Driving Impact through Partnership and Packaging Innovation
Discover how strategic packaging improvements from The BoxMaker reduced The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc.’s product damage rate from over 2% to under 0.5%, resulting in significant cost savings for the client.
The Lighthouse for the Blind: A Beacon of Hope
The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. is a nonprofit social enterprise providing employment, support, and training opportunities for people who are blind, DeafBlind, and blind with other disabilities. It employs more than 400 people, over half of whom have visual impairment.
Approximately 70% of blind adults in the United States are unemployed. The Lighthouse for the Blind significantly reduces this unemployment rate in its communities by providing high quality employment opportunities for individuals who are blind.
A Reputation for Precision and Quality
With locations in Seattle, Spokane, and Summerville, SC, The Lighthouse for the Blind produces an array of machined parts and plastic injection molding for various aerospace manufacturers, as well as a host of office products and hydration equipment sold to the Federal Government and the U.S. Military.
Precision, continuous improvement, and reliability are top priorities for the company. These values allow them to serve their high-profile clientele with the level of quality and service they expect. In turn, The Lighthouse vets their own suppliers for these same qualities.
A Packaging Supplier with Local Support and National Reach
The BoxMaker first partnered with The Lighthouse for the Blind over 30 years ago to support their operations in the Seattle area. As The Lighthouse expanded into Eastern Washington, The BoxMaker's involvement grew to include the Spokane region, providing a range of custom corrugated packaging and supplies through their branch located there.
In addition to material support, The BoxMaker actively sponsors many of the nonprofit's events. Laura Hard, Eastern Washington Regional Sales Manager for The BoxMaker, also contributes by serving on The Lighthouse for the Blind’s Foundation Board, where she assists with fundraising and increasing community awareness.
As a trusted packaging advisor, Laura has ingrained herself with The Lighthouse’s operations and staff. She often spends time on the production floor listening to employees to better understand their needs concerning packaging. Laura then works with The BoxMaker’s award-winning structural design team to develop corrugated products that meet The Lighthouse’s business needs of quality and efficiency and are easy to use for the blind employees who interact with the packaging every day.
The Lighthouse for the Blind maintains an on-time delivery rate of 99.5% out of their Spokane facility. The BoxMaker contributes to this impressive track record by providing a reliable and localized packaging supply chain through their vendor managed inventory program, which supplies The Lighthouse with all their corrugated box, label, foam, and shipping supplies needs.
Reducing Damage Rates and Delivering on Quality
One of The Lighthouse’s key products produced in Spokane, a 3’ x 4’ wallboard, was originally packaged in a cumbersome box design that included foam. Laura consulted with leadership and employees to understand their needs. The BoxMaker’s revised solution accelerated pack-out by simplifying the packaging design and making it easy to use for individuals with visual impairment.
Beyond easy pack-out, minimizing damage rate is also a primary focus for The Lighthouse. Wallboard corners are particularly susceptible to damage during shipment. Corner keys fashioned from corrugated board are used to protect these products in transit.
By working closely with the client and carefully evaluating their packaging needs, The BoxMaker streamlined The Lighthouse’s corner key inventory by reducing the number of SKUs from 16 down to 4. They also increased the amount of post-consumer recycled fiber content of the corner keys, improving the product’s sustainability profile. Most importantly, The BoxMaker’s wallboard packaging design is effective in preventing product damage.
The average wallboard costs $92, and the industry standard for wallboard damage during shipment is over 2%. Because of the effectiveness of The BoxMaker’s packaging design, The Lighthouse for the Blind maintains a wallboard damage rate that is significantly lower than this industry average.
The company ships around 9,000 wallboards each month, and less than 18 are damaged in shipment, earning them a damage rate of 0.2%. This low rate saves The Lighthouse significant costs, freeing up cash that instead can be reinvested into the company, employees, and the communities they serve.
The Lighthouse for the Blind creates quality jobs for the blind community and delivers high caliber products to their clients. The BoxMaker’s partnership and packaging solutions improve the efficiency of the nonprofit’s operations through inventory management, reduced costs, and minimized product damage, helping to ensure that The Lighthouse for the Blind can continue to thrive and serve its communities for many years to come.
