Stihl and Goodwill Industries Int’l receive RPA 2017 Excellence in Reusable Packaging Award

The Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) has announced that STIHL Inc. and Goodwill Industries International are the winners of the 2017 Excellence in Reusable Packaging award.

Two award categories were established in 2017: one to recognize for-profit companies and one to recognize non-profit or governmental organizations. STIHL Inc. received the for-profit company award for their project to reduce waste, cost, material handling, and down-time while improving movement of in-house components within and between facilities through conversion from single-use corrugated boxes to reusable storage/transport containers.

Goodwill Industries International received the non-profit organization award for their initiative to reduce product damage and cost while improving worker safety and warehouse utilization through a standard footprint reusable pallet and sleeve system for bulk storage of donated items.

“This year, we received the highest number of applications since the award program was established in 2011,” said Tim Debus, president and CEO of the RPA. “The innovation reflected in all the entries was outstanding and the field was very competitive. However, the significant business and environmental results achieved by STIHL Inc. and Goodwill made their submissions stand out. Our judges cited the impressive impact demonstrated in multiple facets of their operations, including product movement, handling and storage, worker safety, operational efficiency, waste reduction, and cost savings across multiple facilities and geographies as key factors in their selection. We congratulate STIHL Inc. and Goodwill, and we commend and thank all the companies that submitted entries this year for making reusable transport packaging a centerpiece of their sustainability programs.”

STIHL Inc. eliminates 760 tons of corrugated annually while improving operational efficiency
STIHL Inc. is a leading manufacturer of power tools for landscape maintenance and forestry. The company identified the need for a more efficient, sustainable way to move components from one production line to another as well as to ship and exchange components with other manufacturing facilities within the STIHL Group, both domestically and internationally. By replacing corrugated cartons with standardized KTP GP3 reusable plastic containers, they realized significant cost savings, a favorable payback on container purchases and required machinery modifications, reduction in material handling, forklift traffic, and down-time, along with improved inter-company inventory balance and component exchange. The program reduced the amount of cardboard returned for recycling by more than 760 tons annually.

“We are honored to accept this award. At STIHL Inc., environmental stewardship is part of our core values and we continually seek ways to improve our environmental impact and employ sustainable business practices,” said Herbert Taute, manager of industrial engineering and continuous improvement for STIHL Inc. “We are proud of the fact that our reusable packaging not only reduces waste, but also allows for efficiencies in our production process.”

Goodwill Industries improves warehouse utilization, reduces merchandise damage and environmental impact related to packaging
Goodwill Industries is a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes retail merchandise primarily received through donations. Goodwill collects and sells donated goods that may have been landfilled, thereby reducing waste. It also embraces plastic reusable packaging to move, handle, store and transport these donated items within its operations.

At its warehouses where donated goods are collected, sorted, processed, and distributed to retail locations for resale, Goodwill was experiencing product damage, significant recurring packaging costs and underutilized warehouse capacity. By replacing wood pallets and fiber corrugated gaylords with the ORBIS OPTEBulk, a 40” x 48” reusable pallet and sleeve system for bulk storage and stacking, Goodwill realized a 50% increase in warehouse utilization, better trailer utilization, improved worker handling, efficiency, and safety, and reduced merchandise damage, packaging cost, and environmental impact.

STIHL Inc. and Goodwill Industries will present their award-winning entries at the RPA Reusable Packaging Learning Center at Pack Expo in Las Vegas, NV at 2:30 pm PDT on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.