Recently, DB Schenker, the transportation and logistics arm of Deutsche Bahn, set out to improve its stretchwrapping process—a small, but important step to ensure products are delivered safely and properly.
After all, DB Schenker’s Chicago branch handles products—everything from retail items to medical supplies—from around the world. Most products from the Far East arrive in loose bundles, which are made into unique loads and shipped on a skid for delivery. To secure the products on the pallet, the company wraps them in stretch film; roughly 50 to 150 pallets are wrapped each day in Chicago alone.
With so many products moving through each day, it’s important that every step of the supply chain is managed with painstaking detail and efficiency. But that is only half the battle. Ensuring costs remain low, while using state-of-the-art materials and automation, can be an even greater challenge. Although applying stretch film is a common practice for ensuring proper load containment, the application and film quality varies significantly.
“The need for wrapping has always existed,” says Joe LaPorta, special projects/procurement supervisor at DB Schenker. “We simply discovered a more efficient and cost-effective way of doing it.”
As a result of the new program, DB Schenker was able to secure its standard mix pallets, using two new, semi-automatic stretchwrap machines. The film also enabled DB Schenker to hand wrap its larger, 10 x 12-foot pallets (which are transported by air) with higher quality film and greater ease.
Muller LCS
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