Packaging Designs that Save Time and Money
2 October 2020
A leading provider of scientific instruments for medical applications needed to ship blood analyzers to laboratories throughout the US and internationally. During Covid-19, compressing the timelines, and delivering medical equipment without damage due to shipping is paramount. Each blood analyzer weighed more than 500 lbs and had outer dimensions (OD) of approximately 36”x40”x46”. They approached LPC for better service and to quickly manufacture their current design which featured a floating base on a skid with a corrugated cover and internal foam cap.
The LPC team quickly reproduced the skid based on the original design to fulfill an immediate order. But further investigation found that the customer’s equipment packers were having difficulty handling the equipment during packing. LPC modified the design to make handling easier and improve the manufacturing of the foam cap. This improved our customer’s productivity, time spent packing, and ease of use. LPC always considers manufacturing when creating our designs because custom packaging is often built by small work cells that need to produce sub-assemblies with tight tolerances and no defects, such as the foam cap.
LPC designs for ease-of-use (and reuse) when creating packaging for heavy, odd-shaped, or sensitive equipment. Saving a few minutes may not seem impactful, but over hundreds of packages, with expensive personel, and the possibility of failure, an easy-to-use design really excels. This will reduce costs, accidents, injuries, and damage to equipment, especially when they are handled by multiple parties during transit to the final point of use. This simple skid illustrates that there are many stakeholders and participants in the delivery of your equipment to its final destination. And many valid points of view are frequently missed in any design. Consequently, you should revisit your designs, and always look for improvements in performance, cost, (and presentation). At Larson Packaging Company, we start every packaging design by a thorough evaluation of the product and customer needs to finds the best packaging solution.