RV and Trailer Supplier 'Levels out' Palleted Shipping Challenges with Yellow Jacket Stretch Wrap Technology
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Located in the heart of the RV manufacturing industry, Equalizer Systems (Elkhart, IN) serves more than a dozen leading OEMs in the industry. With a strong concentrated local demand that continues to see an ever increasing growth rate, Equalizer Systems is always striving to improve efficiency to meet their customer delivery expectations. Specifically, the company felt that their shipping operations needed to be streamlined to meet pick-up and delivery deadlines for this extremely fast-paced industry. And even more important, overall labor cost needed to be brought more in line.
Established in 1990, Equalizer Systems is an OEM that manufactures electric and hydraulic lifting/leveling systems for a wide range of transportation equipment. Equalizer Systems' 100,000 square foot facility manufactures from one point to four point leveling systems with manual and automatic capabilities. They serve the motor home/RVs, horse and cargo, motor sports, and commercial/specialty marketplaces. With this wide range of markets served, the company's shipping department distributes locally, across the country, and even to global sources.
The Challenge...Inefficiencies in Their Pallet Preparation Process
For the company, the final packaging of their equipment via hand-wrapping and/or banding presented many problems including extensive shipping labor hours, as well as safety concerns due to manually reaching under and over the palleted load. Delivery quality issues ensuring that pallets were wrapped tightly enough became a concern as the company strived for complete customer satisfaction, better guaranteeing the condition of their products upon arrival of their destinations and reducing damaged good claims.
The Solution...Orbital Stretch Wrap Technology from Yellow Jacket 110
To meet all of these specific challenges, Equalizer Systems turned to Yellow Jacket, LLP (Marion, IN) with a technology suited to their challenges: orbital stretch wrap technology. Equalizer Systems purchased an 87" Standard Manual Yellow Jacket 110 Orbital Stretch Wrap Machine to help them secure standard, oversized or odd-shaped palletized loads right on the lift truck's forks...and without using bands and other types of strapping. The loads are wrapped and secured as a horizontally positioned stretch-wrap dispenser moves around and under a load as the Yellow Jacket 110 is manually advanced across the length of the load by a single operator. The company's purchase of Yellow Jacket 110 provided solutions for their labor productivity, safety, and "ensured delivery quality" challenges, resulting in a rapid return on investment with the benefits of minimized labor costs and increased productivity, ease of operation, and damage prevention.
Equalizer Systems places the contents of the final leveling unit assembly and its related components into a specialized cardboard shipper box and then it is secured onto a pallet. The Yellow Jacket 110 improved Equalizer Systems shipping department has streamlined the process of previously a 10+ minute/2-3 person job into a 2 minute/single person task. Now consider a volume of a few dozen pallets every single day.
John Hill, Shipping Manager for Equalizer Systems, describes the process before the Yellow Jacket 110, "We had multiple people preparing products for shipment, trying to do what the Yellow Jacket does for us. That was lifting the pallet up, pulling the stretch wrap over, handing it underneath to another guy, and then pulling it back over the top of the load and doing it a dozen or more times to finish the pallet...a very time consuming process."
Getting the Job Done Right...Fast & Efficient
Perfect for their growing business volumes and "need for speed", the Yellow Jacket 110 provided a way to minimize labor costs and increase productivity in their shipping department. "In my job, when considering how we used to prepare pallets for shipment, our Yellow Jacket wrapper is probably one of the greatest work tools I have ever used. One man does the job opposed to two or three guys trying to handle the plastic in an effort to get the pallet of goods wrapped securely," explains Hill.
Along with a solution to fit their exact needs, Equalizer Systems quickly realized their return on investment, Hill states, "I would say it paid for itself the first day we got it due to reduced headaches (due to worrying about getting the product out day to day) and backaches/injuries from manual operations. And this is important to us mainly because of how quick we have grown...and the expectation of continued growth trends. It freed us up as far as man power, and that's saved us a lot of money in saved labor costs...probably somewhere in the tens of thousands of dollars annually when considering both labor and shipping problems."
Shipping Products the Easier, Safer and Secure Way
Equalizer Systems also enjoys the ease of operation from their Yellow Jacket 110. According to Hill's comments on operator training, "all that is needed is a quick training session to learn how to dial in the settings for machine operation...anyone can be trained to use it."
"It is just a matter of positioning the load in the proper spot within the machine, tying the plastic wrap to the skid to start the process, pushing the 'go' buttons and letting it do its job," further explains Hill.
Also, the Yellow Jacket 110 has completely eliminated any safety hazards that came with hand-wrapping. No longer is it necessary to reach and go under the pallet, the machine secures the load right on the forks of the forklift locking the load to the pallet providing secure, safe and superior pack-to-ship performance.
Loads Wrapped "Just Right"...Automatic Tension Control Makes It Possible
When it comes to consistent quality of the finished wrap, the Yellow Jacket 110 gives the company what they need in secured delivery performance. Hill states, "We have a near 100%+ success rate of securely-wrapped deliveries since using the Yellow Jacket. Our shipments go out nice and tight...we don't have to worry about any more calls on product damage claims. We truly count on it to go from here to there...wherever that may be...and it getting there without incident."
Hill commented that the automatic tension control feature on the Yellow Jacket 110 is what really makes the difference for their operation's success, as well as their customer satisfaction. Equalizer System's shipments go out in boxes on pallets, and the automatic tension control enables them to wrap their loads as tightly as needed, saving space and creating more shipment efficient cubical loads, "I like it because you can utilize the pallet by putting a little bit more on it, and knowing that the shipment is secured directly to the pallet...it is a good feeling," states Hill. "I think our customers appreciate that too, if they have to set something outside we have got the wrap on it, and it can stay out in the weather (rain or snow) for a while before they bring it in. This is another great advantage, especially with local delivery on open trucks and trailers."
Equalizer Systems needed to improve their shipping operation, and the Yellow Jacket 110 provided exact solutions. Hill notes, "The Yellow Jacket machine has taken the manual process of stretch wrapping and has totally freed up one man to do what two men were doing to get our packaging and shipping done. It does exactly what we need, especially in the last couple hours in the day when it gets really hairy when meeting deadlines and getting three dozen or more pallets out the door daily and on time. And looking at the way we have done it in the past opposed to the way we do it now, it is totally necessary. I would recommend any company to invest in one."
For more information, contact Yellow Jacket LLP, PO Box 1306, 4589 Wabash Rd., Marion, IN 46952. Phone: 765-671-7879. Fax: 765-671-7875. Contact Stephanie Traylor (Marketing/Sales: ext 109; email:straylor@yellowjacket110.com). Visit us on the web at www.yellowjacket110.com.
For editorial information contact:
Todd Earl (Tri-State Advertising
email: todd@tri-stateadv.com)
