News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
Helping ‘distribution’ of best test practice
Every researcher would like to see their work helping to improve best practice, either through industry standards or adapted test protocols and, as the Distribution Packaging papers at IAPRI’s May 2023 Conference made clear, insights into potential improvements are plentiful.

Changes to protocols and standards rarely happen overnight, and typically involve multiple research partners contributing evidence, perhaps at an international level. In that sense, the specific capabilities of Virginia Tech’s Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design (CPULD) in the US make the role of its research group something of a rarity, as director Laszlo Horvath explains.  
 
“We tend to work on research that eventually leads to changes in standardized testing, especially in ASTM and ISO,” he tells IAPRI. “Not many research institutes conduct research related to pallets that is not proprietary. Thus, when a standard needs to be updated, then at some point the committee is not going to have the data to rely on.”
 
The research group is unique, he says, because it boasts an industrial membership of 12 large pallet companies, all helping to fund research in this specific area. “Some research focuses on developing new design methods for pallets, but we also have multiple research projects focused on investigating physical phenomena that can help to improve standards.”
 
Pallet interactions
 
He mentions this in the context of one of three papers presented by the Virginia Tech group at IAPRI’s Mumbai Conference. Lead author Seth Capizzi set out in his presentation to evaluate maximum pallet deflection under dynamic forklift handling conditions. The word ‘dynamic’ in the title is significant. As he reported: “Standard national and international pallet testing protocols (ISO 8611, ASTM D1185) contain recommended pallet deflection limits obtained from static testing procedures.”
 
But he went on to spell out how forklift handling of pallets is far from being a static process, so his study had focused on dynamic pallet deflection and unit load stability. “The results indicate that the deflection limits in ISO 8611 could result in unstable, unbound unit loads,” he concluded.
 
Overall, Virginia Tech made a good showing at the Mumbai Conference, with two further papers looking at interactions between packages and the pallets they are loaded on to.
 
One of these papers, looking at the effect of pallet overhang on box compression strength, made it into the peer review stream. In his study, lead author Saewhan Kim investigated four different sizes of corrugated box, using different combinations of board, to assess the effective box compression test (BCT) strength. This assessment took place with several single-side and adjacent-side overhang scenarios. Findings were compared with the theoretical values set out in the Fibre Box Handbook, with the aim of creating a prediction model for pallet overhang.
 
As Kim’s abstract explained: “The results indicated that the safety factors in the Fibre Box Handbook fit well with adjacent overhang scenarios, but [that it] overestimates single-side overhang scenarios. The trend that BCT decreases as the magnitude of overhang increases was also observed, as expected.”
 
In a third paper, also presented at Mumbai, Virginia Tech’s Mary Paz Alvarez Valverde examined the effects of wooden pallet characteristics on the compression strength of palletized plastics pails with double overhang.
 
She found that the location of the pail on the pallet had a significant effect on the compression of the pail, between the center and the edge. “The compression strength of pails decreased by up to 44% when supported at the edge of the pallet compared to the center,” she said. But these effects were further exacerbated by overhang, as opposed to support. “The compression strength of the pail can decrease by up to 47% when the unsupported perimeter increases from 22% to 65%,” she added.
 
E-commerce insights
 
The need to satisfy the transit requirements of different retail channels, including e-commerce, informs much current research into distribution packaging and the testing to support it.
 
The Mumbai audience heard from Marta Garrido from ITENE, Spain, regarding approaches to eco-design standardization, in this case for the bulky but damage-sensitive category of electric bikes (e-bikes). “It is possible to identify opportunities and limitations for the development of the eco-design of the packaging system, as well as set out clear objectives,” she claimed.
 
Those opportunities and objectives included the identification of packaging components, such as expanded polystyrene and polyurethane cushioning, which could be replaced with alternatives such as honeycomb board structures or bio-based foams. Using a real case study with a Bilbao-based supplier of e-bikes, backed up by 3D design tools, the paper assessed options against key performance indicators (KPIs) on a technical, economic and environmental level.
 
“On a technical level, a reduction in damage is possible with the new packaging system,” Garrido concluded. “For environmental performance, the [carbon footprint] generated by the packaging system has been reduced by 25% and, finally, on an economic level, the reduction has been 25.5%.”
 
Another presentation angled towards the needs of the e-commerce channel came from Thomas Trost of RISE Bioeconomy and Health, Sweden. As part of the ongoing research program ‘Improving Corrugated Box Performance’, he looked at transport stresses in e-commerce logistics and their effects on corrugated board packaging,
 
The aim was to compare the outcome of the ISTA 6 Amazon Overboxing test with the realities of road transport across Sweden, using field data recorders inside each of four packages. “It was concluded that the ISTA 6 Amazon Ship-in-own-container and ISTA 6 Amazon Overboxing tests are demanding,” said the abstract, adding that this was especially true of the drop test component.
 
The fact that cookies were included in the packages provided interesting insights into vibration impacts. “The vibrations seem to be unnecessarily high in the testing program, since [the vast] majority of the cookies were in crumbs afterwards,” said Trost. “In the field trial, only a thin layer of crumbs was covering the bottom of the plastic container, and most of the cookies were still intact.”
 
As well as the levels of testing required for e-commerce, the study raised questions about the number of trips needed to deliver reliable real-life data. “According to ISTA’s data collection standards, a minimum of 30 one-way trips are recommended for each set of variables used,” Trost reported. “Although this number could be questioned as unnecessarily high, four trips are only four trips.”
 
Recipe for success?
 
Under the banner of ‘Logistics and the Supply Chain’, Jay Singh of Cal Poly, California, presented a paper looking at possible ways that grocery retailers could learn from meal-kit delivery services.
 
He reminded the Mumbai audience how Covid-19 had hit US supply chains: “Retailers, manufacturers and distribution chains sought to meet a rapid increase in demand, while facing their own shortages in materials and labor.”
 
Using HelloFresh meal-kits as an example, Singh contrasted the ‘push’ model of traditional grocery demand with the ‘pull’ model of meal-kit providers.
 
“When the pandemic hit, HelloFresh diversified their suppliers, checked their raw materials limitations and risks, and ensured that the flavor profiles of their meals were maintained,” he reported. “The supply chain was stable, despite the instability occurring outside it, due to their ability to manage demand, performance and volatility.”
 
Singh argued that learnings for grocery could include greater use of demand planning. “It is important for grocery retailers to have an action plan and procedures in place in case of similar catastrophes,” he concluded.
 
 

Published: 09/29/23