FedEx opens packaging testing lab in Memphis
FedEx has opened a new laboratory providing testing and design services for shippers’ packaging.
The company said the new 30,000 square foot facility at its home base in Memphis, Tennessee, will serve both large and small customers of FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight through its tech support unit FedEx TechConnect.
It said that it needed a “scientific focus on proper packaging” considering the firm handles about 10m packages per day.
FedEx has operated a packaging lab since 1987, but the move to the latest facility has taken three years of design and development work.
The company said the new lab uses the latest technology and testing procedures, running equipment that drops, squeezes and shakes various forms of package to test packaging strength and effectiveness.
Cary Pappas, president and CEO of FedEx TechConnect, said packaging was a “critical” part of the supply chain, and that the new facility will help ensure safe transportation for customers’ shipments.
He said: “This new facility is not only a testing and design center, it’s a customer education center. This lab allows our engineers to test and develop new packaging solutions and provide our customers valuable guidance.”
Testing
The new packaging laboratory can test and design packaging for a “wide variety” of products, FedEx said, from perishables, glass and delicate electronics to life science items and large freight shipments.
It has a controlled environment that maintains conditions in the testing room to within 5% of industry tolerance.
It also features an altitude chamber that can simulate conditions up to 100,000 feet altitude, a temperature chamber that can test temperatures of between minus 90 fahrenheit and plus 350 degrees fahenheit, and a humidity chamber.
“We can simulate any part of the FedEx network anywhere in the world, from the desert to the rainforest to the Arctic,” said Pappas.
