Spurred by environmental legislation, in particular, packaging users are under the cosh to reduce costs and improve sustainability but if a particular company has a global market to service the complexity of meeting these two critical aims can be overwhelming. In such circumstances it could pay bid dividends to consult with a global packaging business and the earlier the better.

Such packaging companies which see packaging as an extension of the production line know right well the bottlenecks and wasted costs in transport caused by poor packaging design which stymies packaging optimisation, so unlike the views of most packaging users they have a holistic/global view of the problems.

It’s not rocket science to see that the right size of packaging, rather than the ‘one size fits all’ assumption of traditional, corrugated box inventories, makes sense but what of the right shape packaging and its material for awkwardly shaped goods? The Norwegian mobility scooter producer, Topro, is a good example of the remarkable logistics cost savings that came from a tapered box design and the most suitable composition of paper for packaging needs, but it was not a quick-fix solution.

Topro brought in packaging expert, Smurfit Kappa, whose analysis of over 50,000 different supply chains enabled them to create a six-step process called SuperSmart, which has helped many customers to improve the efficiency of their production. They worked with Topro to analyse the company’s supply chain throughout Europe, flagging areas that could be improved with the help of Paper-to-Box, a tool that decides the most suitable composition of paper for packaging. Leaving nothing the chance, Smurfit’s oversaw test shipments to Topro’s European sites to ensure the solution was robust.

The results were remarkable. The new tapered box design allows for better pallet fill, cutting Topro’s logistics costs by 40%. They can now fill 180 more products on every truck, thus improving their ‘green’ credentials, and their packaging line is 100% automated. This collaborative approach is surely the best way to go where the supply chains and logistics complexity are substantial.

While Topro’s main benefit derived from lower transport costs through a redesigned tapered shape of box, other transport savings can be made with help from software programs like those from Gower Optimal Algorithms which show the best way to stack outer cartons on pallets in the most efficient ways and likewise arrange the loads, whether palletised or not, inside the vehicle to maximise the space taken up.

Even a reconsideration of the pallet materials can make big savings in air freight costs, for example, like switching from relatively heavy wood and plastic pallets to Pallite’s pallet made from recyclable paper with a honeycomb design. Their accompanying, stackable pallet boxes are also very lightweight and can even be insulated for time and temperature-sensitive foods. Even lighter than all kinds of pallets and far better at space saving is the humble, seemingly neglected, slip sheet made from plastic. This does require, however, special forklift attachments at both ends of the supply chain and inverters.

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