Product Standards and Markets for Wood Containers

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Product Standards and Markets for Wood Containers
Marshall S. White Director, Center for Unit Load
Design Department of Wood Science and Forest
Products Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
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Voluntary Product StandardsPurpose (According to
US Dept. of Commerce)To stimulate economic
growth through

• Reduction of manufacturing costs, inventory costs
  and distribution costs
• Better understanding among manufacturers,
  producers, packagers, distributors, users and
  consumers
• Simplification of the purchase, installation and
  use of the product being standardized

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Voluntary Product Standards contain the following
information

• Terms
• Classes
• Sizes
• Dimensions
• Capacities
• Quality levels

• Performance criteria
• Inspection requirements
• Marking requirements
• Testing equipment
• Test procedures
• Installation procedures

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Who publishes Voluntary Product Standards?

• Public agencies
• US Department of Commerce National Bureau of
  Standards
• Private agencies
• Consensus standards ASTM, ASME, ISO, etc
• Industry standards trade associations

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Examples of wood container Voluntary Product
Standards
ASTM D-6251 Standard specifications for
wood-cleated panelboard shipping boxes (replaced
PPP-B-601)
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PPP-B-621 Federal specification boxes, wood,
nailed, and lock corner
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ASTM D-6039 Standard specification for crates,
wood, open and covered (replaced Mi1-C-52950)

• Type I, II, III, IV
• Style A heavy duty
• Style B light duty

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ASAE S-337 Standard specification for
agricultural pallet bins

• This standard is not material specific and
  specifies sizes and performance
• 1200 x 1200 x 720 or 1330 mm
• 1200 x 1000 x 720 or 1330 mm

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• ASTM D-6573 Standard specification for general
  purpose wire bound shipping boxes
• Types 1, 2, and 3
• ASTM D-6254 Standard specification for wire
  bound pallet type boxes
• Type I, II, III, IV
• ASTM D-6199 Standard practice for quality wood
  members of containers and pallets (replaced
  MiL-731)

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The ASTM standards, which were once government
standards, are very conservative and often lead
to over designed containers for commercial use.

• Military priority is preparedness
• Commercial priority is economics

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• To the extent that such product standards do not
  reflect commercially successful practices, these
  standards should be revised or a new set of
  commercial standards should be drafted.

• Product standards are not product specifications.
  A successful marketing strategy is to reference
  product standards in product specifications.

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Another successful marketing strategy is to draft
commodity specific standards which include wood
containers.- For example Automotive Industry
(AIAG)

• RC-8 Single and Multiple-use Container System
  Guidelines
• RC-1 Returnable Containers Transported by
  Trucks
• RC-9 Returnable Containers Performance Test
  Guidelines

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Your competition is focusing on commodity
specific international standards.
International Corrugated Case Association has
established the corrugated common footprint
standard for produce. 600x400 mm
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1950sTheInternationalEconomyTrade between
countries
According to the World Trade Organization
1970s The Global Economy Multinational Corporati
ons
2000s The Borderless Economy One Market
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Think Globally Every hour of every day 1.1
billion dollars of product value flows through
the world air and sea ports.
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United Nations International Trade Centre Export
Packaging PACkit program
This program, to be completed in 2003, relies on
ISO standards for the development of packaging
instructional tools to be used by
non-industrialized countries exporting to
developed countries
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Components of the Global Product Distribution
System
Distribution Packaging
Pallet
Unit Load Distribution and Handling Equipment
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Develop International Standards Wood for
Containers

• ISO 3394-1984 Dimensions of Rigid Rectangular
  Transport Packages.
• Basic module plan size is 600x400 mm

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International Pallet Standards
ISO / DIS 6780 Flat Pallets for
Inter-Continental Materials Handling Principal
Dimension and Tolerances
Table 1. Rectangular Plan Sizes
Tolerances on plan dimension 3 / -6
Table 2. Square Plan Sizes
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ISO Standards for Inter-Continental Air and Ocean
Transportation Devices
ISO 668 Series 1. Freight Containers
Classification, Dimension, and Ratings.
ISO 4717 Air and Air/Land Cargo Pallets
Specification and Testing
Most common for palletized loads
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The International Container, Pallet, and Shipping
Device Standards are not harmonized.
Relative maximum floor plan
utilization of ISO/DIS 6780 Pallet Plan Sizes in
ISO Series 1 Freight Container and ISO Air and
Air/Cargo Pallets.
1. Using only 2438 x 2991 air cargo pallet plan.
2. Based on average of 20, 30, and 40 freight
containers
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These are current US growth projections for
packaging
Forecast sales of Packaging Materials, million
dollars
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Summary

• Revise Domestic Wood Container Product Standards
  (ASTM)
• Draft International Wood Container Product
  Standards (ISO)
• Reference Wood Containers Product Standards in
  Product Specifications
• Draft Commodity Specific Wood Container Product
  Standards