More Than Pallets

 Old corrugated Cardboard (OCC) is a commodity like any other.  Like lumber, oil, and other commodities pricing fluctuates and OCC is on the rise.  If you are throwing away your cardboard it is costing your company money.  What you consider trash and a cost center is actually a profit center.  Email me today for details and pricing.  I can get you the best price for your OCC…or find a company in your area to get you the best deal.

andrew.mosqueda@morethanpallets.com

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Recycling the Supply Chain 

The supply chain is a complex system that involves a verity of different companies, products and materials. The one element holding the system together is the people who run the supply chain. Who are the people responsible for keeping the system running smooth, they are the shipping/receiving clerks, purchasing and supply chain managers and other office administration personnel. These people who work the supply chain often do not get the opportunity to see the whole system and what is involved in delivering a finished product to market. There are opportunities in the system right now that can save millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours. The first step is to know what role you play in your company, as well as, what role your company plays in the supply chain and then communicate.
If you work somewhere in the supply chain, perhaps in a shipping office buried deep within a distribution center, and you are shipping a finished product to a retail store have you ever thought about what it took to get to your desk? Here is what it might look like:

Raw Materials –  Manufacturer –  Distribution Center –  Retail Store - The Consumer

Every step of the way there are decisions made that affect your company and the next. There are considerations in packaging, pallets, storing, transportation and logistics, and recycling. In this article I would like to discuss a byproduct of the supply chain, and that is waste, much of which is recyclable. If not for the supply chain, the material that has created a multi-billion dollar industry would not be possible. The supply chain is the means in which a finished product arrives to market, from raw materials to manufactures to distribution centers to retail stores to the end user, the consumer. At every point of the supply chain waste is generated and much of that waste can be recycled.

Hitting a Raw Nerve
Raw Materials are the materials required for a manufacturer to make its product. A raw material can be anything, such as wood, metals, plastics, chocolate, silicon or whatever the company needs to create the product. When raw materials are conformed to customer specifications it is packaged, put on a pallet and shipped to the manufacturer. Let’s take a chocolate manufacturer whose product will be used as a raw material to make drumsticks at an ice cream manufacturer. The cocoa bean is grown, picked and shipped from often international companies. Once the cocoa bean picked and shipped, it is processed into different verities of chocolate. The chocolate is then packaged and stored until ordered. It is then shipped in bulk to the manufacturer to make its product. The chocolate company has its own supply chain that creates recyclable products. The packaging that the beans are picked and stored, the pallets that transport them, and the left over material that is left when the order is packed for shipment to the manufacturer. All of these steps leave recyclable material in its wake.

What other raw materials would a drumstick maker need to make their finished product? How about ice cream, and what does it take to make ice cream? Milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt would be needed by the ice cream company.  Next, the nuts which the majority are grown and processed in the Central Valley of California, and shipped in bulk. The last piece would be the waffle cup that holds the ice cream and makes the drumstick. Now all of the ingredients necessary to make a drum stick are delivered to the manufacturer.
Manufacturing Nature Perfect Blend – The Drumstick
Now we have the ingredients necessary to make a drumstick, the manufacture will go through thousands of pounds of material, emptying the packaging it was delivered in. For example, the 100 pound bags that the nuts came in will be emptied and tossed aside. The 55 gallon drums full of chocolate will be emptied and set aside, and so on. Once these raw materials are used to make the drumstick we have to package it, palletize it, store it and ship it to the Distribution Center. Naturally, the manufacturing explanation is simplified, but we need to recognize all the different elements that got us to this point.

Garbage In, Garbage Out
Finished products that arrive at the Distribution Center is received, entered in the computer and racked until orders are placed and products are picked and shipped. As the orders are going out shrink wrap used to keep the load together during shipping.  Once arriving at the Distribution Center the shrink wrap is put in the trash, cardboard used to separate layers are trashed, and as empty pallets are generated they are stacked for collection or trashed. Many Distribution Centers like; Sysco, Coremark, US Foodservice, and Sygma ship many products from multiple vendors. Therefore, waste comes from many sources and is often sent to landfills. Remember, the next step is delivery to the retail stores for the consumer to purchase. Local deliveries to convenience stores, Rite Aid’s, and supermarkets are de-pallatized for minimum delivery rather than maximum as received.

Retail Stores
Once the retail store receives the finished product, or in this case the drumsticks, it is unloaded from the pallet and packed from its packaging and thrown out back in a dumpster or stacked to be picked up.

You and Garbage
The final part of the supply chain is the consumer, who then has a choice to either recycle the plastic bottle, aluminum can, and paper products or throw them into the trash.
There is an evolution that occurs in the supply chain that grows and generates recyclable material when creating a product. Recycling is becoming more accepted and often required by large corporations, but not by everyone in the supply chain. Businesses need to understand that it is a profit center, not a cost center. Recycling material is a commodity and prices can change from day to day. Finding the right recycling company can save you thousands of dollars, and actually generate a return. Recycling waste is generated throughout the supply chain, basically giving birth to an industry that is worth billions and has become very power in business and political aspects. Think about every step of the supply chain we discussed. Tens of thousands of pallets are disposed of in landfills, shrink wrap and cardboard are included as well. All of these materials are worth thousands of dollars that can be used to offset the cost of transportation, labor, or just have a big BBQ for your employees…think about it.