Packsize moves beyond the box

Like an automated origami maker, Packsize International's on-demand packaging system can fold and cut corrugated into the exact right-sized box for a particular item or order.

Now the company is setting its sights on helping companies achieve efficiencies and cost savings beyond those can be realized from the box-construction process, such as using less corrugated, less filling material and less labor. Kiessner says the company has been working tightly with its customers to gain efficiencies across the entire shipping supply chain while also improving customer satisfaction and sustainability. For example, one of Packsize's customers, office-supply company Staples, saw customer-satisfaction levels jump when it stopped using oversized boxes to ship orders.

One of the main supply chain cost savings that Packsize can provide is a reduction in shipping costs. When the box is the right size for the shipment, customers are no longer paying to ship air. This became even more important once parcel carriers UPS and Fedex began using dimensional weight pricing on all ground shipments, meaning that shipping costs are determined not just based on how much a parcel weighs but on a formula that also accounts for how much space it takes up. Although the new pricing model began at the start of this year, Kiessner says that shippers are still scrambling to adopt innovations like on-demand packaging to accommodate the changes. "The market never adopts anything overnight," he says.