BULK
Meeting the huge demands on industrial packaging Smaller carbon footprint, sustainable, minimal resource input, strong and cheap Electricity and resources are becoming more expensive and the shortage of freight capacity is pushing up the cost of transport. So how can high-grade packages be marketed under these difficult conditions without appreciable price rises? The manufacturers of industrial packages are showing that this is possible - by using low-cost recycled materials, participating in the development of logistics strategies and generating their own renewable energy.
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anufacturers of industrial packages are being hit particularly hard by price rises resulting, in part, from rising energy costs. Their containers, pallets, technical components and work-piece carriers are usually made of plastics. Although they are light and robust, a lot of energy is required for the injection-moulding of plastics packages. Furthermore, the manufacturers need granulate for this, which is in big demand and no longer available in limitless quantities. “In the long term, this not only means increases in the price of all load carriers, but availability will also become a crucial factor sooner or later,” says Udo Schwabe, marketing manager of the German branch of the Swiss Utz Group, a container specialist. Rising transport costs are exacerbating the situation. The problem is that large industrial packages on their way to the customer by trucks and train take up a good deal of space. “In this situation, cost savings are pretty much out of the question,” Schwabe claims.
“Like other packages, industrial packages also have to protect the product while using less material. Less material also means less space taken up by the packaged product,” explains Vera Fritsche, specialist of the Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association in the German Engineering Federation.
Users are becoming more demanding
In addition, the containers have to become identifiable so that they can be controlled by different logistics systems. “Coding plays a very important part here, particularly as regards the traceability of the product over the entire distribution chain as well as the entire in-plant logistics,” Fritsche explains. Novel in-mould labelling technology is making rapid inroads, as it produces durable and easy-to-clean labels, although it is more elaborate and more expensive than the currently widespread barcodes. These are simply stuck onto the packages in a downstream cycle, while in-mould labelling is integrated in container production. Pre-printed labels are inserted in the injection mould and fuse with the plastic melt on its injection into the mould.
While the financial leeway for users is declining, users are becoming more demanding. Whatever the sector - the wholesale trade, food industry or pharmaceuticals industry - they all want to shrink their carbon footprint and are insisting on sustainable packages produced with minimum resource input but without compromising on strength. Companies are also resorting to highly automated conveying technologies to ensure trouble-free materials flow. And this raises the bar significantly for packaging.
The biggest challenge facing packaging manufacturers is to deliver the required innovations without loss of quality and at as little extra cost as possible.
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Mar/Apr 2014
Packaging suppliers are also expected to offer space-saving containers. “Freight and storage space is becoming not only scarcer, but also costlier,” Fritsche continues. Companies pass on the pressure to the packaging industry in the form of demands for volume-reduced containers, be they folding, conical or stackable/nesting.
www.foodprocessing.com.au