Success Story: Reducing Costs & Waste Through Tray Optimization

Client Overview

A major food manufacturer needed to resize their distribution tray structures to align with updated primary sleeves across four SKUs. Beyond resizing, the client sought opportunities to reduce material usage, lower overall packaging costs, and improve sustainability. The redesigned tray also needed to maintain structural integrity and support existing distribution and ship-testing requirements.

Adept Packaging was brought in to optimize the tray system to meet these cost, performance, and sustainability goals simultaneously

The Challenge

The project required a holistic evaluation of the existing tray structure, with several key obstacles to overcome:

  • The redesigned display tray had to withstand case compression forces and meet client-specific ship testing standards.

  • Any reduction in material could not compromise durability or distribution performance.

  • The client sought to significantly cut down on corrugated material usage across all four SKUs.

  • Packaging optimization needed to reduce waste while still providing adequate product protection.

  • Tray dimensions needed to be recalibrated for new primary pack sizes, minimizing unnecessary void space.

  • Improved pallet efficiency was essential to better utilize production floor space and reduce freight costs.

Adept’s objective was to engineer a new tray system that delivered meaningful cost and material savings, without sacrificing robustness.

Our Approach

Adept’s packaging engineering team conducted a comprehensive redesign focused on efficiency, performance, and sustainability:

  • Reviewed the primary packs for all four items to understand dimensional changes and constraints.

  • Redesigned tray structures using optimized dimensions that minimized excess void space while maintaining product stability.

  • Validated structural integrity by confirming the new cases met compression standards and were capable of withstanding distribution and ship testing requirements.

  • Reduced total material consumption by 12% across all four SKUs (equal to 5,071 lbs of corrugated savings).

  • Implemented a smaller, more efficient tray footprint, enabling a 15% increase in cases per pallet and improving distribution center utilization.

  • Delivered savings in both material and freight, including $45,000 in material reduction and $7,629 in freight savings.

Through careful sizing, engineering, and testing, Adept ensured the new trays were leaner, stronger, and more cost-efficient.

The Impact

The optimized tray design delivered measurable operational and financial benefits:

  • 12% reduction in material consumption across four SKUs

  • 15% more cases per pallet, creating more available production floor space and reducing pallet requirements by 69 positions

  • $45,000 in material cost savings driven by reduced corrugated usage

  • $7,629 in freight savings resulting from improved pallet efficiency

  • Maintained full compliance with compression and distribution testing standards

The final packaging solution was lighter, stronger, more sustainable, and more efficient at every step of the supply chain.

This isn't just a fix. It’s a transformation.

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