Can you imagine a bigger challenge than supplying parts to a customer whose warehouse is aboard a ship? Or a supply depot in a war zone in the heat of the desert. How about an engine repair station in the arctic? With a supply chain that circles the globe, supplying precision hardware to the United States Department of Defense is not easy.
Most of the military shipments MSA makes are small quantities of a box or two. But occasionally a larger order requires that we use 20 or more boxes and also that the order be pallatized.
Previously MSA has not had the capability to ship palletized orders. Instead MSA has been making multiple smaller shipments. However, a recent 20 box order was shipped as a pallet which marks a milestone for MSA. This job required all new boxes, new DoD approved wooden pallets, and several other new shipping supplies.
Shipping via a pallet saves freight cost, a cost that MSA pays on DoD orders. This order alone saved over $300 in UPS freight expense compared to what multiple smaller shipments would cost. The DoD has ver strict rules about how orders are palletized that will require us to keep additional shipping supplies in inventory. As the volume of military orders may increase in the future, our ability to ship parts on a pallet will be an important ingredient to our success.
Planning and preparing for future growth drives these new tools we are developing. This is a sure sign indicating the forward thinking of MSA personnel.