“Nefab's experience and extensive knowledge of dangerous goods transportation and high engineering competences help to optimize your logistics flows.”
Over the last decade, the Electric Vehicle (EV) industry has developed dynamically. Several factors such as volatile oil prices and climate change have made an impact on the traditional automotive industry that is beginning to replace the petroleum-fueled Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) with EVs.
Since 2010, the mass production of EVs has begun. Consequently, companies in the automotive and energy industries are following this trend and enter the emerging EV market, as well as EV start-up companies. The EV market is comprised of many different applications, from EV Supply Equipment (EVSE) to lightweight materials and EV batteries, all of which play a key role in the deployment of EVs world-wide.
Nefab is a global, well-established, packaging supplier within the emerging EV market and a long-term strategic partner for manufacturers in the EV industry. In particular, Nefab has evolved as a complete packaging supplier for Lithium Ion Batteries (LIB) and all types of EV Charging Stations, level 1 & 2 AC charging and level 3 DC charging.
Nefab has experience and extensive knowledge about the transportation regulations of UN dangerous goods and extensive engineering capabilities to develop intelligent packaging solutions for the whole range of LIB and EV Charging Stations. Nefab’s expertise and engineering capabilities, in combination with a total cost approach, is what we offer to our customers.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE LITHIUM ION BATTERY PACKAGING
The Lithium Ion Battery (LIB) has been criticized by various authorities due to its reputation of fire incidents. Organizations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and its Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) have, therefore, examined the restrictions on transport and packaging thoroughly after an increasing amount of incidents had occurred. For manufacturers and end-users of LIB, the tolerance for damage claims is zero. To ensure safe, optimized and UN-compliant packaging solutions, Nefab can step in as a specialized packaging partner in the field of dangerous goods.
The supply chain challenges in the LIB market involve diverse flows between the supplier and end-user. Depending on the flow, the packaging must be customized and compliant with the UN dangerous goods packaging recommendations and regulations. Nefab is the leading global packaging supplier that can offer secure and safe complete packaging solutions for dangerous goods of LIB.
Currently, Nefab possesses more than 70 UN Certificates for packaging solutions of dangerous goods. Nefab has the capacity and capability of performing professional tests for packaging groups I, II, and III in different ISTA certified test labs around the world. Within the last years, Nefab has specialized in complete packaging solutions for LIB dangerous goods UN 3090, 3091, 3480, 3481.
ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS PACKAGING
Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE), referred to as Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Stations, plays a crucial role in the deployment of EVs world-wide. Depending on the product’s destination and mode of transportation, the packaging has a high impact on the total cost of logistics. One challenge is to find the sweet spot of packaging spend and product protection for the different types of EV Charging Stations: level 1 & 2 AC charging and level 3 DC charging.
Nefab – a Strategic Partner for EVSE manufacturers – can step in as a global packaging supplier to exceed expectations and requirements for customers and end-users. A network of more than 100 packaging engineers are working worldwide in different fields of specialization and packaging materials to provide intelligent and efficient complete packaging solutions.
We understand the challenges of the growing EV charging infrastructure and its scattered packaging standards. Our customers benefit from Nefab’s strong engineering competence in standardizing complete packaging solutions, which reduces the total cost of logistics for the complete line of EV Charging Stations.
CUSTOMER CASE: LEVEL 2 AC CHARGING STATIONS
With Nefab’s global footprint and intelligent complete packaging solutions, a main player in the Electric Vehicle (EV) market could reduce its total cost of logistics by 43%.
The customer, a leading manufacturer in the energy industry, manufacturers level 2 AC Charging Stations in China. The Charging Stations are sent to customers all over the world in expensive wood cleated boxes. Nefab's Global Engineering Team was contacted to replace the current wood cleated boxes due to several customer damage claims and the high cost of transportation.
Meeting the customer’s need of intelligent complete packaging solutions for level 2 AC Charging Stations.
Nefab's Engineering Team first conducted a pre-audit of the product's inbound and outbound flow. Consequently, Nefab's Engineering Team identified critical bottlenecks and took these into consideration for the packaging proposal to the customer. One challenge was related to the pallets that were used in the inbound flow, which increased the handling time per unit. Nefab's Engineering Team redesigned the customer’s current packaging in order to optimize the product flow and enhance the Health & Safety and Environment (HSE) in the customer’s packing workshop.
Intelligent and efficient complete packaging solutions reduce total cost of logistics and improve on-site health and safety.
The outcome of Nefab's Engineering Team redesign was an expendable nail-less plywood packaging solution – “ExPak S” that is optimized for sea and truck freight. The proposed complete packaging solution reduced the customer’s packing time and improved the handling of installation on-site. In total, the customer realized a saving of 43% in its total cost of logistics.