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Consumer Packaging vs. Industrial Packaging

Final package design is most often based on manufacturing and marketing considerations at the neglect of logistical requirements. Consumer packaging design focuses on customer convenience, market appeal, retail shelf utilization, and product protection. In general, ideal consumer packaging (e.g., large containers that increase consumer visibility) makes very poor logistical packaging.

The proper package design should be based on a comprehensive assessment of logistical packaging requirements.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis)

Individual products or parts are normally grouped into cartons, bags, bins, or barrels for handling efficiency.

Carton

Bags of coal

Bin

Barrels

These containers are used to group individual products and are referred to as master cartons.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis)..

When master cartons are grouped into larger units for handling, the combination is referred to as containerization or unitization.
The master carton and the unitized load provide the basic handling unit in the logistics channel. The weight, cube, and fragility of the master carton in an overall product line determine transportation and material-handling requirements. If the package is not designed for efficient logistical processing, overall system performance will suffer.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis)..

Retail sale quantity should not be the prime determinant of master carton size.
For example, fruit juices typically sold in units of six individual containers is normally packed in master cartons (cases) in quantities of twenty-four units. The prime packaging objective is to design for operation with a limited assortment of standard master cartons.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis).. Naturally, few organizations can reduce their master carton requirements to a single size. When master cartons of more than one size are required, extreme care should be taken to arrive at an assortment of compatible units.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis)..

Figure illustrates such a concept utilizing four standard sizes.

The sizes of the four master cartons result in modular compatibility.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis)..

Of course, logistical considerations cannot fully dominate packaging design.
The ideal package for material handling and transportation would be a perfect cube having equal length, depth, and width with maximum possible density. Seldom will such a package exist. The important point is that logistical requirements should be evaluated along with manufacturing, marketing, and product design considerations when standardizing master cartons.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis)..

Degree of Protection
A critical issue confronted in package design is to determine the degree of protection required to cope with the anticipated physical environments. The package design and material should combine to achieve the desired level of protection without incurring the expense of overprotection. It is also possible to design a package that has the correct material content but does not provide the necessary protection.

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Industrial Packaging (Logistics Emphasis).. Testing the package The determination of final package design requires considerable testing to ensure that specifications are satisfied. Such tests can be conducted in a laboratory. During past decade the process of package design and material selection has become far more scientific.

Laboratory analysis has become the most reliable means of evaluation because of advancements in testing equipment and measurement techniques.

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Damage Protection
A major function of the master carton is to protect products from damage while moving and being stored.
The crucial question is the desired degree of product protection. The determining factors are the value and fragility of the product: the higher the value, the greater the economic justification for nearly absolute protection. If a product is fragile and has high value, then the cost of absolute protection can be significant.

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Damage Protection
Product fragility can be measured by product/package testing utilizing shock and vibration equipment.
The test result allows a predetermined level of product cushion to be built into the package to provide protection while in the logistical system. If packaging requirements and cost are prohibitive, alternative product designs can be evaluated utilizing the same testing equipment. The end result is the determination of the exact packaging required to protect the product.

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Damage Protection
Package damage results from the transportation, storage, and handling utilized.
If privately owned and operated transportation is used, the product will move to its destination in a relatively controlled environment. On the other hand, if common carriers are utilized, the product enters a non-controlled environment. The less control a firm has over the physical environment, the greater the packaging precautions required to prevent damage.

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Causes of Damage
During the logistical process, the product can experience a number of situations that can cause damage.
The four most common causes are: vibration, impact, puncture, and compression. Within the logistical system, combinations of these forms of damage can be experienced whenever a package is in transit or being handled. In addition, stacking failure can result in damage while the product is in storage.

Example Distribution of Computers

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The standard distribution practice for computers provides an example for damage protection.
Because the basic product is of high value and extreme fragility, a substantial investment in packaging would be required to perform physical distribution using normal carrier service. Consequently, computers are usually distributed by specialized household movers. The equipment and handling procedures employed by household moving specialists are highly oriented to damage prevention.

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Outside Factors
Outside elements such as temperature, humidity, and foreign matters may cause potential damage.
For the most part, these environmental factors are beyond the control of logistical management. However, the protective package must be designed to cope with the range of possible adversity during transit.

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Outside Factors
To illustrate, it is not unusual for a package to be subjected to
snow and below freezing temperatures during loading, to be exposed to rain at an intermediate transfer point, to arrive at a hot and humid destination.

The problem in evaluating the environment is determining in advance how the contents of the package will react with respect to these various elements.

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Handling Efficiency
Logistical productivity is the ratio of the output of a logistical activity (time for loading a truck) to the input (labor and forklift time required). Most logistical productivity studies center around making the input work harder. Packaging initiatives, however, increase the output. Almost all logistical activity outputs can be described in terms of packages, such as number of cartons loaded per hour into a trailer, number of cartons picked per hour in a warehouse, etc.

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Product Characteristics
Packing products in certain configurations may help in increasing logistical activity output.
For example, reducing package size can improve cube utilization. This can be accomplished by concentrating products (e.g. orange juice) or eliminating air inside packages by shipping items unassembled.

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Product Characteristics
In most cases Dunn age materials (like polystyrene foam peanuts) can be minimized simply by reducing box size.
Many of the Indian retailers of unassembled furniture, emphasizes cube minimization to the point that it ships pillows vacuum-packed. They use a cube minimization packaging strategy to successfully compete in the Western Companies even though the company ships furniture all the way from India.

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Product Characteristics
Cube minimization is most important for lightweight products (such as assembled lawn furniture) that "cube out" a transport vehicle far below its weight limit.
On the other hand, heavy products (like liquid in glass bottles) "weigh out" a transport vehicle before it is filled. Weight can be reduced by changing the product or the package. For example, substituting plastic bottles for glass significantly increases the number of bottles that can be transported in a trailer.

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Unitization
Unitization describes the physical grouping of master cartons into one restrained load for material handling.
The concept of containerization includes all forms of unitization, from taping two master cartons together to the use of specialized transportation equipment. All types of containerization have the basic objective of increasing material-handling efficiency.

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Containers are steel or aluminum boxes that can be moved on trucks, rail road cars and ships and can carry different kinds of merchandise. .

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The container in the last three or four decades has become the core of a highly automated system that enables movement of goods from anywhere to anywhere at low costs and with minimum complications on the way.
The container is at the core of a technical system which includes the modern container port with its forest of cranes, large container-stacking yards and intermodal freight yards permitting seamless transport from point to point.

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Many Asian countries - Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and later China, took a strategic view of containerization.

They are invested in the system of container parts, containerships and associated trade-enhancing organizational improvements - resulting container systems gave these countries cheap access to the US and European Markets
Source: IMRB International

Benefits of Unitization/Containerization
Reduces damage in handling
Reduces pilferage

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Reduces protective packaging requirements

Provides greater protection from environment Provides a shipment unit that can be used many times repeatedly.

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Communication
The third important logistical packaging function is communication, or information transfer.
This function is increasingly critical to content identification, tracking, and handling as they become more powerful and necessary to total channel success. The most obvious communications role is identifying package contents for all channel members.

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Communication
Typical information includes manufacturer, product, type of container (can versus bottle), count, and Universal Product Code (UPC) number. Visibility is the major consideration and material handlers should be able to see the label from reasonable distances in all directions. The only exception is for high-value products, which often have small labels to minimize the temptation of theft.

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