By Bob Trebilcock,
Executive Editor
October 06, 2010
Wooden and plastic
pallet pooling gets most of the
attention, in part because there are so many
pallets in the market. But users of plastic
containers have a pooling and container
management alternative, too, from
Container and Pooling Solutions, or
CAPS.
“Basically, we’re a
leading provider of returnable container
management solutions in the U.S., Canada and
Mexico,” says Drew Merrill, vice president of
business development and strategic planning for
CAPS.
CAPS breaks its
service offerings into five buckets, no pun
intended:
• Dry returnable
containers for automotive and general
manufacturing companies, especially Tier 1
automotive suppliers and manufacturers.
• Liquid returnable
containers, or intermediate bulk containers, for
non-hazardous liquids.
• One-way bulk
corrugated liquid container for international
shipments.
• A Web-based
tracking system that CAPS uses to track its pool
of pallets, but which can also be used as a
standalone service for companies that want to
own and manage their own pool of containers.
• Container-related
repair and maintenance services throughout the
lifecycle of a returnable container. CAPS
operates eight service centers for users who own
their own fleet of containers, but want to
outsource the maintenance of their assets.
Companies turn to
CAPS for a variety of reasons, according to
Merrill. Cash is a big reason: It takes a lot of
it to build a fleet of returnable containers big
enough to serve the needs of auto parts
suppliers, for instance, who are sending
containers out every day, but not getting all of
them back every day.
Using a pool allows a
manufacturer to only rent the containers it
needs. “In the automotive industry, for
instance, someone may reuse your containers for
your competitor’s programs or their
work-in-process. Or, some of your pool will
simply disappear through shrinkage,” says
Merrill. “Either way, you have to increase the
size of your fleet of containers because you
don’t have visibility across the supply chain.”
On top of that, there
is generally a shelf life to any automotive, or
other manufacturing, model program: A supplier
buys a fleet of containers to deliver parts for
a specific model, then has to replace those
containers five years later when a new model is
introduced. “At the end of that five years, the
old containers just go into a back room if you
own your containers,” Merrill says.
There is no average
price for the program, since there are a number
of variables, everything from the size of the
container to the internal dunnage required, the
cycle time and the operating environment. The
pooling model, however, is relatively simple.
When CAPS takes on a new customer, it analyzes
the overall program and then quotes an
all-inclusive fee that includes the delivery of
the asset, along with recovery, repair and
inventory tracking and management. “The bottom
line is that we have to have a better price
point or we cannot get in the door,” says
Merrill.
For an automotive
supplier with plants in Mexico, for instance,
CAPS has created service centers along the
Mexican border to maintain an inventory of
35,000 containers in seven different sizes. Each
day, the manufacturer submits orders to CAPS
headquarters in Livonia, Mich. Those orders are
transmitted to a service center near the plant,
where the required containers are removed from
inventory, scanned and prepared for pickup by
the manufacturer’s trucks. After the
manufacturer fills the containers, they scan
them out to various automotive assembly plants
in North America. Those data feeds also go to
CAPS, which can then track the location of each
individual container.
Once the auto
manufacturer empties the containers, they’re
ready for pick up and return to a CAPS service
center. In this instance, CAPS may pick up the
containers, the manufacturer may pick them up,
or they go through one of the auto
manufacturer’s distribution centers for a
return. Once they arrive back at a service
center, they’re scanned back into inventory.
“Since every container is individually
identified, we know which containers have been
lost,” says Merrill. “That’s critical when you
get into loss and damage credibility.”
That same container
tracking service can be used by companies that
prefer to own and manage their own fleet of
containers. “We can be accessed as a
software-as-a-service model with a monthly
subscription fee,” says Merrill. “For companies
that are going to get bank financing or a bank
lease, it’s a critical service, because the
lender wants to know that they have some way of
tracking the collateral that backs the loan.”
About the Author
Bob Trebilcock
Executive Editor
###
About CAPS
Container and Pooling Solutions is a supply
chain management company based in Livonia, MI,
that has been offering comprehensive container
management services – including container
rental, cleaning, repair and tracking – since
1998. CAPS helps its automotive, beverage, food,
chemical and cosmetic customers reduce material
handling costs while improving supply chain
performance and initiating environmental
practices. In 2008 and 2009, CAPS was named one
of Food Logistics’ top 100 technology solution
providers and in 2009 was named one of Supply &
Demand Chain’s Green Supply Chain award
recipients. For more information on the
company’s container rental and container
management services, visit www.usecaps.com or
call (888) 873-2277.
