if it were their own,” he says. “They are making multiple
checks [before buying].”
Lori Pieszala, sales manager for Boston Rack
International, a supplier of pallet rack, conveyors, mezzanines, totes, and other equipment, agrees. She reports that
she also sees customers focusing on price and fast returns.
Lean and green?
Despite all the selling hurdles, Klimko believes that
reusables’ day has come. Customers are looking for ways
to boost productivity in their facilities, reduce product
damage caused by faulty containers, and reduce waste
materials, all of which, he says, play to the strengths of
reusable containers.
Take productivity, for example. Reusable pallets and
containers, which offer the advantage of uniformity in
size, dimensions, and weight, allow companies to standardize work processes from one worker to another and
from one shift to the next, thereby boosting efficiency.
(Beesley calls returnables a natural fit for companies that
have adopted lean initiatives for that reason.) Uniform
containers, moreover, are less likely than irregularly
shaped units to jam a facility’s automated equipment, thus
reducing the risk of downtime.
Letnich of Worthington Steelpac adds that the strength
and durability of reusables—which are designed to withstand multiple trips—give them an advantage over disposable packaging when it comes to product protection.
Compared to a wood pallet, he says, steel pallets like the
ones his company offers are “less likely to come apart.”
Their durability, he adds, also reduces the risk that a broken
pallet will bring an automated DC operation to a halt. With
steel, he says, “it’s less likely that fasteners will come loose or
that the top deck will come off. You can parlay that into
productivity gained through fewer line stops, fewer catastrophic failures, and less debris.”
But perhaps the biggest selling point for reusables right
now is their reputation for eco-friendliness. That’s a relatively recent development, notes Klimko. “We’ve been selling cost savings for a long time,” he says. “Now, customers
are looking for sustainable solutions. We are positioned
very well to do that.”
Adds Beesley, “There’s a cost savings for every time a box
makes a trip, a savings from keeping corrugated from going
to a landfill or recycling. And every box makes hundreds or
thousands of trips.”
That raises the question of whether these “savings” can be
translated into the kinds of hard numbers CFOs like to see.
Klimko says both the cost and environmental benefits of
reusables can be quantified. For example, he says, shippers
