Fresh Roasted Coffee LLC

Overview

Over the span of twelve weeks, the team researched, designed, prototyped, and produced a final design that will save FRC immense costs in the areas of shipping and costs of goods per pallet. The team began the process by thoroughly researching the FedEx 2022 Service Guide to understand the most beneficial dimensions and shipping practices for cost savings. The mother bag of the Envipod product was measured and examined by the team to aid in generating dimensions for future prototypes. In conjunction with the measuring process, the team utilized palletizing software, Cape Pack, to determine what box dimensions would palletize the best to use roughly 80% or more of the pallet area.

Using this research and hands on experience as a baseline, the team generated three different prototypes that would house the mother bags comfortably while efficiently using volume. Each design holds a different amount of mother bags which are referred to as configurations. The team worked with the box supplier partnered with the sponsor, ACME Corrugated Box Co., to manufacture the three prototypes for further testing and design iterations. Quotes provided by ACME allowed the team to perform a financial analysis of the savings on costs of goods sold per pallet considering each of the three mother bag configurations. The analysis also identified the cost savings in shipping FRC would experience with each of the three designs. FRC and the team examined the information attained over the course of the project and unanimously decided on the final design of the new shipping box, 9”x7”x7.5”.

Objectives

– Design a box that will better palletize on a standard 40×48 pallet than the current design

– Optimize the volume to contain an increase in product mother bags over the predecessor box

– Ensure the design can sustain common wear and damage from everyday shipping

– Generate optimal dimensions of a new box to decrease shipping costs and unexpected back charges

– Optimize the surface area of the material used to assemble the box

– Overall facilitate cost savings of any magnitude for the company

Approach

Our team utilized a 5-step approach for this project:

– The team initially began researching FedEx guidelines to better understand how to dimension a box that reduces shipping costs and back charges.

– The team went to the learning factory to measure the EnviPod product and designed three different prototypes.

– Once the prototypes were developed, the team used a Software called Cape Pack and determined the pallet geometry of each design.

– Quotes and numbers were utilized from the software to create a financial analysis to determine how each prototype impacts the sponsor’s savings.

– The team collaborated with the sponsor and discussed all contributions to unanimously decide on a final design for the new shipping box.

Outcomes

– The team and sponsor decided that the 9″x7″x7.5″ would be the final design

– $401,138 yearly cost savings

– 33% increase in palletization (packages per pallet)

– 25% reduction in the number of pallets used per year

– Saved an additional $51,300 in individual box shipping fees as compared to current package

– Streamlined transportation, material handling, logistical coordination, and reduction in inventory holding costs

– Minimized dim-weight chargebacks from transportation service providers

– Significant improvement in package interlocking and pallet stability in transport