How returnable container programs work

The loop, start to finish

• Specify. Pick the container to fit the part, the racks and the receiver. In automotive that usually means the AIAG 48x45 bulk footprint, which ORBIS calls the standard for its flagship BulkPak.
• Size the fleet. Work out how many boxes are needed to keep product moving while others are in transit, at the customer or in the wash.
• Fill and ship. Product leaves in the container, often with dunnage built for the part.
• Unload and collect. The receiver empties the box at the line, then folds, nests or stacks it for pickup.
• Return. Empties travel back, ideally consolidated into full trailers.
• Inspect, clean, repair. Units are checked, graded, washed if needed and fixed or pulled.
• Reissue or retire. Good boxes go back into service; worn ones move to lighter duty or leave the program.

Closed loops, pools and one-way lanes

Automotive is the textbook closed loop. A 2015 Logistics Management column described collapsible containers on the AIAG 48 x 45-inch footprint as widely used across the industry. Pools are more common for hand-held produce crates: IPL Schoeller says it makes foldable small containers for the large pooling companies, and Tosca says its produce crates are cleaned under an ISO 22000 program it calls the most robust in the industry, a claim we pass on as the maker's own. Where containers can't be recovered, a one-way box is usually the honest answer, as our plastic or cardboard guide works through.

Sizing the fleet: a worked example

Fleet size comes from flow and time. The core formula: containers in the loop = containers shipped per day x days a container spends away from the filling point. Every day spent in a trailer, on a customer's floor, in a wash queue or waiting for repair adds to the count.

An illustration with made-up inputs: a supplier ships 40 bulk containers a day, and each one spends 2 days in transit out, 3 at the customer, 2 coming back and 1 being inspected, 8 days in all. The loop needs 40 x 8 = 320 containers moving. Add a buffer for the late truck, the holiday and units out for repair; at a 10 percent buffer that is 352. Shorten the customer dwell by one day and the fleet drops by 40 boxes, which is why programs chase empties so hard.

Getting empties home

Return freight is the cost that decides whether a loop is worth running. Logistics Management put the turning point at roughly 500 miles, past which shipping empties back becomes a major cost, and that is why folding containers spread through long automotive lanes. A container that folds or nests to a fraction of its height sends more empties per truck; how much more is worked out on our return ratio guide, and truck counts by model are on the trailer loads guide.

Consolidation matters as much as ratio. A half-empty return trailer costs nearly what a full one does, so programs batch pickups, set minimum return quantities, and agree who calls the truck.

Inspection, grading and repair

Every return is a chance to catch damage before it reaches a line. ORBIS describes grading its containers A, B or C by condition rather than replacing them on age, which keeps sound old boxes in service and pulls damaged young ones early. Typical repairs replace doors, hinge pins and latches; a cracked base or wall usually ends a unit's life in the loop.

Programs also clean. Washing standards vary from a rinse to full sanitizing, and whatever the program did should be written down; anyone later buying those containers for food work will ask, as our food contact guide explains.

Where the used market comes from

Loops end, and that is where most used bulk containers and totes come from. A vehicle program finishes and its custom-dunnaged boxes have nothing to carry. A supplier loses a contract, a plant switches footprints, or a fleet was simply sized too big. Pools retire units that fall below their own standard, and growers replace bins in batches.

Those containers usually still have work in them, just not in that loop. We quote them by grade and buy surplus fleets; if you are closing or shrinking a program, start at how selling works. If you are starting one, a mix of new and used units on the same model can bring the opening cost down; see used containers.

Who to read further

The Reusable Packaging Association describes itself as a collaboration of manufacturers, poolers, distributors, retailers and educators that promotes reusable transport packaging. Its members' material is a good starting point for program design. Makers' sheets remain the source for each container's specifications, and the receiver's packaging requirements decide which ones you may use.