Air cushions hold a lot of weight: customer feedback leads to clean up in packaging operations

Food & Drug Packaging,  Jan, 2005  

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Customer focus is the corporate mission of Dental Health Products, Inc. (DHP) of New Franken, Wis. That's why when customers started to complain about dust from its cartons containing starch loose fill packaging, DHP started researching alternative packaging solutions to comply with its customers' strict quality requirements.

With more than 50,000 dental health products ranging from gloves and instruments to fluoride and X-ray systems, Dental Health ships about 600 cartons daily to dentist offices across the country.

"Our customers have very limited space in their offices to open cartons, and they told us the loose-fill packaging we were using was messy to unpack," says Roy Roberts, DHP's products warehouse manager. "We studied several alternatives. Foam-in-place was too expensive, and we didn't want the chemicals in our warehouse. Paper was heavy and hard to work with. And some vendors' air cushions were flat on arrival."

The company decided to test the CELL-O air cushion system. It included a survey card in each carton asking customers how they liked the packaging. About 1,000 customer response cards were sent out with the CELL-O packaging over two weeks. The response was positive. "Our customers liked the air cushion packaging and the ease of unpacking. We even got compliments about listening to their concerns about looking at alternative packaging," Roberts continues.

With its self-contained air supply, the CELL-O EZ II system from FP International produces small cushions at 49 lineal feet per minute, and large cushions at 32 lineal feet per minute. The compact machine does not require compressed air, weighs only 78 pounds and can be plugged into a regular (115-volt) outlet.

Dental Health uses overhead storage bin to hold air cushions. Each bin holds approximately 10 cubic feet of air cushions ready for use. The bins are placed so the air cushions drop in front of a packer.

The company also uses a Universal Dispensing Stand to move the air cushions from storage bins on the floor over conveyor lines to a packer. Both methods provide air cushions just where they are needed.

Dental Health now has four CELL-O EZ II machines and is able to pack large cartons with CELL-O cushions on line. The company uses three sizes of CELL-O cushions: 4 x 8 inches, 7.5 x 8 inches and 6 x 11.5 inches, so it's able to pack anything.

Dental Health worked with its distributor, NASSCO, on this project. "NASSCO helped us keep our customers happy--our first and foremost concern," states Roberts.

Neal Pelz, vice president of sales and marketing for NASSCO, a full-service distributor based in New Berlin, Wis., says, "Moving Dental Health Products to the CELL-O EZ II system was a perfect fit. For Dental Health, CELLO packaging is cost-effective and eliminates their customers' concerns."

IN A NUTSHELL

Objective: Better cushioning
           without mess from loose fill
      How: Switch to in-house air
           Cushion packaging
  Results: Customer satisfaction,
           packaging made simple
           and neat

For more informationa

FP International

800-888-3725; www.fpintl.com

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