A new service from Smurfit Kappa Cor-Trade - the trade only, specialist manufacturer and supplier of corrugated packaging and materials - is designed to streamline the purchasing of corrugated cartons for its customers.
In response to requests from businesses, the free to use online calculator allows users to refine their packaging specification by calculating, in real time, the minimum number of cartons that can be ordered or the exact amount of sheet required to achieve a set number of cartons.
The sophisticated algorithm, designed by Smurfit Kappa, takes in to account the length, width and depth of a box and the requested flute specification to either calculate the minimum quantity that can be produced or the volume of sheet required to achieve a specific quantity of boxes. The purchaser decides which solution will suit their requirements.
Users can fine-tune their calculations to achieve the best value for money, either by modifying the box dimensions or comparing different flute varieties. The calculator operates across the four most popular flute specifications - B, C, BC and EB.
Mark Richards, Smurfit Kappa Cor-Trade Sales Director explains; "We constantly aim to provide good value for money for our customers, and now we are giving them the flexibility to refine their purchasing requirements before committing to minimum quantities that may not meet their preferred requirements. By simply altering a dimension by a few millimetres or changing to a different grade of flute it can be possible to achieve a far more efficient use of sheet material. The result can be that fewer cartons are produced, removing the need to store any excess or waste cartons. This simple process means that the customer knows that they can order just enough to meet a specific need rather than having to laboriously access their inventory and check the condition of existing cartons. This process is ideally suited to shorter runs of unique sizes of specialised cartons."
Once the calculation that is most suitable to the customers' requirement has been achieved, the sizes, volumes and flute specification can be submitted for spot pricing at the click of a button.