The Liberty Packaging Blog

A few years ago, Liberty Packaging president Elaine was interviewed by the Copper Development Association, an organization dedicated to the copper metal and its uses. The Association took a particular interest in Corrosion Intercept. Corrosion Intercept, like all the Intercept Technology products, has a copper backbone bonded into the plastic packaging that acts as an atmospheric barrier, protecting the product inside from corrosion, static charges, and mildew. In that article, there is a link to a similar story regarding the importance of bronze, copper, and tin to man’s progress that I found fascinating.  Here are some excerpts.  I hope you enjoy.

Today's post is from Liberty Packaging's Director of New Business, John Murphy, pictured at left during his days at Murnell.

He’s tall. In winter time, he wears a hat from his collection of Stetsons and his face, underneath these wide brimmed cowboy-style hats, looks like Gregory Peck.  He has a deep voice to accent his command of words and concepts. 

Liberty Packaging Co. will exhibit Intercept Technology Packaging products at the upcoming MFG4 in Hartford, CT - May 8 - 10 at the Connecticut Convention Center. Sponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, MFG4 is a conference featuring supply chain solutions across four key industries: aerospace, defense, medical and energy.

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is a group that supports manufacturing through the sharing of information, connections via local chapters and technical communities, trade-show style events, publications and more. Boasting a global reach of over half a million and spanning all manufacturing industries, SME is an important player in influencing new technology, particularly in the fields of aerospace and defense, medical, motorized vehicles, and clean energy.

The title does not refer to my beloved Red Sox, but to my own home team at Liberty Packaging.

Two servicemen showed up at 10 a.m. and opened the three large boxes of washing machine replacement parts that had been decorating our living room for a week. The protective packaging consisted of a corrugated three foot cube box - no inner packing materials; some loose corrugated supports - no bubble wrap, no newspaper, no packing peanuts, no air pillows - nothing to cushion the item inside. Evidently, a simple corrugated carton could not withstand whatever treatment it received in the warehouse and during shipment. The rigid nylon bearing tub part, essential to the job, was cracked on two sides - not usable.

The servicemen wisely inspected the delivered parts before tackling the washing machine repair project. Unfortunately, due to the bad packaging, the new bearing was broken - it was evident that the carton had been compromised on two sides. Our intrepid servicemen were now required to call around for any local supplier that might have a famous brand front-loader spare bearing tub on hand. After 30 minutes on the phone, one was located.  These conscientious workers then drove an hour, rearranged appointments (likely an inconvenience for those customers), and sent more defective parts into the landfill. The not-useful packaging needed to be discarded also; now twice!

We’re grateful we had the presence of mind to extend the service contract on this four-year-old washing machine, as this job required $800 worth of parts, plus the labor of these two gentlemen not including the drive to retrieve the replacement for the broken replacement part. They were back by noon and had the washer operating smoothly in just over two hours (good guys, Fred and Arnie from A&E Repair).

This seems a classic example of a manufacturer creating more waste by using less packaging or incorrect packaging. And it affects product reliability in ways we may not even notice. What if the part was only lightly damaged and the servicemen were unaware of that and installed it into the washer today, only to encounter a defect that would affect the whole life of the machine down the road?