Flexible Packaging
Boxing smart to slash carriage costs S
urveys show that for half of consumers, excessive packaging is one of the most annoying
things about online shopping. Research conducted by a leading
delivery management company in March this year found that 75 per cent of respondents said they wanted e-retailers to minimise parcel packaging waste and use environmentally friendly materials for packaging their online purchases. And there are important reasons why
online businesses should listen to these concerns. Many shoppers receiving non- eco-friendly packaging choose to leave a bad review or tell friends, with some 15 per cent deciding not to purchase from the company again. Until fairly recently shippers have managed to avoid the financial consequences of shipping air. In fact, there was little incentive for them to minimise the volume of packages. Which is strange, as unnecessarily large packages contribute directly to pollution, congestion and carriers’ costs. Obviously, the larger the box the fewer can fit into a roll cage, or directly into a truck. So
carriers have to use more trucks, larger trucks, or both. Historically, carriage charges for domestic deliveries were based on a parcel charge with maximum weight and dimensions per parcel, so there was no incentive to use a smaller box as fresh air moved for free. However, that is changing. Shippers may not have noticed, but shipping fresh air is beginning to cost a lot of money. More recently, many of the larger
carriers and couriers have moved to a dual system whereby carriage is charged at a rate based on actual weight or ‘volumetric’ or ‘dimensional’ weight, whichever is the greater. Mail services have been doing this for some time, and it is standard for airfreight, as one might expect, but it is now rapidly becoming the norm for road carriage as well. But what is this apparent oxymoron
‘volumetric weight’? Essentially it consists in calculating the volume of the package (length x height x weight) and applying a factor representing an entirely notional density. This factor can vary among different carriers and also across different services.
So why do so many companies continue to ship large amounts of empty space? Many firms will say they have neither the time nor the labour to ‘hand build’ boxes and cartons – they have to use a limited range of preforms in standard sizes, and the ‘best’ size may have run out at the packing station. However, packaging technology has advanced significantly in the last few years and now an intelligent system has been developed that can rapidly tailor- make cartons to the exact size, automatically, as required. Neopost Shipping’s CVP-500 automated packaging solution constructs a box sized specifically for each single or multi-item consignment – no oversizing, nor redundant void-fill material needed. It can do this with a throughput of up to 400 boxes per hour with a single operator, consistently bettering the productivity of conventional packing stations. Businesses can now be a lot smarter about the way they package and ship online orders.
cvp-500.com
Contiweb’s new press supports flexible packaging prospects to conduct tests and trials
mounting global interest in web offset printing for flexible packaging. According to Jan Willem Nota, technical
C
sales manager at Contiweb, packaging converters continue to face several key challenges, namely an ever-present squeezing of profit margins at the hands of short run lengths, together with environmental legislation aimed at reducing their carbon footprint.
convertermag.com
ontiweb advanced drying and web-handling will construct a Thallo demo system to meet the
“Web offset printing provides a viable solution to overcome these pain points,” he explains. “With the capability to set-up a new job within minutes, the Contiweb Thallo dramatically slashes time- consuming changeovers and is engineered to produce short runs quickly and profitably. Beyond this, the solvent- free inks ensure that the print provider’s carbon footprint is kept to a minimum.” Comprising seven UV offset units and one
flexo unit for solvent- or water-based and UV inks, the demo system will be the first of its
kind to be manufactured at the company’s headquarters in Boxmeer, Netherlands. “We want to ensure that prospects can
conduct their own tests or trial runs to assess the speed and print quality achievable with the Thallo,” adds Nota. “We are confident that they will
appreciate the multitude of business benefits, not least of which is the ability to increase throughput and shorter job turnaround times.”
contiweb.com September 2019 15
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