Space to the max and time to spare

Toyco almost doubles packaging capacity with practical solutions from OfficeMax.

Toyco brands themselves as the home of "serious fun". This little kiwi business has turned into a toy giant - in fact it's New Zealand's largest independently owned and operated toy store.

A walk through their store in St Lukes, Auckland is a kid's (and collector's) dream, with favourite brands like LEGO on display (including an impressive array of store models built by Ryan 'The Brickman' McNaught).

However when Toyco first started they were a small company, operating directly out of their store.

Then three years ago things "blew up". Suddenly they were processing so many orders a day they were struggling to keep up.

We spoke to Operations Manager, Chris Smith, about how Toyco expanded, and how OfficeMax helped streamline their packaging systems.

The Challenge

Toyco's initial packaging process was in the store, using recycled boxes and wrapping them in brown paper. There were a few issues with this:

Not enough space
- There wasn't enough space for their staff to effectively process the volume of orders
- They used Polybubble to protect the orders, which took up huge amounts of storage space in their office
Not enough time
- It wasn't always easy to know if an order was going to fit in a box - a lot of time was wasted packing and re-packing
- Time was waste wrapping the boxes in brown paper
- The extra time spent processing orders drove up the cost of staff wages

The Solution

Standardised Cartons
With OfficeMax standardised cartons, Toyco's staff knew exactly what the packing volume of their carton was, saving time on the packing. There was also no need to wrap the cartons in brown paper, a huge time saver!
Paper Tape
Toyco replaced their plastic tape with gummed paper tape. It's stronger, and ensures their heavy packages don't fall open. The added benefit is that this tape can be recycled along with the cartons.
Sealed NewAir IB Express and Rocket Void Fill Air Machine
To address the issue of space taken up by Polybubble wrap, OfficeMax, with their supplier Sealed Air, came up with a space saving solution: Sealed Air NewAir IB Express and the Sealed Air Rocket Void Fill Air Machine.
These protective options are stored in compact rolls, and only inflated when needed for packing.
Packing stations
With the help of Packaging Specialist, Kerri Harvey, and Keith Proctor from Sealed Air, Toyco developed custom packing stations for their new warehouses. These were built with storage underneath and above for boxes, as well as inserts for the new void fill machines and tape dispensers. Now packers had everything they needed within reach. A solution that saved Toyco both time and space.