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Cut, bend, weld, paint, assemble—box—and ship

Custom-box-making machinery enters high-product-mix manufacturing

Most who get into the custom fabrication business revel in the mechanical magic of it all. They didn’t get into the business to think about boxes—but quite often, they must. When it comes to delivering quality components undamaged, boxes can dominate the conversation.

High-mix, low-volume operations ship a variety of components. Few customers want to hold a large amount of inventory anymore, so most of the shipping occurs a little at a time: a single pallet of this, one box of that. So shops stock many box sizes, and many of them aren’t the ideal dimension. The people in the shipping department need to work with separators and filler to avoid distortion of certain sheet metal parts. At certain shops, especially those in light-gauge precision metal fabrication, box inventory can take up a surprising amount of space in the shipping department.

Damage during shipping produces expensive scrap. Some fabricators use their own trucks to deliver orders in the region, not only because the driver may get feedback from the customer on-site, but also because having control over shipping means there’s a better chance products will arrive at the customer undamaged.

For repeatedly ordered items, returnable containers, some of them designed around the product or product family, can work well. But what about the less predictable low-volume work, the “long tail” in a job shop’s product mix?

In recent years an in-plant technology has offered an alternative: the custom-box-making machine. A worker programs it to produce a box for a particular order. The machine accepts corrugated fanfold cardboard, which it feeds, cuts, and creases to size. The box and associated interior components, like separators and padding, are then folded into the final box. Instead of having racks filled with different box sizes in inventory, a shop now can stock a few widths of corrugated fanfold.

Battle Creek, Mich.-based Box On Demand offers such a system, and has recently introduced its newest version of an automatic gluing machine. Workers grab the flat box material emerging from the box-making machine, fold it, and turn to the gluing machine to apply a strong adhesive.

The company reports that in a typical situation, the machine can produce one box about every 10 to 15 seconds, though it depends on the box size and mix of those box sizes. The equipment can produce boxes either one at a time or in small to medium-sized batches.

The machine can be programmed manually, but integration into a company’s ERP and other software also can be used to automate the process. For instance, a technician can scan a bar code or input a part number, and the software will create the appropriate box automatically.

Shipping personnel also can use a 3-D scanning tool to gather product dimensions. “They place the part, or parts, on the table, scan it, and the system feeds that dimensional data back to the machine,” said Rick Proskow, marketing manager. “They define what style of box they need, be it a traditional folding box or a wraparound five-panel folder, for example, and it will produce the box.” He added that many companies use a particular box design as a starting point and then tweak it to suit their packaging demands—say, an insert of extra padding to account for a flange that would distort or bend if packed under too much weight.

Similar to others in this arena, Box On Demand retains ownership of the machine. It installs the machine at the customer’s plant and performs preventive maintenance. In turn, customers buy Box on Demand’s fanfold corrugate, which is supplied from multiple locations.

Proskow added that various businesses now have bought into the custom-box-making philosophy. Early adopters tended to be companies that needed to ship large, long, or odd-shaped components that don’t fit in standard box sizes. “Now e-commerce and parts distribution centers are buying into the concept, especially as shipping costs continue to increase, and now more retailers are expressing interest,” Proskow said. “Shipping is already expensive, and it’s going to get even more expensive.”

The largest retailers typically order premade boxes in large volumes at a discount, but due to order sizes, most custom fabricators don’t have that luxury. So they buy as much as they can to have boxes ready in the shipping department. After all, no matter how efficient every manufacturing process is, a shop doesn’t make money unless the job ships. Unavailable shipping material can create a costly delay.

Proskow added that, for manufacturers particularly, the space taken up with box inventory is especially expensive. “One manufacturer cleaned out an entire bay of stored boxes,” he said. “It expanded its work flow and manufacturing line, and clearing out that box inventory space allowed the company to do that.”

About the Author
The Fabricator

Tim Heston

Senior Editor

2135 Point Blvd

Elgin, IL 60123

815-381-1314

Tim Heston, The Fabricator's senior editor, has covered the metal fabrication industry since 1998, starting his career at the American Welding Society's Welding Journal. Since then he has covered the full range of metal fabrication processes, from stamping, bending, and cutting to grinding and polishing. He joined The Fabricator's staff in October 2007.