Our sustainably designed packaging for car headlights led to a 30% reduction in both cost and material

Reducing costs and material use with smarter automotive packaging

When an automotive customer sought to improve the packaging for its headlight covers, the goal was to maintain reliable protection while reducing material usage and packing complexity. Through a redesigned corrugated insert solution, Smurfit Westrock helped streamline the packing process, lower material consumption, and deliver significant cost savings without compromising product safety.

Automotive Packaging, Car Parts Packaging

The Challenge

Our customer was looking to improve their existing pack for headlight covers. The current pack was effective as it protected the contents from all directions, but this meant that the amount of corrugated material used was quite large. The headlight covers, however, did not require so much protection as they never fall on their top side so there was an opportunity to reduce the insert size.

The Approach

Working closely with our customer, we launched a packaging redesign project to remove the safety risk and simplify the existing packaging. The new universal left and right-hand insert is made of kraft BC-flute and creates a solid frame for the pack. The headlight cover is now only fixed at the back and large void zones prevent the sensitive lens and fragile grips from damage.

The Result

While maintaining sufficient protection, the amount of material was reduced by 33% and we reduced the packing time by 38%. We applied this principle to five different headlights and achieved an overall cost saving of 34% for our customer.