COMPANY: International freight receiving and forwarding company

Goal: Solve ongoing damage to palletized outbound freight, and reduce cost of materials

OPPORTUNITY: Create a total purchasing single source program

COMPETITORS SOLUTION: Replace current hand wrap with heavier guage film

Pollock Methodology: Conduct an in-depth review of the manner in which freight is received, stored and then prepared for reshipment. Conduct audits in five locations across the country. Interview associates who are hand-wrapping pallets, examine product currently in use for gauge and storage conditions. Meet with purchasing managers to discuss purchasing philosophy at local and corporate level.

With the customer's original objective in mind, the Pollock Solution was developed to bring about the required reduction in damage, resulting in a cost reduction. Meanwhile, the customer enjoyed better performance of the film, and therefore a more secure and stable end result on every pallet

Pollock Solution: The understanding was that automatic or semi-automated equipment was not the desired solution by management. The Pollock Professional Packing team presented and developed a product test in three locations using a very good quality manufacturer of pre-stretched hand film. One of the discussion points shared and documented was the amount of film from the current suppliers that was discarded because of damage due to nicks and damage from dropping the rolls of film. In one location, almost 50% of the film was wasted. The pre-stretched film not only was more efficient, it proved to be less demanding physically on the associates and totally eliminated waste due to damage.

Once tested in the field and approved, the pre-stretched film was specified as the only film to be used by all units in the US. As an integrated part of the Pollock Solution, a presentation was made to show the benefits to the customer of considering automation in a number of their locations.

By having corporate decision makers involved in developing the final solution, it became apparent to them that the current decentralized and very inefficient purchasing system had room for improvement. Together with Pollock Sales Professionals, a consolidated and improved order guide was established and the number of products and vendors currently being utilized was reduced considerably. The savings at one location from the change in film and consolidation in products create sufficient budget dollars to have a semi-automatic stretch film machine installed, saving even more money.