ProSoCo, in the East Hills Business Park, is cutting shipping costs by using boxes filled with bags of cleaning liquids, instead of plastic containers that take up more space. Jeff Plumlee, the production manager, looks on as new bags are filled and put into boxes for shipping.

Plastic containers might become relics at one Lawrence business.

This month Prosoco, 3741 Greenway Circle, starts the transition of shipping some of its liquid cleaning products in “bag in a box” packaging instead of plastic containers.

When the firm orders new containers, six times as many 5-gallon bag in a box packages as plastic containers can be loaded onto a truck. The new packaging, made of double-walled corrugated cardboard with a mixed-plastic bladder, can be folded when empty.

There should be significant savings on freight costs because of the change, Prosoco spokesman Gary Henry said. “We buy a lot of containers and we ship a lot of containers,” he said.

A bag in a box container is sturdy and durable. Most of it – 93 percent – is recyclable and the remainder is easily disposed of, Henry said. By the end of the year Prosoco plans to have 10 of its products shipped in the new packaging, he said.

Prosoco and other Lawrence businesses are making a major effort to find protection from increasing fuel and other costs. When successful, they save money and jobs.

“The aspect of layoffs for any company is really the last resort. Any of us would certainly try to avoid that,” said Chuck Magerl, owner of Free State Brewing Co., 636 Mass.

Magerl is expanding his business to include a brewing operation in a warehouse at 1927 Moodie Road. It will mean making more and different types of beer. Marketing will be directed toward people who are staying home more than going out because of the economy.

“What we’re looking at with the new facility is both kegs and bottles,” Magerl said. “Bottles will give people an easier option of entertaining at home rather than going out. We’re recognizing that reality.”

Doing the little things

In 2007 the Hallmark Cards Inc. production center, 101 McDonald Drive, embarked on a program to make its operation leaner and more efficient. That effort is continuing. It means moving equipment and supplies around to streamline repetitive work processes.

“It’s really about simplifying the process and eliminating wasting time or motion,” Hallmark spokeswoman Kristi Ernsting said. “The Lawrence employees have really been involved in looking at better ways to do their work.”

In June, Hallmark announced it was closing card manufacturing operations in Arkansas, Indiana and Canada. Lawrence was able to take on some of that work with the same number of employees – 750 – it already had, Ernsting said.

Doing little things to save money adds up, and local businesses are doing them.

Earlier this year GPW & Associates moved to larger offices at 1001 N.H. It switched from incandescent lights to compact fluorescent lights.

“It’s much brighter and much more efficient,” president and chief executive Gina Pacumbaba-Watson said.

GPW, an engineering consulting firm specializing in electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems, has 20 employees and expects to add more, Pacumbaba-Watson said. The firm is one of 10 companies helping Wal-Mart redesign stores.

“Even though the economy is going down, Wal-Mart is still doing pretty well,” she said.

The 650 employees at Amarr Garage Door, 3800 Greenway Circle, are paying more attention to turning off lights and computers in rooms not being used. Recycling waste materials has taken on new meaning, said Kirsten Krug, director of people and training. Employees using company vehicles are urged to run all of their errands at one time, she said.

“We’re just looking at about anything that conserves,” Krug said. “A lot of what we are doing is just containing the costs that we have.”

That same principle is followed at Alvamar Inc., where a golf course and swimming pool are maintained. The course has to be mowed and watered, but those tasks are performed with efficiency in mind, Alvamar President Dick Stuntz said. In addition, marketing to attract new customers and keep the old ones is important, he said.

“I think that a tight economy does sharpen your efficiency a little bit,” Stuntz said. ‘It puts the pressure on.”