The International Post Corporation (IPC), an organisation that represents postal operators from Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region, used a variety of one way packaging solutions to transport postal E-commerce packages throughout distribution centres of nearby countries.
Collectively, IPC member posts deliver around 300 billion postal items.
When IPC approached DS Smith Plastics in Wormhout, France, they were looking for a durable, ergonomic and reusable bulk container to substitute the current one way packaging for postal packages distribution.
IPC required the new bulk containers to be lightweight durable and stackable to reduce logistics and transportation costs and include Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFID) to effectively manage the pooling system.
DS Smith Plastics’ proposal to IPC included an AkyPak 4You three piece foldable container. AkyPak foldable containers consist of a polypropylene foldable sleeve and thermoformed pallet and lid. Since they are foldable, empty containers can be folded and stacked reducing cost associated with return logistics.
Furthermore, AkyPak foldable containers are durable, lightweight, stackable and ergonomic and RFID enable as requested by the customer.
The results:
IPC accepted DS Smith Plastic’s proposal and are using AkyPak to transport, store and distribute postal packages across Europe. Some of the features of IPC’s new postage distribution bulk containers include:
An integral lid with tamper evident tagging to increase postage security The RFID is located in the same location on each container and streamlines the operations in real time for better stock and rotation efficiencies.
The AkyPak container can be folded for return transporting or storage by one person in approximately 10 seconds. There are no splinters, nails or screws to worry about.
The containers can be double stacked, allowing for 66 “Euro Pallet” IPC Pallet Boxes to be transported on one truck, with a potential weight of 13 tonne.
The AkyPak reusable transit containers are durable and 100% recyclable.
