Goodbye to bulky boxes!
Geberit revises shower toilet packaging
Less cardboard, smaller volumes, less weight: the new packaging for the AquaClean Mera and Sela Round shower toilets boasts benefits for customers and the environment.
They pile up in the warehouses and in the delivery vans of the forwarding agents before being disposed of. We are talking about packaging, corrugated cardboard liners, protective foils and bags.
Main aim: protection for on the road
One thing is certain: packaging protects the products being sent. And Geberit products are well packaged. Konstanze Smith, packaging engineer at Geberit, explains: “Of course, the functionality of the packaging is paramount: the product has to reach customers safely and undamaged.” Nevertheless, she asked herself questions such as: Do the boxes really have to be so bulky? Is this amount of filling material really necessary? Together with Zelimir Blazevic, Head of Projects, and Adrian Hämmerli, Product Manager, she set about reducing the size of the packaging for the AquaClean Mera and AquaClean Sela Round shower toilets.
One third less material
The result: since the start of 2024, the two shower toilet models have been dispatched to plumbers and customers in slim, manageable packaging. Both the boxes and protective liners made of corrugated cardboard have been significantly reduced – by more than a third compared to the old packaging. This reduction in the size and weight of the packaging alone reduces the carbon footprint of the two products – with the AquaClean Mera, the annual reduction of CO2 emissions is almost 70 tonnes and with the AquaClean Sela Round about 20 tonnes. Zelimir Blazevic, Head Projects at Geberit Apparate AG, is pleased: “Thanks to good cooperation with the supplier, we managed to produce the same quality with less material.“
Two new AquaClean products will be delivered in the new, slim packaging from April onwards: AquaClean Sela Square and AquaClean Alba.
The start has been made
The first actuator plate models will then follow in the second half of the year. The Sigma01, Sigma20 and Sigma30 will also feature smaller, easy-to-carry cardboard boxes and will be able to do without plastic bags. According to Konstanze Smith: “In the future, we will adapt the packaging to specific products. In addition, we will continue to look for solutions to make the packaging of Geberit products sustainable, safe and customer-friendly.” The actuator plate packaging has been reduced by 10% and has a major impact: More products can now be delivered on the pallet. The environment is happy.
WHAT DOES A PACKAGING ENGINEER ACTUALLY DO?
“As a packaging engineer at Geberit, I have the task of improving our packaging so that it meets our Geberit requirements, customer needs and EU regulations. This is a very creative and challenging task. On the one hand, we want to make packaging circular by 2030. This means, for example, that we are working on ensuring that plastic packaging, such as protective covers, can be recycled. On the other hand, we are increasing the proportion of recycled plastic.
But it's not just about plastic: we are working on optimizing packaging product group by product group so that it is not only more environmentally friendly, but also better meets the needs of our customers and logistics colleagues.“