https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-nave/
Can automation improve your sustainability?
What kind of stretch wrap are you using?
Could you use less plastic stretch film?
Check out our sponsor Orora Packaging Solutions
https://ororapackagingsolutions.com/
https://specright.com/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1329820053/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=corygat
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/
I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.
This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-nave/
Can automation improve your sustainability?
What kind of stretch wrap are you using?
Could you use less plastic stretch film?
Check out our sponsor Orora Packaging Solutions
https://ororapackagingsolutions.com/
https://specright.com/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1329820053/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=corygat
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/
I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.
This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.
Welcome to sustainable packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is my friend, Mr. Derrick Nave . He's a sales partner and packaging specialist at associated packaging.
Derrick Nave:Yeah, thanks for having me on. I'm super excited,
Cory Connors:man. It's my honor. We've we've been communicating long time on LinkedIn and you've recently started your own podcast, which we'll talk about later, but tell us about your background. How'd you get into this wild world of
Derrick Nave:packaging. So I don't have some cool story about me, like multiple generations of like my family being in packaging. I literally graduated from college. I still had no idea what I wanted to get into. I met a guy at the gym and we had started having a conversation. We built some relationship and he was just like, Hey, have you ever thought about getting into sales? And honestly, I'd never thought about it. At that point, when I thought of sales, they kind of like scared me a little bit. I thought about a used car sales. I'm like, man, I don't, I don't ever want to do that. But he's like, no, no. He's like, what do you think about doing B2B? Like selling toilet paper and I kind of laughed. I'm like selling toilet paper. I'm like, what are you talking about? So that company was a distributor out of Knoxville and their, their primary business was janitorial business. So I went through the process, got on with them and sold toilet paper for a couple of years. Well, in that transition I got my feet wet and realized that we actually, so the company was probably about, I don't know, 75, I might be wrong. 75, 80% is what we do. Janitorial stuff, cleaners, trashcan, liners, chemicals, paper towels, stuff like that. But at some point in time, we had purchased acquired a small packaging company in the area. So we started selling you know, stretch, film tapes and stuff like that. So that's when I kind of got introduced into the packaging items. And from that point forward, Put my focus more. I just enjoyed that process working with manufacturers and it was just different. So I kind of fell in love with that. Was that kill Sanford? Probably about two years in the packaging segment. And I wanted to kind of dive into it a little bit deeper. So again, we kind of just dabbled in it there. So started kind of looking at opportunities that area for other distributors. Packaging. It is all they did. So got connected with associated packaging. I love the way that their their program works. So I jumped on with associated packaging about five and a half years ago. And not looked back since, but I love it's so funny. The package world is so big. But yet it's so small, you know, once, once people get into the packaging in any segment, it's so funny, they might transition from one company to the next, but literally they, they never leave the industry. And I think that goes to show you how awesome our industry is on all segments. I mean, from the vendor manufacturer side to the distribution side, to the end user, which is, you know, manufacturing, distribution, e-commerce just the people. And the people you get to meet and connect with, it's just, it makes it awesome. I love it.
Cory Connors:I agree. A hundred percent and a lot of people don't understand that. Well they don't know that packaging companies often sell or provide janitorial supplies because it's a consumable, it's an easy add on, you know, oh, Hey, , you're., pallet of boxes here, here's a case of toilet paper. And here's a case of, whatever the, the item might be in the Jan San segment. Yeah. So that's always been one of my least knowledgeable areas. But it's all it's I'll never forget. I had a customer run out of toilet paper one time. I'll never do that again.
Derrick Nave:It's out of sight out of mind until you run out and then it's like the most important thing ever. So
Cory Connors:absolutely executive vice president from the company called me and say, don't ever let that happen again. I said, yes, sir.
Derrick Nave:You know, when, when people ask me, you know, can we source it? Yeah. But I tried to at, at all efforts say, Hey, you know, Thanks for thinking of me. Unfortunately, this is not really something I'm comfortable with and I'll point them to somebody that can, so I try to stick, stay away as much as possible.
Cory Connors:Yeah. Too much pressure.
Derrick Nave:Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So
Cory Connors:what, what's your, what's your favorite part of the packaging world? What's your favorite part of your job?
Derrick Nave:It's probably my favorite question and I kind of touched on it there at the end. So. It's for me, it's all about the people, you know? Yeah. I kind of fell into this and do I love packaging? Not do, but I think the reason I love it so much is the people. That I get to connect with. And I think that's what it's all about at the end of the day. You know, I'm five and a half years into it, but, you know, it's, it's connecting with people on an intimate level. And I know that sounds kind of crazy. Like, oh, you're selling packaging supplies, but those relationships and I mean it from my suppliers, my. To, to me to my end-users my customers. And then you know, even my API family, but at the end of the day, those relationships and connections that you create as you're doing business and helping people out and bring in value that right there is what brings me the most pleasure. And I think that's why I love what I do. I mean, I share all the time on social media. I mean, I do love packaging. I love you know, being in plants and helping people out. But if it wasn't for the people and having, you know, all that kind of stuff down the road I mean, it just wouldn't mean as much. And I hope one day, you know, I don't think at one point in time, you know, 25 years from now, people are gonna look back and be like, oh yeah, he, you know, helped me here with stretch film or ho he sold me that, or how much business you did or this or that. I think it's going to be looking back on what kind of legacy and the impact. Yes, you had on people and they're gonna remember how you made them feel and those intimate moments. I mean, stuff that I have going on right now with my family. We're we're growing, I got a daughter that's getting ready to be here in about seven weeks. So daughter number three, and being able to share that stuff with the people I connect, I work with about 65 different people or sorry, customers, but I've got five to 10 different connections within those that. We text, we talk and it's more than just business and those relationships. I mean, truly bring so much joy to my life and just make me love doing what I do. And I'm so happy that package. You know, allows me to do that. So that was a little long winded. Oh
Cory Connors:man. I love it. It's it's what it's all about. So I'd let you talk about that. The whole show, if you want it. We're, we're building relationships with amazing people and partnerships and friendships that will last a lifetime. And a lot of if you're looking at sales that. Where you're solving problems for people and your more, more focused on the relationship, then the profit margin, then you're going to have a great career. And I'm so excited for you because. You're just getting started and it just keeps going from here. Like you said, most people don't leave the industry. I'm celebrating my 20th anniversary with Landsberg in in may. So I can't, I can't wait for that,
Derrick Nave:but that's so awesome. I love it.
Cory Connors:And let's see here. You posted about stretch film. I want to talk about this because this is where the sustainability comes in. This is a topic I haven't covered at all on this podcast. And this is episode like 83. So you posted about your you're, the guy you're. You gotta, you gotta bring it home for everybody because this is something that a lot of people don't understand with packaging is automation. Equipment can make you more. And save you money, even though there's an upfront cost. Can you talk about stretch, film and automating that and why that sustained?
Derrick Nave:No. Absolutely. And the stretch film for me is, I guess why I have that passion for stretch film. It's kind of cliche. But when I first started in the packaging, that was one of the first items I got trained on. So I was with Paragon films shout out to Carla thorn. She pretty much everything I know about stretch film was, was from her. But that's what I first got trained on. And I guess once you start learning more about products and you become more confident, it, it kinda makes it that much more fun to sell because you got. You're a little bit more knowledgeable about it now, again, I'm in distribution, so I'm not as knowledgeable as those manufacturing reps. I mean, I still, you rely heavily on my stretch film manufacturers, but I'm so stretched from a lot of people. Think, you know, as stretch from like pellets. It's a film. Like you can't be sustainable. We can't be more sustainable with film, but looking at it from different angle. And this is how I look at it is, , if you're trying to, you know, maybe you do have to use film to protect your pallets. We've got to use stretch film, and I know some things are in the, in the works with other options, but with stretch film it's not it's more about reducing the overall footprint of how much. Material you're using in way. So it's really simple. I don't want to make it more complicated. It's basically using less film per pallet, but also not jeopardizing your containment. So with stretch film, my main point when I have a conversation is we want to make sure that we're protecting your product, which comes down to containment. So. We want to make sure that it's within industry standards and we're protecting your product from point a to point B point B to point C and preventing load failures. But back on the less film per pallet. So a lot of people, if they're using stretch film, a lot of people think stretch film is just stretched on. But all films are not created equal. So once you start diving into it and getting into different manufacturing, distribution, e-commerce stretch zones, just one of those items, just people order and they order what they've always ordered. And when you start diving into it and build that relationship and they allow you to start asking questions, you come to. Oh, you know, why are you using that gauge? Why you using this? Why? And honestly, a lot of times they have that response where, well, that's what we've always done. So for example, if you know, a lot of people show you some more of a conventional, you know, 70, 80, 90. And I still even see today in this market, some hundred, hundred and 10 gauge films. And I'm, I'm not saying there's not a time and place for that, but when you get into that, some of those people that are wrapping their pallets might be using. Over a pound of film, 14 ounces of film. So what you know, over the last five, 10 years, especially, there's been a lot of improvements in the manufacturing process with bringing out engineered films. And what that allows us to do is. Combat these higher conventional films with the lower gauge film, for example let's just throw out 63 gauge high-performance films. A lot of times we can come in situations as somebody choosing an 90 gauge film, wrapping their pallet X amount of revolutions. And let's say we are using a pound of film. Well, we might be able to bring that same,, same width, but bring a 63 gauge film. Be able to wrap that same palette. Now we might have to, you know, make some adjustment changes as far as the equipment settings go. But , there's a lot of air, a lot of people think, , you just wrap it, but there's really, when you get into automation equipment, there's a lot of different variables as far as turntable speed or rotor tower or speed. Speed up carriage down, speed tension, all that kind of stuff. Pre-stretch rollers. But we could wrap that same pallet with the 63. Maintain containment or possibly even improve containment forced to load, and then reduce their amount of film per pallet from let's say a pound of film or 14 ounces film down to maybe eight or 10 ounces of film, which doesn't seem like a lot. But if you have a plant that's rapping over 200 loads a day or 300 loads a day over the course of a week or a month or a year from a sustainability standpoint You're reducing your overall carbon footprint of film use throughout the year. So yeah, you're still using film. You're still wrapping your pallets. You're still, you know, all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, you know, you are being more sustainable when it comes to stretch film. So I know I kind of was all over the place with that, but and, and a lot of, again, it goes back to just education. You know, a lot of people again are stuck on just, we use what we always use. If you come in from an educate and educate your customer on, you know, these details and you know, go through that little initial evaluation and testing. Usually there's always ways that you can be more sustainable and help these customers out.
Cory Connors:Absolutely. And it's an, it's a dramatic impact on not only their sustainability, but their bottom line. All, every ounce of film saved is, is money saved. And I've seen the ROI on a stretch wrap machine is as quick as six months
Derrick Nave:a year,
Cory Connors:it's just like, wow. So you spend that, you know, 10, 12 grand or, or what the machines are coming down and cost too, which is really interesting
Derrick Nave:now. And I didn't touch on that. I'm glad you did. There's still a lot of people out there using hand film. And I'm not saying sometimes there's areas where you, you know, if there's a plant where you're stretched or you're having a hand wrap pallets at 40 different stations, you know, right off the bat, maybe a company can't go in and have that capital expenditure to, to bring in 40 stretch trappers. But maybe they can do it over time. But you know, people don't understand with hand films like, oh, what's a lot cheaper, you know, the film calls, all this kind of stuff, but. When you're wrapping those pallets you know, shift one versus shift two, or even the same person rapping at eight o'clock in the morning is wrapping those pallets a lot different. So that inconsistency with containment, you know, which could cause load failures or even the consistency of do you know what your true cost is per pallet was stretched film. You know, one person might be wrapping up. 36 revolutions and using a pound and a half or two pounds of hand film, or somebody else might be using you know, eight ounces, a hand film. So there's all those variables, but you're, you're, you're spot on. I mean I mean, over the last even three or four years, the amount of stretch trappers that I see going out in the field is which, which is awesome. We love seeing that. But yeah, sorry. You struck a chord with me.
Cory Connors:A lot of people are, like you said, are using hand film, which is, which is okay, you can do it successfully. There's something called pre-stretch film, which is a great alternative to a machine because people, , even your strongest warehouse worker probably can't pull 300% , neck down on stretch film to get you that load can take. But I, in my opinion, the biggest issue there with, with hand film other than the time and the labor that it takes is the danger. It is a huge safety
Derrick Nave:issue. I worked in the backwards around the pallet. I worked in a
Cory Connors:warehouse, I got tired of getting dizzy and had almost fallen several times. It's very common to see those kinds of injuries.
Derrick Nave:Yeah, safety involve. I mean, one injury would basically justify bringing in a stretch wrapper. So, I mean, if you can talking to the right people, you can definitely get one of those approved and bringing in the plant. So no, absolutely. You misread a stretch wrapping pallets.
Cory Connors:I don't I I saw a video on Tik TOK, you know, I'm on Tik TOK and there was a guy who was wrapping a pallet of. Using a one wheel. Have you seen those? Yeah. Yeah. It did not look very safe, but it looked like a lot of fun.
Derrick Nave:Oh yeah. I'll tell you what, I've not, I've not ever worked in a plant doing it as a job, but there was a customer where we installed a stretch wrapper. So the alarm was down. Cause we were bringing one out, put a new one in, so I offered my tech was setting it up and I'm like, okay. I'll be your guy, you know, so still in this account, this is like five years into it. Like a lot of the texts in there. I'm still I'm rapper boy. So I actually wrapped pallets wonderful day and I, it made me have a lot more respect for the people that actually do that day in it. I mean, I had blisters on my hand. They didn't have any like hand savers and so I was very thankful. You know, at that point for people investing in and stretch wrappers. Yeah.
Cory Connors:Well, it's a, it's a, it's a surprise. It's kind of counterintuitive to think you spend money to save money, but that automation equipment is, is a license. Yeah. Anything else in the packaging industry that you've really focused on in regards to sustainability? Or is this a stretch film kind of your niche?
Derrick Nave:Yeah. I mean, stretch films kind of like, yeah, I guess one of my primary outcomes I mean, if people looked at my overall book of business, you'd be like, man, you know, I talk about sustainability and it is important and stuff like that. But a lot of the items that I do sell, I mean, they're resin base, but I am always trying to focus on. If it makes sense, trying to get them into a more sustainable products, I'm trying to educate. Or like I said, with this, a lot of times I'm just trying to help reduce overall carbon footprint. You know, some applications with some of our customers, no matter how much you try to educate, no matter how much you try to convince them, you know, paper, , all this kind of stuff. They they're just kind of set in their ways and they're going to use what they want to use. But another one, I mean, we kind of talked about a little bit with stretch wrappers, but this, I guess this last two or three years, I mean, automation's been a thing, but the amount of growth and automation, and I guess I'm just speaking from associated and from our point of view automation, it it's growing like crazy. I mean, I feel like if you're not willing to automate in areas that you can eventually your competitors, you're going to get left in the dust. I mean, people are automating left and right. And especially right now, and I'm speaking from my territory and I think it's like this everywhere, but I mean the labor shortage and finding people to work plants this last year or two have been forced to automate. Which is a good thing. And a lot of people implants, they think automation or whether that's just replacing people. And it's really not all my people. All my customers need those people in so many different areas, and now it's allowing them to kind of move forward make better products, provide better service, and they're actually able to get those people in the positions that they need to be in with automation. So I mean, my focus this last couple of years is trying to help people automate wherever they can. So it's a, it's a big topic right now.
Cory Connors:Yes. And absolutely with the national and global labor shortage People absolutely need to replace the quote-unquote easy or, or repetitive tasks with, with a machine. To me that you're exactly right. We're not replacing people. We're, we're saving companies because oftentimes they literally can't find enough employees to work.
Derrick Nave:I agree. We're saving companies and create more jobs and keeping stuff, you know, manufactured in the U S which is obviously exciting for us. So automation towards that, you gotta be doing it.
Cory Connors:Yes. So you have a podcast, you, you are one of my packaging podcast, fellow. Brothers and we're all excited. And, and sisters, there's, there's so many really great podcasts, but yours is risen through the ranks quickly. You're currently number six, I believe in the packaging space, which is incredible. And it's just been a few months. Can you tell us about it? Yeah.
Derrick Nave:So it's a, so it's the packaging show? I'll put it off for quite some time. I'm a very introverted person. So I I'd planned on doing it planned on doing it, kept putting it off. And finally with enough conversations with Adam P. Key folly encouraged me in that to just say, Hey, just do it. So I finally jumped in sometimes and you know, obviously this it's not my, my sole business, but sometimes in order to grow, you got to put yourself in uncom, uncomfortable situations. And, and that's exactly what. So I kind of stepped outside my comfort zone and started about, I guess, five, six months ago. I did kind of scale it back from the get go. I always figured, you know, I can, I can always add more. So I think I took that advice from you. So right now it's every other week or every other Monday. But my I basically bring on, so being a distributor rep, it is so hot. You know, like you guys, I feel like you have your little niche where you guys are in being distributed. I mean, I have almost 300 vendors that I work with and it's really hard, even though I talk about stretching a lot, it's hard to be an expert in all those fields. So I know a little bit about everything. But I thought it'd be really cool to have my vendor reps on and suppliers on the experts of those particular vendors that I work with and basically bring them on. And we kind of dive into a specific topic and hopefully it's educational that we can share out in the market. But I fill up podcasts. The easiest way is to just consume content. I mean, you and I probably do it. I'm sure. Now you probably listen to a lot of podcasts since you're on, but you're listening to these day in and day out as you're driving from account to account or in the gym. And I was just hoping to provide some additional value to my customers and anybody that wants to listen, but it's been a fun journey and I hope to continue doing it and be successful.
Cory Connors:Well, keep up the good work it's we need more packaging podcasts. It's a fascinating world of packaging. It's I always say it's the biggest industry nobody thinks about, unless, unless, unless you're in. Then you always think about it and like, like you probably, my wife won't take me shopping
Derrick Nave:and down every aisle looking at
Cory Connors:stuff. Oh, I just love it. I'm fascinated by all the brilliant minds in our, in our field, but yeah.
Derrick Nave:Yeah. Sorry. I was gonna say it takes over a lot of conversations at the dinner table. A lot of conversations dropping down the road. I feel like my wife. Everybody will work with what I do, what we're working on. I mean, love her heart. She's my biggest supporter. So thank you Kayla. But sorry. I had to throw that in there. It's a conversation all the time.
Cory Connors:Well, and. We need our support. As, as sales people, it's very difficult and it can be very lonely, you know? You just feel like you're out on your own doing it, but then when you have a supportive spouse, it's just makes it all. Absolutely. Absolutely. How do people get in touch with you Derek?
Derrick Nave:So obviously LinkedIn and I'm sure you'll put that in the show notes. My LinkedIn handle, and then I've got a, a personal website it's www.dereknave.me. So dot M E. And that pretty much takes you to my personal website, which has a link to my podcast, which will take you to my podcast page. You can book a call with me and I think it also has my LinkedIn handle on there as well. So that's the. Excellent.
Cory Connors:I'd like to thank Landsberg Orora for sponsoring this podcast. What an amazing group of people they are. And if you're listening, please take a second to rate the show and subscribe. So you don't miss the next episodes. Thank you again.
Derrick Nave:Thank you, Cory