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October 24, 2005
Information contact: Miguel Baldwin (303) 329-8477; mbaldwin@expandos.com
www.expandos.com
FedEx Toilet Test Flushes out a WINNER: ExpandOS!
FedEx’s desire to be the most innovative package handling company
leads them to expect more for their customers. Their testing standards,
therefore, are more relevant to single package distribution services
than ISTA 1A package integrity tests, but fellow innovator ExpandOS still
signed up to the challenge.
ExpandOS Senior Manager Steve Hungerford expressed his team’s
apprehension on the way to the test: “As we drove into the parking
lot next to the Memphis airport, a certain amount of tension filled the
air. Certainly we felt confident enough to pick up the gauntlet thrown
down by Fedex’s Larry Rutledge, but the description of the test
seemed brutal.”
The apprehension was probably unnecessary since ExpandOS is the only
commercially viable material to pass the ISTA 1A tests earlier this year.
The tests were conducted by Unisource packaging engineers on request
from Kohler, the nation’s largest producer of those surprisingly
fragile ceramic necessities, the toilet.
But FedEx developed an even tougher challenge for toilet protection:
simulated stacking pressure from a hydraulic press, followed by an hour
of tough vibration, and finally those ten consecutive drops from thirty
inches…a feat that most other internal packing materials have
failed.
The standard height for the ISTA 1A testing protocol is 10 inches, but
FedEx general simulation test is more stringent. BANG! Ten drops each
from 30 inches. BANG!
It was hard to imagine that after all of the loud sounds and abusive
handling that anything porcelain could survive. All tested packages (tanks
and bowls) did survive…100% damage-free! No scratches, chips,
cracks or rattles.
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| Successfully tested ceramic tank and bowl |
How did ExpandOS accomplish this amazing feat? The tanks and bowls were
left in their original cartons and placed into larger boxes surrounded
by ExpandOS.
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| Interior box doesn’t move during
extreme testing. ExpandOS “intelligent packaging” particles
align themselves to both the product and the box to optimize protection |
When asked how he felt about what transpired in the laboratory, FedEx’s
Larry Rutledge said: “I believe we have accomplished something
significant today…I have never seen this [toilet] product pass
this test with most other packaging materials”.
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| Carefully inspected by FedEx’s Larry
Rutledge |
Rutledge continued, “This product has exhibited some very intriguing
properties and I am very excited to find more applications.”
ExpandOS were introduced in 2004 and are the product of years of research
and design conducted by Vertex Internal Packaging Solutions. ExpandOS
stands for “expand on site” because of the unique space-saving
benefit of remaining flat sheets of paper until they are needed to fill
packages. One pallet of ExpandOS paper can be expanded to fill 800 boxes!
ExpandOS start their life grouped on a flat sheet of paper and are “energized” through
a simple, specially-designed machine, called the “Expander”.
The resulting ExpandOS are three-dimensional 1 1/2 inch triangular environmentally-friendly
paper particles whose interaction inside a box creates unique cushioning
and shock absorption.
ExpandOS’ Hungerford likens the ExpandOS’ energizing and
interaction to the principles of physics and has dubbed it “nano-packaging” because
of its resemblance to sub-atomic particle movement and interaction. Each
individual ExpandOS particle has 3 sides, 6 corners and 38 fingers that
grasp the product and each other to define and organize themselves for
the ultimate “intelligent” high-performance package protection.
Vertex™ Internal Packaging Solutions is a Colorado
company created to develop and provide innovative packaging solutions
to revolutionize the packaging and shipping industries. ExpandOS is built
on more than 80 years of experience in packaging, distribution and shipping.
www.expandos.com
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