I normally post here on FWW subjects, but in real life I run three large food factories, this pays for my FWW hobby.
This post is about wooden bins, we need around 10,000, 300 gallon size, we buy new for around $140 each, so the total investment is $1,4 million. We use them for bulk food packing.
You can see them at this link http://www.intlwoodind.com/prod02.htm
They are made up from a pallet base with a plywood face, four plywood sides, two sides with galvanized metal angle affixed and a top with two wood reinforcing strips.
We need them by July this year but for someone who starts producing now, we will take delivery as he manufactures.
We have drawings and specifications if you need.
Anyone who can offer a substantial competitive advantage?
Replies
It is usually difficult to beat the price of someone who has made a full time business out of manufacturing just one product.
A few questions:
1. Are there any patents or design copyrights that another maker would be infringing on?
2. Since these will be holding food, are there any FDA licensing or inspection requirements that have to be met?
3. Who supplies the liner?
4. Where are you located and who pays the shipping to get the empty containers to you?
John W.
"1. Are there any patents or design copyrights that another maker would be infringing on?"
No patent rights are held. Very simple to manufacture, the only challenge being the large quantity.
"2. Since these will be holding food, are there any FDA licensing or inspection requirements that have to be met?"
No, we specify the plywood as CDX grade group 2.
"3. Who supplies the liner?"
Liner is not part of the project, we buy and insert during production.
"4. Where are you located and who pays the shipping to get the empty containers to you?"
Central Valley, Central California. We pay shipping and can arrange delivery of wood. Alternatively, you can set up to do the work on our premises on a per unit basis and we will supply materials.
John W.
Your food boxes sound interesting. Would they be shipped knockdown? and how far would you consider to be too far away to truck from? Would you pay in stages ? Thanks Bob
Whoever makes them will have to produce 600 a week, that's 15 an hour, for 4 months, to fill the order by July. Making one box every 4 minutes would be quite a challenge for a one man shop, so I think I'll pass on this one.
It wouldn't take a lot of equipment, under $10,000, or a skilled work crew, to make these things. You should consider hiring one knowledgable guy who could organize the job, and a half dozen laborers, to set up a production line right at your facility. I'm sure that with that set up you could beat the $140.00 price easily.
John W.
Four sheets of cdx (4 1/2 with the lid) at least 1/2" I'm assuming, galvanized corners & strapping, fasteners, pallet, 1/2 hr. labor HUGE staging area, time spent organizing shipping. Its a project that could only be done by an organized factory paying minimum wage and even then the profit margin for 10,000 bxes would be minimal as it would only be a small part of their overall workload. It sounds like an impossible proposition for a small time "woodworker".
With the volitile softwood market, you could kiss any projected profits good bye.
Maybe a maquiladora operation south of the border could do it...
Hi Jellyrug,
I'm not a believer in "fate" aka 'it was meant to be', but the timing for this job, at least from my standpoint, seems pretty perfect; I have decided to make a rather radical shift from a one-person custon shop to high-volume production. I have found a couple of very accessible spaces in need of some noisy machinery and sawdust-a-flyin', but that are at this point wonderfully empty and just waiting to be layed out for fast-and-furious work-flow. My workers have already been found and are good to go.:-)
Ping me at [email protected], and I'll email you my contact info.
I'll look forward to hearing from you.
-Peter T.
Pete,
I'm beginning to think Jellyrug is a big scammer. I too am interested in filling this order. I E-Mailed him days ago, and have received no response.
Aside from being able to secure enough plywood from a supplier, this job is a piece of cake, don't ya think?
Jellyrug, if you are for real, give me or Pete here a chance at bidding this job.
Davo
Davo, JR responded to my email immediately and FAXd me the specs for the job. It's pretty d*mn rash to be calling him a scammer in public. Did you even think about asking (here) "Hey, JR, did you get my email??"forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Davo,
Apologies for the inconvenience, I did receive Pete's email and did send him a reply.
Is there perhaps a problem with his profile?
You can look up our company under http://www.tomatek.com
I have the supplier IWI, down to $114 per bin complete.
John was correct, it is difficult to compete with them as they are geared to do this on a mass production basis.
I received prices directly from one of the biggest plywood manufacturers here in the US and even after haggling with them, as this is a nice production run for them, the materials alone are more than $114.
Obviously IWI purchases in huge quantities and perhaps they bring materials from abroad.
If you still want to bid, give me a call at (559) 659 1601, ask for Willie Martins, but I'm sure you'd find as I have, nothing in life comes easy.
Good luck with your home business.
Edited 3/7/2005 11:34 am ET by Jellyrug
Edited 3/7/2005 11:58 am ET by Jellyrug
Jellyrug,
Glad to hear from you. I did E-mail you via your profile info here at Knots on Feb 26th. Infact, I E-mailed you twice cause I wasn't sure the first one got through OK. Perhaps neither message got through....if so, my apologies.
So, it looks like you've been shopping...you got the price down from $140 per to $114.
Honestly, aside from being able to procure enough plywood, this type of work is not hard at all. I wanted your specs cause from the other posters, it appeared each crate was using up approx 3-1/2 to 4 sheets of ply. My question was whether the ply was 1/2 inch CDX or 5/8 or 3/4.
Based on 1/2 inch CDX, I roughly estimated that I could do this job for around $115 to $118 per crate, but until I actually had the specs, this was just guess work.
Off hand, it appears that $114 is a fair rate, and this may be hard to beat. Stiil, I may just drop you a line tomorrow afternoon and ask for the specs anyway.
Thanks.
Davo
100 days of work, 6 days a week and then the job goes away ...
300 gallons is about 4'x4'x4'. 3 sheets of ply per crate.
300 sheets of plywood a day - 30 sheets cut in half an hour. 2 minutes per cut.
Delivery by two 40' trailer loads a day.
The logistics will kill the job. You cannot get started up tha tfast.
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