Waste Reduction on Corrugated Lines: Cutting Trim, Rejects and Downtime for Higher Yield

Waste on a corrugated line comes in three forms: trim from width optimization, rejects from defects, and downtime from stoppages. Reducing waste means optimizing sheet widths to minimize trim, controlling quality to cut rejects, and preventing the downtime that idles expensive machinery. Each point of waste reduced flows straight to margin.

The Scenario: Three kinds of waste, three levers

Waste reduction faces three challenges:

Pain Points

• Trim waste comes from poor sheet width optimization against order mix;
• Rejects from glue, flute, and print defects waste board and labor;
• Downtime from stoppages idles expensive machinery and disrupts flow.

The Solution: Three waste-reduction solutions

Three practices raise yield:

1. Width optimization Optimize sheet widths against the order mix to minimize trim waste.

2. Quality control to cut rejects Control glue, flute, and print quality to reduce defective board.

3. Downtime prevention Preventive maintenance and setup efficiency cut the stoppages that idle the line.

The Result: Higher yield, better margin

With waste reduced, the line converts more board into sellable product. This improves yield and margin directly.