Thanks to BRICKMAN, Japan Logistics improved work efficiency and achieved cost reduction when automating cardboard handling in its distribution center.
Japan Logistics, headquartered in Shizuoka Prefecture on Japan’s Pacific Ocean coast, was established in 1998 as a company part of the Idesigyo Group, which is known as a manufacturer and vendor of household paper such as paper napkins, paper towels, and toilet paper.
100 000 PACKAGES PER DAY
Today Japan Logistics operates 12 distribution centers across the country. One of them, the Shizuoka Oyama Logistics Center, has installed Orwak’s fully automated briquette press BRICKMAN 1200C, which provides impressive waste volume reduction. The press was supplied by Orwak Japan.
The role of the Shizuoka Oyama Logistics Center is to ensure that the local centers and super centers in the area always have a stable inventory, while also delivering goods from numerous business partners to help improve the work efficiency of store staff and reduce waste. By sorting and delivering products by store and department, the distribution center can handle up to 100 000 packages per day.
FULLY AUTOMATED PROCESS FROM SORTING TO COLLECTION
At the distribution center, the incoming boxes from the suppliers are opened and the delivered products are sorted and repacked for each store. During the sorting, the discarded cardboard boxes are successfully compacted in the briquette press before a collection company picks up and recycles the cardboard.
The staff separates the cardboard by simply throwing the empty boxes onto a conveyor belt. The cardboard tilts into the generous infeed chamber of BRICKMAN and gets effectively compacted into briquettes. The output is also fully automated, since the discharged briquettes are transported directly on a conveyor belt to the waste container next to the sorting room. When the container is full, the recycling company collects it.
Before the briquette press was installed in the distribution center, the workers had to collect and fold empty cardboard boxes manually. BRICKMAN 1200C provides efficient waste management of the cardboard from sorting to collection, improves the working conditions for the staff and reduces waste costs. In addition, at Shizuoka Oyama Logistics Center they now earn money when selling cardboard instead of paying a waste disposal fee for it. This income helps shorten the payoff time for the machine investment.
RECYCLABLES ARE VALUABLE RESOURCES
Cardboard and plastic film are recyclable resources. Volume reduction through compaction optimizes use of space and logistics. It reduces the number of transports, and the collector can fill the trailer and pick up a lot of recyclables per occasion. More recyclables are collected overall this way, and it benefits both parties as well as contributing to a more sustainable use of resources in society.