Returnable Packaging Solution for Marine Engines

The Customer Case

The company is owned by a Japanese family and has a base in Netherlands employing around 200 people. It manufactures marine engines which are distributed to their customer in eastern Germany.

They used to employ expendable corrugated packaging and each engine part was packed individually. This was problematic as one of their customers wanted to have the seal drive and cables preassembled and packed into the same box as the engine. The original solution was also very awkward in the handling as the customer had to assemble the parts from two separate boxes.

The Nefab Solution

Nefab worked alongside PDC* and together they developed a steel returnable solution which could hold all the different engine parts together. This was made possible because of the ability to turn the steel plate on which the engine will stand.

Benefits for the customer

The benefits are substantial:

• One single packaging solution (Now the customer receives the complete engine including the seal drive in one package and will only have to connect the cables and install the propeller before the engine is ready for use)

• Handling is much easier for the customer

• Cost reduction: one packaging instead two

• Green solution : One returnable packaging solution vs two one way packaging solution

*PDC (Packaging Development Centers)

This is an example how Nefab can help reduce costs and better fit customer needs with the right packaging solution. For more information, visit www.nefab.com.

Source: Anne LeClair, NEFAB.

Rick LeBlanc

Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.