Packaging throughout the value chain in the customer perspective marketing mix

Lauterborn has suggested that McCarthy's 4 P marketing mix classification be viewed by suppliers as the customers' four Cs, i.e. customer value, cost to satisfy, convenience and communication (the 4C perspective). 1 This paper seeks to illustrate the impacts of the four Cs on packaging value in the area of fast‐moving consumer goods throughout the whole value chain from the packaging producer to the end‐user, the consumer. Findings from two separate studies regarding trade‐offs in package values between different actors in the value chain, created through development of value‐adding package solutions, are presented and elaborated on. The positive effects of brand advertising can be acknowledged, but they cannot compensate for less efficient packaging. The market need will easily be affected and turned into a higher demand chain pull when creating packaging solutions that will attract retail business. Dynamics in values and trade‐offs were identified, even though requirements from the whole value chain were considered. The packaging solutions created gave the majority of stakeholders in the value chain great advantages, but the lack of dynamism in available infrastructure demanded adaptation that diminished value addition for all actors in the value chain. The contribution of this article is to theorize the 4C concept in the process of package design, taking value chain actor needs and value optimisation into consideration. Furthermore, a suggestion of an evaluation model from the 4C perspective on all value chain actors is presented and elaborated on. Copyright­© 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sustainable Packaging Development for Fresh Food Supply Chains

The fresh food industry is increasingly more interested in developing efficient and innovative solutions to guarantee quality and distribution sustainability; one of the main factors that influences such crucial aspects is packaging. This paper aims to perform a critical analysis of two existing packaging solutions, i.e. corrugated fibreboard boxes and re‐usable plastic containers, from both the economic and the environmental perspective, to highlight the main weaknesses. It then proposes two alternative packaging solutions. The analysis features different economic assessments and models with different environmental impacts, taking into account the characteristics of packaging solutions predominantly within two supply chain types: the traditional food supply chain and the short food supply chain. The economic and environmental models are applied to understand the limitations of existing packaging solutions, to develop two alternative solutions and finally to perform an overall analysis of all fresh food containers, allowing the definition of the most suitable container for each of the proposed supply chain scenarios, from both an economic and environmental perspective. The innovative aspect of the research lies in the simultaneous evaluation of economic and environmental factors and the introduction of two new packaging solutions, making it of interest to researchers and fresh food industry professionals alike.     

食品安全视角的食品供应链物流运行机制研究

目的 针对食品安全有效监管问题, 从供应链物流角度对我国食品及食品包装供应链物流运行机制进行研究。方法 运用供应链管理和物流管理的基本概念、 原理和研究方法, 从食品安全视角阐释食品供应链物流运行现状、 问题及其相关因素。结果 明确提出了食品供应链物流三大运行机制,即建立安全保障机制, 包括主要内容及构建食品包装安全的采购、 冷链和追溯三大核心物流系统; 建立食品供应链物流集成机制; 建立食品供应链物流企业的公共道德责任机制。结论 从食品安全视角研究食品供应链物流的运行机制问题, 建立食品包装供应链物流安全保障体系, 有助于食品及食品包装物流安全长效机制的建立。     

Circular supply chains in emerging economies – a comparative study of packaging recovery ecosystems in China and Brazil

This paper provides a circular supply chain perspective of packaging recovery ecosystems being implemented by Tetra Pak, a prime global player in the food packaging industry, in two major emerging economies: China and Brazil. The circular supply chain archetype considered in the research allowed a consistent comparative analysis of Tetra Pak's circular supply chains in both countries. Through a case study approach, the research provides theoretical propositions and learning points that are valuable for academics and practitioners interested in the Chinese and Brazilian markets as well as in the supply chains supporting recovery ecosystems in the packaging industry. In particular, the distinct environments in the Chinese and Brazilian markets render Tetra Pak opportunities to design circular supply chains in different ways showing adaptation and learning to local market characteristics. The industrial perspectives from these emerging economies add to the contributions offered in the paper. Overall, the conceptual considerations and practical recommendations presented in the paper provide useful insights for the development of further studies and implementation of industrial practices advocated by the circular economy.     

服务设计视角下快餐包装设计研究

目的 通过引入服务设计中利益相关者、用户画像、用户体验地图、接触点研究的方法,对快餐包装进行重新设计.方法 以服务设计理论为基础,第一,对现有快餐包装进行市场调研;第二,通过利益相关者分析快餐销售时的中心用户;第三,对中心用户进行问卷访谈调研,提炼出用户画像;第四,对这些用户画像采用用户体验地图的方式挖掘用户行为痛点和设计的机会点;最后,优化接触点的行为体验,制作出快餐包装的设计模型.结果 设计出方便消费方和销售方使用的快餐包装.结论 通过服务设计的方法可以帮助食品包装在设计上进行突破.利用利益相关者地图可以挖掘不同方面的用户,使用用户体验地图和接触点研究可以深入探索用户痛点,并对其进行设计指导,满足核心用户群对包装的需求,并给出了基于服务设计研究方法下的快餐包装设计实践案例.     

Extracting supply chain maps from news articles using deep neural networks

Supply chains are increasingly global, complex and multi-tiered. Consequently, companies often struggle to maintain complete visibility of their supply network. This poses a problem as visibility of the network structure is required for tasks like effectively managing supply chain risk. In this paper, we discuss automated supply chain mapping as a means of maintaining structural visibility of a company's supply chain, and we use Deep Learning to automatically extract buyer–supplier relations from natural language text. Early results show that supply chain mapping solutions using Natural Language Processing and Deep Learning could enable companies to (a) automatically generate rudimentary supply chain maps, (b) verify existing supply chain maps, or (c) augment existing maps with additional supplier information.     

Packaging handling evaluation methods in the grocery retail industry

The grocery retail industry, with its large product volumes, low margins and fierce competition, is constantly seeking efficiency improvements in its supply chain. The grocery retail industry uses an immense amount of packaging and is directly affected by packaging logistics activities. There is, therefore, a potential for efficiency improvements in the grocery retail supply chain through the integration and development of new systems of packaging and logistics. Packaging handling is identified as one of the main activities that has a strong impact on the overall logistical cost of a grocery chain. This research article investigates packaging handling evaluation methods and discusses how these are employed to benefit the industry. Case studies, involving six major companies from the Swedish grocery retail industry, have been used to evaluate packaging and logistics activities. This work, together with a literature review, was used to identify the need for evaluative methods and the present availability of such methods. The results indicated a lack of sufficient and usable packaging handling evaluation methods in today's grocery and packaging industry especially from a logistical point of view. The paper also highlights the lack of systematization among the few methods used and discusses how these can be used to build a systematic and multifunctional evaluation model in order to utilize the information from different studies to build a knowledge base for the future. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A test of Rasmussen's risk management framework in the food safety domain: BSE in the UK

In 1986, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was identified in the UK. Millions of BSE-infected cows were slaughtered and over 150 people contracted variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, an inevitably fatal human form of BSE. Tragic incidents such as this provide valuable opportunities to understand and improve the safety of complex socio-technical systems. By studying accidents, knowledge can be gained that can improve system safety. The purpose of this article is to test the usefulness of Rasmussen's risk management framework for explaining how and why accidents occur in the food production domain. This was accomplished by using the framework to retrospectively investigate how and why BSE was transmitted through the human and animal food supply in the UK from 1986 to 1996. More specifically, an AcciMap and Conflict Map were constructed to represent contributing factors of the epidemic according to the structure of Rasmussen's framework. These factors were used to test the seven predictions made by the framework. All seven predictions were supported by the evidence, indicating that Rasmussen's risk management framework shows promise as a theoretically driven explanation of how and why accidents happen in complex socio-technical systems, particularly in the food production domain.     

An Improved Supplier Driven Packaging Design and Development Method for Supply Chain Efficiency

Packaging and the role it plays in supply chain efficiency are overlooked in most design and development research. An opportunity exists to meet the needs of supply chains to increase efficiency. This research presents three propositions on how to reduce the gap between supply chain needs and satisfaction in interaction with the product and packaging system. It also proposes a supply chain focused packaging design and development method to better satisfy supply chain needs placed on packaging. An extensive literature review was conducted, and a Tetra Pak derived case study was developed. The propositions were formulated and became the basis for improving Tetra Pak's existing packaging design and development method by better integrating supply chain needs. This was accomplished by using an expanded operational life cycle perspective that includes the entire supply chain. The resulting supply chain focused packaging design, and development method enables improved supply chain efficiency while considering the product, the processes and cost. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards a Conceptual Sustainable Packaging Development Model: A Corrugated Box Case Study

Corrugated package designers are focused on balancing the need for product protection, material use efficiency and the packaging material's impact on the environment in the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual sustainable packaging model that integrates the variables of technical design, supply chain systems and environmental factors and then use the model to identify to improve upon corrugated container design. A model was developed, from the extant literature, and a case study was performed on a corrugated container. This is believed to be a unique integrated model of most relevant agents related to the design and implementation of a corrugated box through a supply chain from design to potential post‐consumer reuse. From this study, we found opportunities to improve the environmental design of the corrugated container through four ex ante design stages, and two ex post facto supply chain stages. Further, research can evaluate and refine this model via a ‘live supply chain’ for use in guiding corrugated box material selection design and reuse/recycling. Integration of the design criterion for a unit load in the supply chain creates opportunity to observe the packaging system holistically. Waste in the manufacturing process and CO₂ emissions are traced along the material flow until the end of its useful life to provide an overall picture of the packaging system. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于外包模式下产品包装生产模式选择

目的 包装废弃物容易对环境造成破坏,为鼓励企业生产绿色包装,促进包装循环使用,推动资源再利用,探究3种不同的包装生产方式对供应链决策的影响。方法 在由产品制造商、包装公司和零售商组成的供应链中,引入单位外包价格、消费者对绿色包装的敏感系数、包装绿色度等参数,对比分析自产包装、外包生产普通包装、外包生产绿色包装3种情形下供应链定价决策问题。结果 消费者绿色包装的敏感系数和自愿返还的废旧包装数量对供应链有积极作用;外包生产绿色包装模式的零售价、需求量始终高于外包生产普通包装模式的;当单位外包价格大于某一阈值时,外包生产绿色包装模式的零售价、需求量、供应链各成员利润在3种模式中最高。结论 产品制造商将包装外包给包装公司有利于降低成本、分散风险,获得更高利润,此外提高消费者对绿色包装的认可也有利于供应链成员获利。     

基于需求层次理论的传统文化特色食品包装设计

目的具有传统文化特色的食品包装设计已经成为当今设计的趋势,如何挑选适合食品包装设计的传统文化元素,并准确地把握用户需求,获取用户需求的重要度,提高包装设计的满意度,已成为传统文化食品包装所面临的问题。方法提出了基于需求层次理论的传统文化特色食品包装设计因素分析方法,详细阐述了用户需求层次的五个方面及具体需求,在对用户需求进行分解的基础上,运用层次分析法,构建了食品包装设计因素层次结构模型。通过建立判断矩阵和相对重要度计算,确定了用户需求的权重并排序,及其一致性检验,从而获得了设计因素的相对重要度。并依据食品包装需求建立了相应的传统文化元素库,根据调查问卷结果选择了相应的传统文化设计元素进行设计。结论以某款月饼包装设计项目为例,根据用户调研所选择的传统文化元素对其进行了设计,并通过对设计因素的重要度排序,明确了设计方向,指导了设计方案的优化和改进,运用模糊综合评价方法对所生成的方案进行了评价,完成了最终的设计方案,验证了所提设计因素分析方法的可行性和有效性。     

Selection of Packaging Systems in Supply Chains from a Sustainability Perspective: The Case of Volvo

The purpose of this article is to develop an evaluation model for the selection of packaging systems in supply chains from a sustainability perspective. A theoretical evaluation model for comparing cost efficiency and the environmental impact of packaging systems in supply chains are developed from literature. The model is tested in a case study of a supply chain involving Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Logistics Corporation, comparing the use of newly developed, one‐way packaging with the sustainability of returnable packaging. The model compares the environmental and economic impacts of two packaging systems in a specific supply chain. The criteria used in the model are (i) packaging fill rate, (ii) packaging material, (iii) transport, (iv) material handling, (v) waste handling and (vi) administration. In the case study, the one‐way packaging resulted in fewer economic and environmental impacts, thereby indicating the importance for companies to question their packaging systems. The model has been tested on one component in a case study. It provides a comparison of the packaging choices included using comparative, but not absolute, figures for the economic and environmental impacts. Managers can use the model to compare packaging systems for component supply and determine the most sustainable packaging from environmental and economic perspectives. The case study indicated that the returnable packaging system commonly used in the automotive industry is not always preferable in terms of sustainability. The article fulfils the need to evaluate the impact of packaging systems on supply chain sustainability in terms of economic and environmental criteria. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The regenerative supply chain: a framework for developing circular economy indicators

There are widely differing experiences and practices in the development of indicators to monitor, report and communicate progress towards the implementation of the circular economy (CE). We present a framework for developing CE indicators which link to the core goals, principles and building blocks of a CE. To do this we utilise the Ellen MacArthur Foundation butterfly model as a coherent systems overview of key material stocks and flows, and representation of relationships between inputs, outputs, recovery processes, emissions, energy and value loops in physical and financial measures which constitute the CE supply chain. Based on nine multinational organisations and four cases of leading companies engaged with CE activity, we address the types of indicators being used and make recommendations for indicators to reflect key goals and principles of CE. Our research on the development and expansion of circular practices leads to the question of what new opportunities and challenges CE raises for such companies in terms of competitive business advantage and resultant requirements for supply chain redesign and indicator development, over and above pre-existing closed-loop production.     

Packaging's Role in Minimizing Food Loss and Waste Across the Supply Chain

This paper presents the results of Australian research that explored the role of packaging in minimizing food waste in the supply chain. The economic, social and environmental costs of food waste have been well documented elsewhere. This research contributes to the debate by identifying opportunities to reduce or recover food loss and waste through improved packaging. In the fresh produce sector, e.g. waste can be reduced through the use of packaging that improves product protection, ventilation and temperature control. Other opportunities include improved design of distribution packaging to reduce damage in transport and handling; design of primary packaging to reduce waste in the home, e.g. through appropriate portion sizes and by reducing confusion over date labels; and the use of retail‐ready packaging that minimizes handling and improves stock rotation in stores. An important conclusion of the study is that packaging can have a significant impact on reducing food waste in the food supply chain; and in some cases, a focus on reducing food waste will require more rather than less packaging. Packaging developers must therefore consider the product and its packaging as a complete system to optimize sustainability. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simplified environmental evaluation tool for food packaging to support decision-making in packaging development

Packaging developers in the food industry must consider several, sometimes conflicting, environmental requirements on packaging along with an already complex combination of marketing, logistics and production requirements. Existing methods for the environmental evaluation of packaging either focus on a limited amount of environmental packaging criteria (such as recyclability or renewable content) or rely on life cycle assessment methodology requiring expert competence. To support the food industry in their efforts toward developing product and packaging combinations that reduce the total environmental impact in food supply chains, this article presents a simplified environmental evaluation tool for food packaging. The presented tool was developed through an iterative process in a collaborative research project with the food industry. It evaluates packaging systems based on packaging criteria sorted into four areas that represent the life-cycle steps packaging material production, transport, household and end-of-life. A comparison of the tool results and screening LCA results for three packaging cases showed no major differences. From the practitioners' perspective, the main advantages of the suggested tool are that it does not require LCA-competence, that the required input data is commonly available in packaging development projects and that its overall structure invites several functions of the company to participate. The theoretical benefits of the suggested tool are that it allows for a parallel assessment of eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness criteria in a life cycle perspective and that it considers littering risk as well as the influence of packaging on food waste in households     

Sustainable benchmarking of supply chains: the case of the food industry

Long-term organisational viability and competitiveness should not be evaluated solely in terms of financial measures. Investors, policy makers and other stakeholders increasingly seek to evaluate performance with respect to sustainability – the environmental, social and economic performance of an organisation. But measuring and improving the sustainability performance of supply chains is challenging. Using one of the world's most critical supply chains, the food supply chain, we introduce and apply a multi-stage procedure to help analytically evaluate supply chains’ sustainability performance. The method involves development of sustainability indicators, data collection, data transformation using rescaling and determining of importance ratings using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The proposed methodology demonstrates how quantitative statistical data can be combined with expert opinion to construct an overall index of sustainability. Stakeholders can use the index to evaluate and guide sustainability performance of supply chains. Strengths and opportunities, as well as limitations of the methodology are discussed, and sensitivity analysis is performed.     

生鲜食品储运包装技术研究进展

目的 研究储运包装技术在生鲜食品冷链物流中的应用进展,并提出目前存在的问题。方法 对生鲜食品的生物特性进行分析,综述生鲜食品对包装的基本要求、生鲜食品的物流模式、生鲜食品的包装材料种类及生鲜食品新型功能性储运包装的研发现状。结果 现有的物流模式和包装方式在一定程度上保障了生鲜食品的到货品质,然而并未完全满足消费者的需要,为了更好地满足人们的消费需求,对生鲜储运包装技术的研究方向提出了建议。结论 目前对生鲜食品控温不当问题的入手点多停留在物流运输系统和蓄冷剂的研究上,对于包装保温材料的研究不多,因此还需进一步加大力度开发新型无公害、功能性储运包装技术。     

低碳理念下的食品包装再设计研究

目的研究低碳理念下的食品包装再设计方法。方法分析食品包装再设计的价值体现,从改良设计和再循环利用设计两个方向入手,研究实现食品包装再设计的方法。结论低碳理念下的食品包装再设计有利于提升品牌价值、促进人与产品的交流、养成低碳环保的习惯。食品包装再设计既有助于实现循环经济和可持续设计,又改变了人们的生活方式,使人们的生活质量得到提升。