Pelican Cases Repeat Use Packaging

Each year, 15 billion dollars worth of corrugated fiberboard is sold in the U.S. alone, generating more than 24 million tons of waste.Pelican™ Products, a leading manufacturer of high-impact, damage resistant Protector™ Cases has emerged with an environmentally friendly, repeat-use, shipping solution at a time when businesses are increasingly going green. Recently their extremely tough cases solved a few major problems for the product trial and trade show sample department at a Fortune 500 consumer electronics manufacturer: 

1. The expendable packaging the company was using had become extremely expensive because of its short life span and the substantial labor costs associated with building and packing these boxes. In some U.S. cities, the disposal cost of corrugated can be as high as the cost of purchasing it.
   
2. Expendable packaging was not only expensive; it offered poor protection from impact and the elements, exposing sensitive equipment to unnecessary damages. As a result, a number of their sample units were being damaged in-transit making shipping an expensive proposition.
   
3. In addition to labor, economic and asset protection concerns, expendable packaging is consuming vital natural resources at an exponential rate.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency in 2005, paper and paperboard products annually accounted for more than 34 percent of the 246 million tons of waste generated in the United States. The waste recovery process releases astronomical amounts of green house gases which will continue to affect climate changes all over the globe. Even when paper is recycled, the process still requires natural resources and money to convert the wasted materials into useful products. 

The company realized that they needed a more cost effective, robust and environmentally responsible method of shipping their delicate computer components. They turned to Pelican Products, Inc. for a superior packaging solution. 

Pelican proposed a range of customized solutions that would dramatically decrease their packaging costs, reduce the amount of shipping-related damages and dramatically eliminate the waste that expendable packaging creates.   

Virtually indestructible, the watertight and crushproof construction of a Pelican Protector™ Case ensures that sensitive equipment stays protected over the course of repeated trips. Additionally, Pelican Cases’ lifetime guarantee means that packaging costs can be amortized over hundreds or thousands of trips as compared to expendable packaging (i.e. corrugated cardboard and Styrofoam™ Brand Foam), which typically only lasts 1 to 3 trips.

The benefits of changing to Pelican’s more permanent shipping solution were immediately evident.

In a comparative study, one Pelican Case solution (the Pelican 1450 with custom foam) paid for itself after a mere three trips. For the more substantial company’s packaging needs, Pelican customized their 0370 Cube Case, which was able to pay for itself in a little over 20 trips. And since Pelican stands by their Cases with a lifetime guarantee, the cost savings continue to grow with ongoing use.

Pelican offers a wide range of case sizes and custom configurations which create superior packaging value by reducing environmental impact, packaging costs, improving product/part protection and decreasing product/part damage. In addition, customers reduce packaging disposal costs and the associated environmental concerns.   

PELICAN™ Repeat-Use Packaging Makes the Supply Chain Green

Product Line Helps Combat 24 Million Tons of Annual Shipping Waste

Success Stories Include Creating Shipping Solutions for Leading Fortune 500 Technology Manufacturers

TORRANCE, CA – Corporate America is going green and it’s already having a positive effect on environmentally sustainable business practices. Those efforts are being passed along to the general consumer with the development of technologies such as hydrogen fuel vehicles, the increased interest in large-scale recycling, and the mainstream growth of “green” buildings.

Now Corporate America’s green ways are reaching all the way into the supply chain.

Pelican™ Products, renowned for their development and manufacturing of indestructible Protector™ Cases, is seeking to make the traditional Supply Chain process greener by changing the way electronics and sensitive equipment is shipped. They are doing this by providing companies with Repeat Use Packaging – a more effective shipping solution which has less impact on the environment while saving money and better protecting merchandise.

Product shipping materials contribute a significant portion of packaging waste globally each year. In the United States alone, corrugated fiberboard – the most prevalent packaging material – makes up more than 24 million tons of waste. According to a study done by the University of Nevada, much of the $15 billion worth of fiberboard sold in the U.S. is used in shipping, which has become a multi-billion dollar industry. For some companies, the internal shipping process alone – returning items to stock and shipping returned products – can amount to a million-dollar process with far-reaching impacts.

A recent study showed that a mere five pounds of waste was generated by 250 shipments inside a repeat use Pelican Protector™ Case (two cubic feet).  This was in stark contrast to the 375 pounds of waste generated by the equivalent amount of cardboard boxes necessary for the same number of shipments.

“Shipping is a billion-dollar industry that is having a greater impact on the environment each year,” said Pelican CEO Lyndon Faulkner. “Our company’s expertise in the development of high-quality, durable cases gives us the opportunity to provide companies with permanent shipping solutions and numerous benefits over traditional expendable cardboard containers.”

This is especially important with the constant growth of the technology industry, as items like computer equipment are packaged in materials that typically cannot be reused, separated, or recycled. Multiple-material packaging impedes recycling and some materials, such as polystyrene, are generally made without recycled content and may be non-recyclable. As a result, disposal of this packaging is costly and further taxes the landfill system.

In 2006, Pelican Products was able to develop shipping solutions for leading Fortune 500 technology manufacturers which suffered from many of their returns sustaining damages in-transit, resulting in increased repair costs and down time. Pelican provided them with customized repeat use packaging solutions that better protected product and was reusable for a nearly endless amount of trips, eliminating the cost associated with replacing expensive short-term shipping materials.

The benefits of a more permanent shipping solution were immediate. Environmental impacts were reduced; cost savings were realized in a short period of time and continue to grow over the life of usage; and significantly fewer damaged goods has meant superior product presentation to the customer and reduced repair costs.

“By taking this permanent packaging model and replicating it across various industries, you realize the magnitude of difference this could make,” said Faulkner.

Pelican cases are different in that they use an open cell-core; solid wall construction for durability; a watertight seal for protection against liquids and dust; as well as an automatic pressure equalization valve to protect the contents during air or high-altitude shipping. This superior packaging technology means that it withstands countless shipments and products are less likely to be damaged in the shipping process. Additionally, reusable containers result in the cost-per-trip quickly becoming less expensive than expendable packaging. High disposal fees incurred by expendable packaging are virtually eliminated. Companies not only save money by not having to replace expendable packaging, but also reduce non-value added labor costs, as there is no longer a need to set up and break down packaging.