Package making – Methods – Group forming of contents into a unit
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-01
2001-11-06
Vo, Peter (Department: 3728)
Package making
Methods
Group forming of contents into a unit
C053S474000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311460
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the field of product packaging and in particular to multi-function packing insert that functions as a packing insert for the shipment of components or subassemblies from a vendor to a manufacturer, as a tray during processing of the components or subassemblies on the manufacturer's assembly line, and as the packing insert for shipping the final assembled product from the manufacturer to the customer.
PROBLEM
It is a problem in the field of manufacturing to minimize the cost both of packing material used to ship the final assembled product to the customer as well as the cost of disposal of the packing materials that are used to pack the components and subassemblies which are received from various vendors. In particular, it is common practice in the field of product manufacture to order components or subassemblies from various vendors for incorporation into a final product. Typically, the packing materials that are used by the vendor to ship the components or subassemblies to the manufacturer are either destroyed upon receipt by the manufacturer, or shipped by the manufacturer to a recycler to be processed into other products, or occasionally returned by the manufacturer to the vendor for reuse. Each of these procedures entails a cost in terms of handling of the packing materials or waste disposal. Furthermore, none of these processes impact the need for packing materials for the manufacturer to ship the final product to the customer. In particular, disposal is the traditional method of handing received packing materials. However, this process is becoming more costly as the cost of waste disposal increases. In addition, many of the packing materials needed to ship electronic components or subassemblies used in electronic manufacturing must be electrostatic discharge free and are more costly to use than the simple impact protection packing materials. The present most common alternative to disposal is recycling the received packing materials to minimize the use of landfill space. However, the recycling program does little to impact the cost of creating packing materials for use by the manufacturer in shipping the final product to the customer. Finally, the last above-mentioned alternative is for the manufacturer to return the packing materials to the vendor for reuse. This process is resource efficient but entails the investment of a significant amount of labor to ship, unpack, store, return, restock, then reuse the packaging materials. The packaging materials that are used for this purpose are also more expensive since they are multi-use components and must be manufactured of materials that can withstand the additional handling.
Thus, there is presently no process for handling packing materials that are received by a manufacturer that is cost effective or that impacts the need for packing materials for the manufacturer to ship the final product to the customer. All existing processes for handling received packing materials have minimal impact on the overall cost of packing materials in a manufacturing environment.
SOLUTION
The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present multi-function packing insert that functions as a packing insert for the shipment of components or subassemblies from a vendor to a manufacturer, as a tray during processing of the components or subassemblies on the manufacturer's assembly line, and as the packing insert for shipping the final assembled product from the manufacturer to the customer. This multi-function packing insert thereby reduces the cost of packing materials to ship the completed product to the customer, since the packing materials received from the vendor(s) are used for that purpose and the need for other protective coverings of the components or subassemblies are eliminated. The coordination of the packing insert design between the component and subassembly vendors and the manufacturer enables the manufacturer to use the received packing inserts in its manufacturing process and to package and ship the final assembled product. The packing inserts used for this purpose can come from more than one vendor, can be used by the vendor(s) to package more than one component or subassembly, and can be customized beyond the needs of the vendor(s) to thereby provide additional functionality for the manufacturer.
In the present multi-function packing insert, recycled paper is used to create the packing inserts to thereby make these packing inserts 100% recyclable and 100% biodegradable. As illustrated herein, a first packing insert is used to house the upper half of the product housing and a second packing insert is used to house the lower half of the product housing. Once the two packing inserts are located in-house at the manufacturer, the two packing inserts are used as holding fixtures and trays to convey the product through the assembly process ready for boxing at final product shipping. This multi-function packing insert enables the manufacturer to reuse the packing inserts that are received from the component and subassembly vendor(s) thereby providing a significant cost savings to the manufacturer.
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Bagwell Joan P.
Kroeger Kimberly K.
Merriman Roger Alan
Avaya Technology Corp.
Duft, Graziano & Forest,P.C.
Paradiso John
Vo Peter
LandOfFree
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