Rule 181: It’s furniture’s “Real World” survival test
Identify packaging problems before your customer does
By Brooke Baldwin
No, your furniture won’t get “voted off the island” with this survival test, but its unforeseen packaging problems might be revealed through the new Furniture Package Performance Test, Rule 181. The decision to incorporate this test within your furniture design and manufacturing operations could drastically reduce the number of damage claims you are experiencing and add considerable savings to your bottom line, say industry experts.
Rule 181 was developed specifically as a performance test for cartoned furniture. Designed by the Furniture Packaging Technical Committee of the Institute of Packaging Professionals, it attempts to replicate the actual distribution environment that furniture will be going through. The inclusive committee had representation from furniture manufacturers, packaging material manufacturers, the American Furniture Manufacturers Association and the Specialized Furniture Carriers Association.
Can Your Cartoned
Furniture Survive Rule 181?
The following is a sampling of some of the testing procedures for Rule 181. |
Conditioning
The average temperature and the average relative humidity of the testing facility and the length of time the cartoned furniture is subjected to those conditions must be recorded.
Compression/Vibration
The container must be compression and vibration tested on all three axes. Vibration time must be 20 minutes on each axis, using machine compression or a concentrated dead load to simulate miscellaneous freight that would be loaded on top of the shipping container.
Impact Handling Tests
The cartoned furniture must survive a free-fall drop test, distributed as follows: six faces, three edges and one corner using the following height and weight sequence:
Shipping Weight, Drop Height
0 - 25 pounds, 30”
25 - 40 pounds, 24”
49 - 80 pounds, 18”
80 - 100 pounds, 12”
100 - 150 pounds, 10”
For 150 pounds or greater and/or 150 combined inches or greater, a free-fall drop height of 6” on the top, two adjacent sides and the bottom of the shipping container must be performed. |
“When you see damages as a result of the test,” explains committee member Pat Rooney, senior packaging engineer for Lifestyle Furnishings, High Point, NC, “you have an opportunity to fix problem areas. In some cases, you may have to increase packaging costs. Other ‘fixes’ may involve changes in production. Whatever the ‘fix,’ it is certainly better (and less costly) to take care of it before you have to add it to your returns and allowances figures and all the accompanying customer service costs.”
Over a period of two years, committee members wrote, tested and refined ideas to come up with what they believe is a fair testing procedure that will provide the user with a great degree of assurance that his furniture will survive a “real world” distribution process, says Rooney. “Even with all of this, we still see Rule 181 as a living document that will need to be refined and modified as the product, production methods and distribution methods change.”
Formerly, there were material standards for specialized furniture carriers known as the “Numbered F & S Packs.” There was also an earlier performance test identified as “Rule 180.” Neither of these material standards provided specific arrangement for furniture products, however, since both grouped furniture with all other commodities.
“Furniture has changed greatly since the early 1960s when those standards were written,” says Connie Jones, technical sales representative for Design Multi-Wall Packaging, Martinsville, VA. “Furniture is not always made of solid wood now and it’s three times as big. Because the material standards didn’t change over the years along with the changes in furniture, the trucking industry really lost faith in them. There have been many damage claims out there for the last several years. So, the furniture manufacturers, the trucking industry and the dealers decided to try to come up with a performance test, which when passed, would command respect and decrease damages.”
Any certified testing laboratory that does vibration tests, shock and impact-handling tests can perform the Rule 181 tests, notes Jones, pointing out that there are several certified labs in the North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia area. Furniture manufacturers that have their own labs also may run the test.
Manufacturers send their product to the lab. Once the packaged piece passes the test, it is given a certification emblem to be placed on all future cartons that are being shipped containing that furniture piece as long as the packaging is not changed.
Rule 181 is not mandatory and only became effective July 22, so its acceptance level is still an unknown. “I think it will be a fifty-fifty situation when it comes to its implementation,” says Jones. “There are many furniture manufacturers that can pass the test right now without making any changes. They will welcome it. The ones that have to make some changes because they may not be packing well enough might be slower to accept it. The better manufacturers will fall into it. The truckers will be more willing to haul furniture with this emblem because they have a good chance of a damage-free delivery.
“I think the dealers, the furniture manufacturers and the trucking industry have finally come up with something that is reasonable, whereby the truckers are willing to accept the responsibility for any damage to furniture that has passed Rule 181. Additionally, the dealers have the self-assurance when they see this emblem on the box that the manufacturer has taken the extra steps to ensure a non-damage delivery. It’s a win-win-win situation.”
