Handling and packaging requirements

Limited research has been undertaken into the interface of product design and logistics (Dowlatshahi, 1999). Previously, designers had attempted to consider only marketing and manufacturing requirements in product development and packaging design (Vasquez et al, 2003), and latterly, the recyclability and recovery of the product. Tsoulfas and Pappis (2005) even failed to consider logistical aspects of product design when they examined the impact of environmental principles on supply chain designs and operations; similarly, studies concerning vehicle utilisation usually exclude any reference to the nature of the products being carried (McKinnon & Forester, 2001). Nevertheless, logistics and product design are undeniably linked through the activities of handling, packaging, stacking and transporting.

Unconventionally-shaped packaging causes problems all along the supply chain, as the larger and more oddly-shaped the range of packaging sizes, the greater the handling and delivery complexity and consequently, the less efficient the transport operation will be. By way of example, McKinnon & Forester (2001) observed that during the 2001 World Cup, a large British brewer designed a special multi-pack for canned beer in the shape of a football stadium, only handling 10 cans in the space usually occupied by 24. The result, a unit efficiency reduction from 65% to 27%, although no comment was made on the success of the promotion in terms of beer sales! So despite marketers wishing to attract customers with variety and speciality in packaging styles, from a transport efficiency viewpoint, standardisation and conformity are the most desirable packaging attributes.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a high percentage of products are conveniently packaged in rectangularly-shaped packaging i.e. boxes (Hoare & Beasley, 2001), which in turn, are repacked using tertiary packaging (i.e. handling equipment). More than two-thirds of all products are repacked at this stage, mostly from pallets to roll-cages (AT Kearney, 1997). Here again there are problems with proliferation (Penman, 1997), for instance, within Europe there are more than 30 different types of pallet.