Roller-shade maker sees sunny days with protective shipperRoller-shade maker sees sunny days with protective shipper

SW Sun Control Products Roller Shade Package

SW Sun Control Products Inc., a family-owned business located in Tucson, AZ, makes, distributes and installs interior and exterior roller shade systems for residential and commercial applications. The company encountered numerous struggles with its packaging materials and had trouble finding the suitable amount of protection for shipping its products across the United States and Canada.

Although its roller shade systems are compact, they require packaging up to 20 ft long. Formerly using shipping tubes with plastic end caps, SW Sun Control Products found it to be a taxing process to package its product in the tubes.

"It required substantial manpower to get one shade into a shipping tube," says Billie Meuschke, owner, SW Sun Control Products Inc. "The shade was nestled inside the tube so tightly that our customers were not able to remove the shade upon delivery without the use of a skill saw. We received multiple complaints from customers that their orders were damaged and we knew that we had to do something quickly to ensure that we didn't lose any more customers."

Extensive research was conducted to find a packaging solution that would not only meet SW Sun Control Products' unique sizing requirements, but offer superior product protection during shipping and handling. Researching various companies online prompted the same response: "We don't offer anything that meets your length requirements."

Representatives from SW Sun Control Products traveled to Las Vegas in 2009 to attend PACK EXPO. After exploring booth upon booth, they came across Laminations, a leading national manufacturer of laminated paper products for the shipping, packaging and warehousing needs industry.

"Laminations introduced us to its UCrate product, which offers protection for long, narrow products such as our roller shade systems," Meuschke says. "The smooth laminated paperboard construction of UCrate not only provides impact resistance, scuff protection and stackability, but offered the perfect solution to our distinct packaging needs.

"At the conclusion of PACK EXPO, Laminations sent us a sample UCrate, which we put through some rigorous testing," Meuschke adds. "We packaged one of our shades, shipped it out, and asked that it get shipped back to the warehouse. Upon receiving, the package was in the same top condition as the day it left. We had some of the warehouse employees toss the package around to ensure it could withstand the most severe conditions. When we opened the package, the shade was still in perfect condition. We had found our answer to our packaging and shipping dilemma!"

Over the last two years, SW Sun Control Products has worked closely with Laminations to create a custom packaging solution to meet its precise shipping and protection needs, while providing easy loading and unloading.

Custom size UCrates were created for SW Sun Control Products. The company hopes to take advantage of Laminations' custom printing options for UCrate in the near future by adding one- or two-color logos, handling instructions or promotional messaging to its packaging.

SW Sun Control Products UCrate stackability

"It's so much easier to package our shades using UCrates than the previous method," Meuschke says. "We've experienced significant savings in labor. With UCrate, it takes a third of the time to package our shades than before. If we were still using shipping tubes, we'd probably be months behind in our orders."

Additionally, SW Sun Control Products has seen savings in freight and storage. The UCrates are more manageable for the freight company to load and are more stackable than the shipping tubes.

SW Sun Control Products has ramped up its shipping volume since switching from tubes to UCrates because they are easy to store and the company is able to keep more UCrates in stock without taking up valuable space in the warehouse. The company has found multiple purposes for those UCrates that are not in use, such as using them as separators or to store materials.

The UCrates have proved to be more appealing to SW Sun Control Product's customers as well. Customers now only have to cut off the strapping tapes and the package pops open for easy product removal.

"From all angles, UCrate has provided a more efficient and cost-effective way to package and ship our products," Meuschke says. "Working with Laminations through the testing phase and in the present has been fantastic. They arrange for the shipping and use independent truckers who drive on the weekends. We place an order on Thursday and on Monday morning the UCrates are waiting at our door; very convenient! We are very grateful to have found an answer to our packaging and shipping challenges."

Source: Laminations Inc.

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