Science equipment distributor installs a right-sized packaging solution. There’s a science to choosing the right carton for a particular product. And Carolina Biological Supply can’t afford to leave anything to chance when it comes to shipping delicate instruments and laboratory equipment to classrooms nationwide. To make sure it’s packaging those goods with scientific precision, the company turned to a new packaging solution from Box on Demand. Carolina Biological supplies schools of all levels (elementary to college) with a wide range of scientific products—everything from live fish and butterflies to chemicals, laboratory beakers, and instruments. "If you can imagine using it in your science class, that is what we sell," says Jeff Humble, the supplier’s logistics engineering manager. The company uses four pack lines for its orders. Three of the lines handle the live products, specimens for dissection, kits for experiments, and the like. The Box on Demand system is located on the fourth line, which is devoted to instruments, equipment, and supplies. This line handles the majority of products shipped and the most diverse array of stock-keeping units (SKUs). Before implementing the Box on Demand solution in the fall of 2013, the company was using larger-than-needed boxes and more protective dunnage than strictly necessary. Most of these boxes also exceeded the dimensional weight minimums that FedEx and UPS have recently imposed, which would have significantly inflated shipping costs under the current system. But even before the carriers shifted to the new pricing system, the system reduced labor and shipping costs. "We see two principal benefits," says Humble. "One is the cost. We are shipping less air now and have reduced our dimensional weight. The other is it supports our customers’ efforts to be ‘green.’ We use less dunnage and corrugated material, and now we ship in the smallest carton […]