Mondi and Turkish furniture manufacturer Büromodel faced a difficult packaging task: how to ship large acoustic office cabins — including fragile glass-and-frame elements used in modern office interiors — across Europe and beyond.
These are not simple products.
They are large, valuable and sensitive components that can be cracked, scratched, damaged by handling, affected by moisture or delayed by transport problems.
For this kind of shipment, wooden crates have long looked like the safest answer.
They look strong.
They feel reliable.
They are familiar to logistics teams.
But this case shows why that default choice is no longer automatic.
According to a Mondi case study published on 21 July 2026, Büromodel replaced its in-house wood-based crate process with a tailor-made corrugated packaging solution for shipping acoustic office cabins across Europe and beyond.
The importance of the case is not only the size of the product.
Acoustic office cabins include sensitive interior components, glass-and-frame elements and finished surfaces that must arrive without cracks, scratches, mould-related damage or handling defects.
The result was not only a new pack.
It was an operational upgrade.
Mondi reports that the new corrugated solution helped Büromodel achieve an approximately 20% reduction in operational packing costs through lower material and process costs. It also made assembly faster, reduced labour intensity, improved handling safety, supported better storage efficiency through a stackable design and eliminated mould issues previously linked to wooden crates during sea freight.
For corrugated board producers and converters, this is the real story.
This is not simply “corrugated instead of wood”.
This is engineered corrugated packaging moving into a higher-value segment — industrial and export packaging where the customer is not only buying a box, but a solution to cost, labour, safety, storage and reliability problems.
Why Wood Became the Problem
Büromodel produces acoustic office cabins — large, valuable and fragile office interior products that can include glass-and-frame elements, finished surfaces and sensitive components.
They need reliable protection not only because they are large, but because damage can mean cracked glass, scratched surfaces, delayed installation, customer complaints and additional replacement costs.
For many manufacturers, wooden or plywood crates would seem like the safest choice for this type of product.
Büromodel used that approach too.
But according to Mondi, the company’s in-house wooden crate process started to create several problems: operational inefficiency, health and safety risks during handling and transport, production and packing delays, and reduced suitability for some export markets, including Germany and the UK.
There was also a sea freight problem: mould.
For a manufacturer sending finished office interior systems abroad, mould is not a small technical issue. It can affect product quality, appearance, customer confidence and delivery reliability.
When the product includes visible surfaces and fragile glass-and-frame elements, the packaging is not just transport protection. It becomes part of the promise that the product will arrive ready for installation.
This is where the case becomes especially interesting.
Wood was not replaced because corrugated board looked more sustainable in a presentation.
Wood was replaced because it created real operational friction.
The Export Packaging Angle: ISPM 15 Matters
There is another important reason why the move away from wood should interest the wider packaging market.
Wood packaging used in international trade is subject to phytosanitary requirements under ISPM 15, the international standard for wood packaging material. The standard is designed to reduce the risk of spreading quarantine pests through raw wood packaging moving across borders.
This does not mean wood packaging cannot be used. It can.
But it does mean wooden crates and pallets often bring additional requirements: treatment, marking, compliance checks and potential complexity in export logistics.
For companies selling across markets, especially into regions with strict import rules, this matters.
A strong paper-based corrugated alternative can reduce part of that complexity — if it can deliver the required protection.
That “if” is important.
Corrugated packaging does not replace wood automatically.
It replaces wood when the design is good enough.
Not a Standard Box, but an Engineered System
Mondi does not disclose the exact board grade, flute combination, wall structure, coatings or test data behind the Büromodel solution.
That technical detail would be useful for converters.
But the case still shows the direction clearly.
The new packaging was not presented as a standard shipper. It was developed as a bespoke corrugated packaging system designed around Büromodel’s real operation: product dimensions, fragile components, packing workflow, export requirements, storage space and transport conditions.
That is the key difference.
A standard box closes the product.
An engineered corrugated system protects the product, supports the packing process and helps the customer control risk during transport.
That is the difference between commodity packaging and engineered packaging.
A commodity box competes mainly on price.
An engineered corrugated system competes on total value.
It can reduce packing time.
It can reduce manual labour.
It can improve warehouse use.
It can reduce handling risks.
It can support export reliability.
It can help protect the customer’s brand experience.
And in this case, it helped reduce operational packing costs by around 20%.
That is why this story matters for corrugated producers.
The opportunity is not only to sell more square meters.
The opportunity is to solve problems that customers currently solve with wood.
What the Customer Said
Sinan Müsellim, Procurement Manager at Büromodel, described the move away from wooden packaging as “a strategic decision”.
That phrase is important.
It means the packaging change was not treated as a small purchasing adjustment. It was part of a broader operational decision about how the company protects and ships its products across different markets.
Müsellim also emphasized the need for packaging the company could trust across markets.
For exporters, that trust can be as important as the direct cost saving. If a package reduces damage risks, handling problems, mould issues and customer complaints, it affects much more than the packaging budget.
What Mondi Said
Metin Morhayim, Sales and Marketing Director at Mondi Corrugated Turkey, framed the project in a way that should interest every converter.
He said the project shows what is possible when packaging becomes “part of the customer’s operation” and “not just a protective layer”.
This is exactly where the higher-margin opportunity begins.
When packaging is only a protective layer, it is easier for customers to compare suppliers by price.
When packaging becomes part of the operation, the conversation changes.
The converter is no longer selling only material.
It is selling design, testing, workflow improvement, logistics thinking and risk reduction.
That is a different value proposition.
The Checklist for Corrugated Producers
For corrugated board producers and converters, the Büromodel case gives a practical sales and engineering question:
Which customers are still using wooden crates because nobody has offered them a serious corrugated alternative?
The best prospects may be manufacturers that ship large, valuable, fragile or complex products and face problems in one or more of these areas:
packing time;
manual labour;
heavy handling;
mould or moisture issues during sea freight;
warehouse space;
stackability;
export documentation and wood packaging compliance;
customer complaints after transport;
high cost of wooden crate production;
risk of cracks, scratches or visible surface damage;
brand perception at delivery.
These are not always markets for standard brown boxes.
They are markets for premium corrugated engineering.
Furniture, office interiors, glass partition systems, appliances, electronics, machinery components, export goods and large industrial parts may all contain opportunities — but only where the corrugated structure can be properly designed, tested and validated.
A More Honest View: Corrugated Will Not Replace Wood Everywhere
The lesson is not that wooden crates are finished.
That would be too simple.
There will still be applications where wood remains the right choice: extremely heavy loads, long outdoor storage, repeated reuse cycles, harsh handling conditions, or shipments where the required stacking strength and impact resistance cannot be achieved economically with corrugated board.
This is why the Büromodel case should not be read as a universal replacement story.
It should be read as a signal.
There are many places where wood is used by habit, not because it is always the best option.
And in those places, engineered corrugated packaging may have room to win.
Why This Case Is Important for the Industry
The most valuable part of this story is not only the 20% saving.
The stronger message is that corrugated packaging can move into applications where the customer previously expected wood.
That creates a different kind of business opportunity for converters.
Not a cheap box.
Not a simple transport pack.
But a designed system with measurable operational value.
For producers, this can mean higher-value projects, deeper customer relationships, repeat orders and access to segments where packaging decisions are connected to logistics, export reliability and production efficiency.
For customers, it means packaging that does more than surround the product.
It helps the operation work better.
That is why this case deserves attention.
Mondi and Büromodel did not simply replace a wooden crate with a corrugated box.
They showed how corrugated packaging can become a practical engineering answer to cost, labour, safety, storage and export challenges.
And for the corrugated packaging industry, that is a much more powerful idea than another standard box.
Source: Mondi case study, “Mondi helps Büromodel to cut operational packing costs by 20%”, published 21 July 2026.
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