail tubs.

“The strangest use I’ve seen is for fishing gear in a boat,” said Daniel Medrano, a postal inspector based in Little Rock.

Tubs were popular with television stations, particularly for tape storage, when the Postal Service issued its first return request in 2002, Saunders said.

Newspapers are not to be outdone. An informal sweep of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Little Rock newsroom revealed 86 postal tubs in plain sight — only four of which contained mail.

PLASTIC PROFITEERS In 2007, postal employees came across a newspaper article about an Ohio recycling yard. To their amazement, Hardie said, a photo showed an employee tossing “almost brand new” postal pallets into a shredder. “We ended up calling our inspectors. Sure enough, there had been a theft of postal pallets and this company unknowingly bought stolen property.” Intentional theft or misuse of pallets and tubs are the “vast minority” of cases that inspectors see, said Jose Obando, manager of the U. S. Postal Inspection Service’s security and loss prevention group.

When they occur, it often involves resellers, who may buy stolen pallets for $ 7 and resell them for $ 18, or plastic recyclers paid by the pound, he said.

Inspectors in Florida recently halted a pallet export operation, Hardie said. Last year, police and private eyes in Maywood, Calif., found postal pallets among truckloads of beverage crates in what may be the largest recycling seizure to date.

Obando said he knows of “two or three” incidents firsthand and a pair of ongoing criminal cases. “But most people basically forget they have all these pallets.” Hardie says the Postal Service looks into each lead it receives about missing equipment. Some recyclers and shipping firms disagree. In recent years, trade publications reported that the Postal Service has rejected some pickup requests or threatened prosecution.

A Web site for the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association reflects such concerns. One section allows users to report pallets ready for pickup to the association and the Postal Service. It also includes a check box with the message: “My company has reported these USPS pallets to our local post office which declined pickup.” The owner of Cassville, Mo.-based Marck Industries Inc. said he deals only with commercial or industrial customers and that most — along with other recycling operators — are well aware of postal regulations.

“We simply won’t accept them [postal pallets ],” said Kent Longley, whose clients include Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other Northwest Arkansas companies. “Besides, it’s hardly worth the hassle.” Hardie rejects the notion that tips get ignored, noting that a special e-mail address for lost equipment is checked daily. Inspectors sometimes get involved, he said, but usually over large amounts of equipment.

Some say the Postal Service shares part of the blame for lost equipment.

In a 2007 presentation, the head of the Canadian Pallet Council, Belinda Junkin, noted that the Postal Service — unlike some shipping groups — never put a plan in place to control its pallet inventory.

With more than 37, 000 facilities nationwide — and additional pallets and tubs moving between postal centers or waiting on customer loads — it’s impossible to track each one, Hardie said. At least for now. “We are creating a system where mailers will be required to report their inventory of [mail transport equipment ] to give us this piece of the equation.” LOST AND FOUND The Postal Service is not alone in its struggles with plastic. Each year, the dairy industry loses $ 80 million worth of milk crates to theft, misuse or landfills, said Clay Detlefsen, vice president and counsel for the International Dairy Foods Association. Lost plastic trays also cost the baking industry some $ 50 million to $ 80 million a year, he said.

Prices for plastic resin — derived from oil and natural gas — have doubled over the past two years, Longley said. Another driver is increased demand in Asia and China in particular, he said.

Such increases help fuel a growing black market, Detlefsen said.

“There is an incentive for wrongdoers to collect milk cases and sell them for scrap, which could be roughly $ 1 a case,” Detlefsen said. New crates typically cost $ 4, he said.

So far, pallet theft has not been a significant problem in Arkansas, Medrano said. As returns go, 2, 988 pallets have come back to the Postal Service’s processing and distribution center in North Little Rock — averaging about 100 a day, spokesman Leisa Tolliver-Gay said.

About 100 flat tubs a day are returned to Little Rock’s main post office at 600 E. Capitol Ave., she said.

Last year, the Postal Service recovered some 25, 000 pallets worth nearly $ 500, 000, Obando said. So far this year, individual seizures have yielded several trailer loads worth $ 20, 000 to $ 25, 000 each, he said.

Some credit goes toward “better communication” and recent efforts to educate shippers and recyclers about postal equipment, Hardie said.

Inspectors also need more postal workers and citizens to serve as “eyes and ears,” Obando said.

“Obviously we’re not going to get everything. There’s warehouses in places people can’t see them and that’s unfortunate,” he said. “But by raising awareness… I think we’re definitely a little ahead than we were before.”

Read about the many uses associated with pallets and plastic containers here.
Seegrid Unveils Robotic Pallet Truck

Seegrid will unveil the GP8 Robotic Pallet Truck at NA 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio.  This robot will help automate long-haul transport of pallets in several areas.
Robot Automates Long-Haul Transport of Pallets in Manufacturing, Warehousing and Distribution
Highlighted Links
 

www.seegrid.comCLEVELAND, OH–(Marketwire - April 22, 2008) - NA 2008 - Seegrid Corporation (www.seegrid.com), the premier provider of vision-guided mobile robots for the material handling industry, at NA 2008 today announced the introduction of the GP8 industrial mobile robot for material handling applications. The GP8 (General Purpose Motorized Pallet Jack, 8000 lb. capacity) transports pallets to an assigned location, automatically positions them and returns to the original starting point (or another pre-assigned location) for more work.

The GP8 employs Seegrid’s Industrial Mobile Robotics (IMR) technology which enables it to move through manufacturing, warehousing and distribution operations using stereo cameras to build a reliable 3D map of the environment. The vehicle then uses the map and its own reasoning ability to navigate a predetermined path to complete its assigned transport task.

“The lift truck industry grew out of the need for warehouse workers to have durable equipment to do their work effectively. Industrial mobile robotics means that the same durable equipment now can do some of the work for the warehouse workers,” said Scott Friedman, CEO of Seegrid. “It allows warehouse operators to maintain their hard-learned and hard-earned best practices, while giving them a new tool to address the challenges they face today: Labor shortages, ergonomic and safety issues, and cost reduction.”

The introduction of the GP8 provides fundamental automation changes to material handling organizations:
–  Reduced labor costs — The GP8 frees up skilled workers from non value
    added transport tasks — an expensive use of employee hours.
–  Significantly lower costs — Software-based “brains” and controls make
    for a much simpler physical product available at a much lower cost.
–  Flexibility — The GP8 enables step-change automation alongside
    existing work and is designed to handle on-the-floor additions and changes
    to work processes. Because the GP8 possesses simple-to-use, advanced IMR
    technology, it requires no facility modification and can be re-tasked at
    any time. Move inbound goods in the morning, move parts to manufacturing or
    packing in the afternoon, and deliver finished products on pallets during
    the night shift.
–  Lower total cost of ownership — Step-change your automation and
    processes at your own pace. The affordable GP8 robot offers rapid payback
    with one robot. Introduce additional GP8s to scale your cost savings.
–  Safety — The Seegrid approach is to not innovate on safety. Instead
    Seegrid adopts proven, high-end AGV safety technologies with demonstrated
    track records.
    Visit Seegrid in Booth #2627 at NA 2008 to see the GP8 in action.

Buckhorn, a manufacturer of material handling systems as well as reusable plastic packaging introduced its Caliber Series of intermediate bulk containers (IBCs).
These containers are now available in three sizes.  Read more about this here.

Read more about this Products and Services
aliber Series intermediate bulk containers

Bulk buy

Buckhorn, a manufacturer of reusable plastic packaging and material handling systems, has introduced its Caliber Series of intermediate bulk containers (IBCs). These collapsible intermediate bulk containers are available in three sizes from 270 gallons to 315 gallons. They are suited for shipping and storing large volumes of processed foods, ingredients, and fluids.

Caliber IBCs are molded of FDA-approved, food-grade plastic and have completely smooth surfaces to satisfy the strictest hygienic standards. They are collapsible and stackable when full or collapsed. Their space-efficient dimensions provide optimal cubing of transport systems, from railcars to truck trailers.

Caliber IBCs utilize a disposable bag liner and feature side and bottom discharge areas for quick, easy emptying. Bulk fluids are kept safe because they are put into a liner of virgin material every time. Because they are reusable, Caliber IBCs offer a green alternative to barrels, cardboard, or wood containers, providing companies with a substantial savings on disposal costs.

Reinforced corners and locking sides provide durability for handling under any conditions. The containers feature four-way fork entry, which allows them to be securely transported from any orientation. Their heavy-duty construction assures reliable performance in extreme weather conditions and temperature ranges. Tamper-evident seals can be placed on the lid and discharge openings for added security. The units also come with an embedded RFID tag for tracking.

After reading this article, I learned about the different recycling codes on plastic containers.  Go here to read the article and learn more.

Information on plastic.

Mar. 30th, 2008 at 10:37 AM

If you look at plastic containers before you buy, just check out the code inside the recycle symbol. It will tell you what kind of impact this product will have on the environment:

Code 1: Safe for use, recyclable
Code 2: Safe for use, recyclable
Code 3: Could leech dangerous plasticizers, not recyclable
Code 4: Safe for use, recyclable at plastic bag recycle centers
Code 5: Safe for use, recycled with some road side programs
Code 6: Could leech plasticizers and carcinogenicities, not recyclable
Code 7 PC: Unknown content, not recyclable
Code 7 PLA: Safe for use, can be safely composted

I would ask that everyone try to make a concerted effort to purchase products that are packaged with Code 7 PLA if they can not avoid plastic all together. For ease of use, here are some links where Code 7 PLA products can be cheaply ordered for your disposable needs:

http://pacresourcegroup.com/
http://www.worldcentric.org/store/bioplastics.htm

Please encourage businesses you work for, and people you know, to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Plastic Bins that used to be just clear or blue in color are now available almost anywhere in almost any size, shape, color and material.  You can read more about this here.

The struggle to contain ourselves

By Nancy Keates | The Wall Street Journal

Published: 3/29/2008 9:19 PM

A cap rack to store and display up to 36 baseball caps. A clear plastic caddy that hangs in the closet and holds up to 150 gift bags. A children’s clothes organizer with a separate shelf for each day of the week.

As the $6 billion storage and organization industry continues to grow briskly, manufacturers are filling every niche. Once just plastic bins in industrial blue or clear, specialized storage products are now available for most conceivable uses in an array of materials, from bamboo to faux leather to sea grass.

Organizers are no longer sold only at home improvement stores. They get floor space at drug stores and grocery chains such as Wal-Mart, CVS and Wegmans, which recently expanded its selection to include holiday wreath keepers and storage bags for artificial trees.

 Target says customer interest has grown lately in holiday-related storage as well as containers that people use “as storage but also as a decorative touch,” a spokeswoman says.

Style is increasingly important: Vera Bradley has a line of file folders in patterns and colors including Bermuda Blue and Nantucket Red, and Cavallini & Co. designs feature birds, maps and the Eiffel Tower.

The products are now made for more specific purposes, in more specific places.

“There are so many missed opportunities,” says professional organizer Monica Ricci of Atlanta-based Catalyst Organizing Solutions.

Case in point: special hanging platforms for the garage that fit between the top of the car and the ceiling — what Ricci calls “the last frontier” of the garage.

According to the International Housewares Association, closet and storage items were the fastest growing housewares category over the past five years, with consumer spending increasing at an average of 20.5 percent per year.

The association’s latest HomeTrend Influentials study ranks home organization and home storage among the hottest housewares product categories through 2010.

A University of California, Los Angeles, study published last year found what the authors called “a storage crisis” — despite the fact that contemporary Americans control the largest amount of private housing space per person in the history of urban civilization.

Of the 32 families in the study, 75 percent had put so much in their garages, they could not fit even one car into the space. From construction materials to excess furniture and toys, storage of material goods has become an overwhelming burden for most middle-class families, UCLA anthropology professor Jeanne Arnold says.

Carolyn Stanley’s approach involves stackable bins that are the same shape, color and size.

“It’s all about uniformity,” says the Portland, Ore., stay-at-home mom. Each camera, video camera and iPod gets its own bin, and in each bin are the manuals, cables, chargers, batteries and accessories for that piece of equipment. Her linen closet has separate bins for dental products, tweezers and scissors, medical supplies and sunscreens, to say nothing about the containers marked “king linens,” “queen linens” and “double linens.”

Annual consumer expenditures have almost doubled in the U.S. since 1990 to $8 trillion in 2006, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“We’ve been through an orgy of getting, and now there’s an orgy of storing,” says Perry Reynolds, vice president of marketing at the International Housewares Association in Rosemont.

Tyler Wolfram, a lead partner at New York private-equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, says he expects the organizing-solutions industry to continue to be “quite robust” even amid the current housing slowdown. People continue to make changes in their lives — retiring, switching jobs — and organization products help manage transitions. The evolution and expansion of storage containers and the boom in the cottage industry of professional organizers will also keep the sector strong, he says.

Standolyn Robertson, president of the National Association of Professional Organizers, says the biggest mistake people make when organizing is to approach the process backwards.
 
“They say ‘I want to get organized’ so they go to the store and buy lots of plastic containers,” she says. Instead, they should think about how they want their space to look and what they’ll be storing, and then buy products accordingly.

Shannon Silsby, a 36-year-old marketing consultant who lives in Darien, Conn., with her husband and four children under eight years old, uses that tactic.

A few weeks ago Silsby (who calls herself a Type A-minus: She has separate, labeled bins in the playroom for trains, blocks and squirt guns) was shopping at the Container Store and picked up a $19 Heavy-Duty Triple Storage Bin for balls and a “beautiful” box for her desk for overflow paper.

But when she got to the checkout counter, Silsby removed both items. “I don’t need this,” she told herself. “I’m trying to simplify my life, and this is just adding more to it.”