Background
Sustainability and efficiency can often go hand in hand. That is why most manufacturers in the fast moving consumer goods sector constantly seek to reduce the environmental footprint of their products while reducing costs. However, responsible solutions and good ideas have to measure up – and decision-makers need evidence to support innovative change.
Engineer Brand Packaging, CPG ManufacturerOur company places a premium on responsible solutions that result in a better product and that save time and money. The CHEP solutions team and the expert engineers at the CHEP Innovation Center provided the data we needed to validate a good idea. Their expertise really is invaluable to our company.
That is why one of the world’s leading facial tissue manufacturers turned to CHEP for answers. A supplier approached the manufacturer with an offer to supply the company with recycled wood pulp for their tissue boxes, rather than the virgin wood pulp the company was using at the time.
The tissue manufacturer asked CHEP to conduct a thorough packaging integrity investigation to determine the performance characteristics of the proffered boxes made from recycled material and to compare them to the existing premium containers made from virgin stock.
It seemed like a plausible solution, but senior executives needed more than opinion to make the switch.
The Solution
Answers to tough questions cannot be found in an ivory tower. They need to be tested and analyzed under real-world conditions. CHEP accepted the challenge from the tissue manufacturer and immediately went to work in the CHEP Innovation Center, its ISTA-certified testing facility that mimics real-word conditions.
CHEP’s experienced engineers developed a unique testing protocol to replicate the handling, shipping and storage of both types of packaging – those made from virgin pulp and those made from recycled content – to determine similarities or discrepancies. Specific focus was on warehouse conditions and how both types of packaging held up under the same environmental, handling and storage scenarios. Double stacked compression testing was completed after the product was conditioned for 72 hours to simulate warm, humid conditions at 120ºF and 85% relative humidity. The product was then compressed horizontally before finally being vibrated to simulate the transportation hazards within the supply chain.
The Results
After 6 days of rigorous testing, the engineers at CHEP’s innovation center determined that the proposed tissue packaging made from recycled fiber corrugate performed the same as the premium packaging made with virgin wood pulp. That was good news to the tissue company executives, who were able to confidently switch suppliers and save $320,000 in annual production costs.
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