Page 54 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

54
RETAIL PACKAGING
www.packagingnews.com.au
November-December 2018
IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE
The US Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, PMMI, has released a new report showing some of the impact of the rise of e-commerce on packaging, which shows that corrugated will grow significantly, and shows that established brand owners are increasingly using e-tailers to sell their product, e-tailers that distribute those products in parcels.
41%
two out of five brand owners predict they will use more corrugated
56%
more than half of logistics suppliers predict using more corrugated
65%
two thirds of brand manufacturers are using e-tailers to sell production
54%
more than half sell through Amazon
23%
less than a quarter are designing packaging to be reused, repurposed, or returned
Heintz says, “The concept is specif- ically designed to create right-sized packaging for companies that require a large variety of small-run cartons, or constantly changing carton di- mensions. Within the bespoke manu- facturing segment of the market you will find many customers, such as the furniture and kitchens (including flat packs), automotive spare parts, and large-format printing sectors.
“Lean packaging is as important as ever, yet the products to be sent are changing constantly,” he added. “There ends up being a lot of dead space left over.”
Among others, the Box on De- mand solution is used by e-com- merce giant Amazon to package odd- sized products – known as the uglies of the industry. Customised packag- ing produced by this system has been used by Amazon to package a wide variety of goods, in particular awkwardly sized and shaped objects such as antennas, furniture, music equipment and sporting goods.
O’Sullivan says that due to the rise of online shopping in Australia and around the world, logistics pro- fessionals are increasingly finding themselves with the need to physi- cally ship products that previously would have been transferred from a brick-and-mortar store to home by the customer. “People no longer see a lack of local availability of bulky products as an impediment,” he says. “As a result, Amazon and oth- ers are stepping up and supporting innovative packaging solutions, on a large scale.”
MADE TO SIZE ON THE SPOT
A global leader in on-demand pack- aging, Packsize International manu- factures several custom packaging machines and has software to sync them with online orders, so that the
Versatile: Compack Evo, part of Abbe’s Box on Demand solution.
boxes are made to size on the spot to match with the order. The Austra- lian subsidiary is Packsize Pty Ltd, which has already delivered many solutions for customers here in Aus- tralia in the three years since its es- tablishment, according to managing director Sean Ledbury.
Packsize’s PackBot industrial ser- vice robot, equipped with PackNet production and optimisation soft- ware, produces right-sized corrugat- ed packaging on demand, automates manual work on a packaging line and helps overcome challenges asso- ciated with labour shortages, throughput and reliability.
Modular design simplifies assem- bly of customised equipment. The scalable system is based on the new Packsize Global Modular Architec- ture, which combines flexibility, speed and sustainability. These attri- butes simplify machine design, in- stallation and maintenance, boost ef- ficiency and enhance sustainability.
The company says the increase in demand for products online has led to the expansion of the e-commerce market, resulting in increased usage of corrugated packaging for the ship- ment of products sold.
The solutions offered by Packsize range from its smaller IQ Fusion 2 and the iQ3 up to the highly auto- mated ‘next generation’ M1, X4 and X7 machines which were shown at the recent Pack Expo in Chicago.
Packsize says that by producing minimal, 100 per cent recyclable corrugated packaging that protects against damage, the system also ad- dresses the continued trend toward right size packaging that delivers better protection of the product be- ing shipped while reducing waste, lowering shipping cost and improv- ing the impact of packaging on the environment. ■