Summary
Discover how Bauck, a German organic food company with over 90 years of experience, recently partnered with Smurfit Kappa (now Smurfit Westrock) for their packaging needs. Working together to analyse and identify optimisation opportunities for Bauck’s existing packaging, our design team pinpointed inefficiencies in the packaging trays being used and proposed a slight adjustment which would significantly reduce packaging waste, CO2 emissions and ultimately increase the amount of product they were able to ship per pallet.
The Challenge
Bauck is a German organic food company, comprising of three farms and a mill, dedicated to producing high-quality Demeter-certified food products like muesli, bread mixes, and flours for over 90 years. Recently, Bauck were looking for a new packaging partner to improve the efficiency and sustainability in the packs they were currently using for their products, which often occupied excessive logistical space and generated significant material waste. Their decision to go with Smurfit Kappa (now Smurfit Westrock) was strongly influenced by our proactive approach in identifying optimisation potential for their product range, a key factor in their selection criteria.
The Approach
Smurfit Kappa’s (now Smurfit Westrock) approach began with analysing Bauck’s individual product designs in order to identify where there was greatest potential for savings, as well as any sustainability improvements. As a result of this analysis, we discovered that the trays which were used for all Bauck’s products had significant optimisation potential with just a small adjustment. Historically, the trays were designed with short sides that created unnecessary excess material between them. Our team of design experts came up with a slight adjustment to the slope on the two short sides, allowing the corrugated trays to be joined together in a way which would significantly reduce the amount of material waste. Further savings were also identified via structural adjustments to the trays, which would enable a switch from Euro Pallets to industrial pallets, ultimately reducing the size of pallets required for transportation.
The Result
By adapting the slanted edge on the trays, Bauck now saves almost 130,000 square meters of packaging waste, which subsequently equates to a reduction of 21 tonnes of CO2 per year. Not only this, but Bauck is also reducing additional CO2 emissions per kilometer by adapting the type of flute on the lids of the trays. Making the change from B-flute to S-flute means that Bauck can officially stack 14% more goods on a pallet, reducing the number of trucks required by 32 per year. As a result, this results in an additional saving of 7 tonnes of CO2. Finally, stability was also increased by over 13 points thanks to the adapted packaging design.
