Delivering quality products is the goal of every manufacturer. When an item arrives at its destination dented or scratched, it costs a company more than just the price of replacement. The firm's reputation is also damaged.

Doric Products of Marshall, Ill., a manufacturer of burial vault liners and other funeral products, regularly saw its liners suffer damage during handling and shipping. Each damaged piece added an average of $300 in overhead costs, not to mention the loss of customer confidence in Doric.

'Our products have to be perfect because they are shown at funerals. The slightest scratch or other damage makes them ruined for that use,' says Brenton Smitley, Doric's shipping supervisor.

Recently the company switched to new corner protectors that have virtually eliminated shipping damage to its liners (Laminations, 800-925-2626).

Doric manufactures its liners out of bronze, copper or stainless steel layered with plastic. Each weighs from 110 to 140 pounds. The company stacks its units on skids before placing them onto outbound trucks. The liners then ship to vault manufacturers that place them within the concrete forms that make up finished burial vaults.

Before switching to the new corner protectors, Doric had tried a handful of other corner products without success, including one design that required four pieces of laminated boards to secure each corner for shipping. Once stacked, the old corner units would often shift under the considerable product weight and would sometimes pierce the product surfaces, embedding themselves into the plastic of the liners.

The new corners have eliminated these concerns. Made of recycled fiberboard that is laminated with glue, the corners are custom designed to be strong and to fit the exact dimensions of the individual vault liners. The corners combine two pieces that are fitted and glued together during the supplier's manufacturing process so that they can be easily placed on the corners once they arrive at Doric's packaging area, saving installation time. One person can now install the corners instead of the two workers required under the old system.

Once installed, the liners are stretch wrapped, then nested and stacked before shipping. The entire packaging process takes only two minutes, which is less than half the time required for the old system. The new design is also much stronger than the old corners, allowing the liners to stack eight high instead a limit of six high with the old corners.

'Being able to stack eight high has opened more room on the truck and saved us on shipping costs,' notes Smitley. 'Since moving to the new corners, we have had minimal damage. They are exactly what we need.'

Click on the icon to read more about packaging. It's a wrap - November 2002

Click on the icon to read more about packaging. Are your cartons ready to ship? - November 2002

Click on the icon to read more about packaging. Paper is the answer. - November 2002