Packaging: Make a difference on every level

As we do every year at this time, we help push the importance of pallets and packaging into the spotlight in our Annual Packaging Issue. This year the issue coincides with PMMI’s Pack Expo Las Vegas (Sept. 23-25), so readers can use these pages as a primer as they walk the floor.

In this issue, editor at large Bridget McCrea puts context around our “2019 Pallet Usage & Trending Study” that was done this year in conjunction with Virginia Tech; contributing editor Gary Forger tracks the evolution of automated packaging and how far we’ve come in “right sizing” and sustainable packaging; and we share insights into the importance of packing stations.

In an effort to go a couple steps deeper into the data this year, Modern partnered with Laszlo Horvath, director of the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design at Virginia Tech University, in the development and analysis of our Pallet Report. Horvath, along with grad student Alina Mejias Rojas, had been noticing that pallet compatibility had become an issue over the past few years as more operations invested in automated palletizing/de-palletizing machinery and storage equipment.

“Horvath’s work was revealing that companies were using pallets that simply weren’t designed for some equipment, as lowerquality pallets were jamming up newer systems and having an overall negative effect,” says McCrea. “By partnering with Modern, they not only wanted to better understand current pallet practices, but they were keen to track the movement toward adopting higher-quality pallets as more automation is being deployed—and they were pleased to see positive movement in the data.”

Another pleasing outcome that turns up this month is the progress the market is making in the move toward more automated and sustainable packaging systems—on the vendor and end-user side. When you consider the carriers’ move to dimensional weight pricing, the justifiable outcry from customers who receive loads of dunnage, and the inefficiencies related to manual box making, it’s no surprise companies are ready to adopt solutions to cut the cost of moving increasing amounts of smaller shipments faster.

“Shipping boxes too large for their contents has become far too expensive on the freight side and works against a company on the issue of green consciousness,” says Forger. “We’re now seeing a second generation of on-demand packaging systems rolling out that feature simplified mechanisms that are faster, more reliable and more readily adaptable.”

Gone are the days when a packing station was a few tables set up at the end of the line. Today, packing stations are a strategic piece of this greater, greener system and are a focal point for improved efficiency and labor retention.

“When you consider the speed and accuracy necessary in this hyper-tight labor market, the pressure is on to create packing stations that help harmonize the marriage of human beings and automation,” adds McCrea. “These process that were once overlooked in the greater system are now integrated into today’s fulfillment paradigm—and are even working to help retain staff.”