DS Smith and Schneider Electric have collaborated to launch a universal high-performance electrical switchgear packaging design.
Created for three different types of integrated electrical switchgear products, the packaging development supports Schneider Electric’s broader sustainability ambitions by reducing material use and improving circularity in the supply chain.
The switchgear components are integrated into the switchgear cabinet as a part of a finished final design, and the packaging solution is comprises corrugated cardboard and is fully recyclable.
This reflects Schneider Electric’s commitment to reducing environmental impact across its value chain and aligning packaging choices with broader circularity and decarbonisation goals. The focus of its design is intended to facilitate its secure attachment to the moving parts of the large industrial products and ensure that they are easy to handle and manoeuvre during the production, transportation, and supply chain process.
The packaging solution is also designed to fit easily into automated production lines, and the heavy-duty weight of the electrical switchgear products means that they can only be moved and packed from the side with the use of an industrial manipulator.
The moving parts of the three electrical switchgear products require securing into the correct position to be safely transported, with the packaging providing protection during challenging or unexpected transportation and supply chain conditions. An openable side tray provides a stable base, ensuring easy handling, and to ensure that the products can be firmly anchored into place for optimum product protection.
In addition, the parts are fixed with the same corrugated cardboard sheet elements and integrated into a separate endcap. The packaging solution is inclusive of a polyethylene bag to protect the greased elements of the product from dust. Similarly, metal connectors are protected by a simple folded corrugated cardboard insert, and each side element is glued together with several layers of corrugated cardboard to provide the highest-level of stability. The multi-layered endcaps are also comprised of fibre-based corrugated cardboard materials.
The DS Smith design and implementation team drop tested the packaging solution as a part of the design and compliancy process, and as a controlled procedure to assess the products durability and safety by releasing it from a set height to measure its resistance to impact, shocks, and potential structural damage.
The packaging is also designed to negate unused or void space and to be compact to optimise the use of as few materials as possible, with reduced freight and storage costs. As part of its Schneider sustainability impact programme, which concluded last year, Schneider Electric increased the share of primary and secondary packaging free from single-use plastic, using recycled cardboard to 85% by the last quarter of 2025.
Levente Szabó, cluster director at DS Smith Hungary, commented, “The Electrical Switchgear is a complex industrial product, and it can be incredibly heavy and delicate to transport, and so achieving the correct balance between protection, handling efficiency, and sustainability, is absolutely key in a packaging solution. This design demonstrates what can be achieved with fibre-based and corrugated cardboard solutions. The intention was to make a solution that is not only robust, but fast and easy to assemble, and both sustainability and recyclability are extremely important factors for our customer.”
