Package Appearance

Dean Bellefleur

President, D-Idea

Location: Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Role: Consultant

Amy, your thesis topic is something that I was involved in during my time in China. The project was to determine the cause for deteriorating package appearance throughout the distribution chain, from production to consumers’ shopping cart. We ran distribution package appearance evaluations in three lead countries, China, United Kingdom and France. The outcome was that we created best practices to teach retailers and producers how best to handle the package and launched tailored solutions globally.

Research on Consumer Packaging and Transportation

Thomas Oris

Director of Purchasing, Baptista's Bakery

Industry: Food

Location: Franklin, WI, United States

Role: Packager

Amy, their are numerous examples of consumer goods companies that have made changes to packaging to improve their sustainable position.

For example, companies have moved from round containers to square, allowing them to ship more product per truckload. You can also find several examples of companies that moved from glass to PET to reduce package weight. This is helpful especially when shipping empty containers to be filled.

Wal-Mart Milk Jugs

Adam Pawlick

Director of R&D and Engineering, Palermo's Pizza

Industry: Food

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Role: Packager

Amy -

There are several examples, as Thomas already said. One of the most recent and most public was the move Wal-Mart tried to make from the traditional roundish milk jug to the square milk jug. It drastically increased the shipping efficiency on pallets and also allowed them to lightweight their container. Unfortunately this one is an example of forgetting the most important aspect of a package, consumer interaction. Consumers really did not like the new jug because it was difficult to pour.

Also as you are looking at things I would encourage you to look at product changes that have allowed for more efficient shipping. An example of this would be liquid laundry detergent concentration. By removing water you could increase the number of laundry loads in the same bottle significantly (I honestly don't know the % increase) which in turn increases your shipping efficiency. Some of the most powerful changes are when the package and the product work together as a system to drive the change rather than working independantly.

Amy, I currently work for a

Amy, I currently work for a company that supplies innovative packaging to a variety of industries including the glass industry. They created a product called the Smartstak system which allows pallets to be stacked 11 layers high – a 10-38% improvement on trailer fill and equivalent reduction in pallet handling. In terms of environmental and sustainability issues, the Smartstak system eliminates the need for any horizontal strapping and shrink wrap bags, with a potential reduction in vertical banding and is made from reusable polypropylene. Quinn Glass currently uses the Smartstak to reduce load collapses and reduce costs throughout their supply chain.

Reduction of Consumer Packaging

I was in my local Best Buy the other day and could not help but notice how wasteful most packaging is as it is thrown away immediately upon purchase. Are there any lobbying groups who attempt to get consumer goods companies to use less packaging to be more environmentally friendly?