| Issue No.14 |
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| PACKAGING - ITS ESSENTIAL ROLE |
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| KEY POINTS: |
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- Packaging is essential in contemporary society. The various types of packaging play a key role in the production, preservation, distribution and marketing of manufactured consumer goods and other products.
- Packaging:
- Must contain the product.
- Must preserve and protect its contents.
- Is a communication device providing details about the product, including price, contents, ingredients and nutritional value as well as cooking instructions and recommended use by dates.
- Packaging is also a key component of our modern life style. It is an essential element in the move to convenience foods, allowing single or small "serves" to cater for family units of varying sizes, quick preparation of foods and provides evidence the product has been tampered with.
- The packaging industry has been at the forefront of the environmental debate for over a decade. Packaging is not, however, a major waste problem and, overall, the industry has a sound environmental record. Environmental issues - important as they are - are only part of the story. Product protection and safety must remain the key criteria by which packaging is judged.
- In today's business world, increasing demands are being made of packaging to be competitive and innovative while maintaining the highest levels of quality and service. The usage of different types of packaging is changing as new materials become available and new processing techniques are developed.
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While packaging, in some form, has been in existence for centuries, the growth in its usage has been particularly rapid in the second half of the twentieth century in industrialised and developed countries and, more recently, in many developing countries. In other developing countries and regions (eg in Africa) relatively little packaging is used at the consumer level.
Packaging is now generally regarded as an essential component of our modern life style and the way business is organised.
Packaging protects the goods we buy from wastage and damage. Without packaging, materials handling would be messy, inefficient and costly, and modern consumer marketing would be difficult.
Packaging is important in our lifestyle. Convenience foods, individually packed small serves, microwavable meals, "easy opening" packaging, secure packaging for pharmaceuticals and hazardous substances are all examples of packaging playing a role in assisting and promoting our lifestyles.
Today, packaging is produced more quickly and efficiently than ever before. It is: generally lighter in weight; uses less material; and is easier to open, dispense from, reseal, store and dispose. Packaging has evolved from a relatively small range of heavy, rigid containers made of wood, glass and steel to a broad array of rigid, semi-rigid and flexible packaging options increasingly made from specialised lightweight materials.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF PACKAGING
Packaging has been defined as "all products made of any materials of any nature to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer".
There are three broad categories of packaging:
a) Sales packaging or primary packaging, i.e., packaging which constitutes a sales unit to the final user or consumer at the point of purchase.
b) Grouped packaging or secondary packaging, i.e., packaging which constitutes, at the point of purchase, a grouping of a certain number of sales units, whether the latter is sold as such to the final user, or consumer or whether it serves only as a means to replenish the shelves at the point of sale. It can be removed from the product without affecting its characteristics.
c) Transport packaging or tertiary packaging, i.e., packaging designed to facilitate handling and transport of a number of sales units or grouped packaging in order to prevent physical handling and transport damage. Transport packaging does not include road, rail, ship and air containers.
THE FUNCTIONS OF PACKAGING
The ultimate test of packaging is whether or not it performs its essential tasks - to contain, preserve, protect and provide information.
Containment
Most products must be contained before they can be moved from one place to another. To function successfully, the package must contain the product. This containment function of packaging makes a huge contribution to protecting the environment. Faulty packaging (or under packaging) can lead to spillages and result in major losses and serious damage.
Protection and Preservation
Packaging plays a vital role in protecting products as they go from the manufacturer to the consumer. Packaging is designed to ensure that the product reaches the consumer in good condition. The product is protected:
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during transport and distribution;
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From climatic effects (heat and cold, moisture, vapour, drying atmospheres);
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from hazardous substances and contaminants;
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from infestation.
Packaging can also provide supplementary product protection. This may be achieved by forms of cushioning such as shredded papers, sheets of corrugated paperboard, foamed plastic or wrappings. Thermoformed plastic trays (for biscuits) or inner paperboard partitions (in a carton of wine) protect fragile goods. Structures that resist damage can also be created by tightly enclosing products in shrinkable or stretchable films or in tighter and smaller bundles of paperboard and corrugate.
Packaging serves as a shield against infection by contamination. Improved standards of public health and processing sanitation have contributed to the reduction of infection around the world. Food quality and safety are guaranteed by tamper proof packaging. Child proof closures on household chemicals/detergents, pharmaceuticals and care products are devices developed by the packaging industry to protect against misuse.
Food products are subject to biological spoilage caused by the normal enzyme-induced ageing and by microbiological decomposition caused by bacteria, yeasts and moulds. Packaging assists in the preservation of foods and can reduce the rate of spoilage and decomposition.
Packages that incorporate barrier properties give foods an extended shelf life. Some packaging systems, for example, involve independently sterilising both the food and the packaging and then performing filling and sealing operations in a sterile environment. This allows preservative free foods, maintains a food's flavour, nutrition and colour, and incorporates long-life qualities without the need for refrigeration. Packaging prevents the loss of product aroma or flavour and creates a barrier preventing the absorption of undesirable external odours.
Packaging therefore contributes to food safety, quality and nutrition. Packaging technology has made major contributions to advancing food science and food safety and reduction of food spoilage.
Communication
A package must protect what it sells and sell what it protects. Modern methods of consumer marketing would fail were it not for the messages communicated on the package. It is not only the primary package that must communicate. Warehouses and distribution centres would be less efficient if secondary and tertiary packages lacked labels or carried incomplete details. When international trade is involved and different languages are spoken, the use of unambiguous, readily understood symbols on the distribution package is essential.
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Packaging protects the interests of consumers. The information contained on the package tells the consumer what the product is and how to use it. Such information includes: product brand names and descriptions; manufacturer's name and address; quantity; use-by dates; directions for use; storage and disposal; and cautionary or emergency information. Food packaging lists: ingredients; net weight of the contents and the number of servings; methods of preparation; recipes and serving ideas; and often the nutritional benefits of the contents. Much of this information is required by law.
The printed codes on packages (including bar codes) helps ensure the control of the flow of products to the consumer during bulk-distribution. Information includes: quantity; price; inventory levels; lot number; distribution routes; size; elapsed time since packaging; colour; and merchandising and premium data.
The information provided on packaging allows the consumer to make informed decisions on the product’s purchase and use.
PACKAGING'S OTHER ROLES
In addition to its core functions, packaging fulfils a number of other roles and functions.
Convenience
Packaging plays an important role in allowing products to respond to the demands and needs of modern consumers. Packaging has:
• reduced the time taken in the daily preparation of meals. Microwavable soups, entrees and main meals are examples of convenient, time-saving packaged foods.
• contributed to the change in shopping habits allowing fewer major shopping visits.
• allowed products to be produced in convenient, useable portions. Containers can be resealed if all the contents are not used.
Frozen food packs, microwavable containers, wine cardboard casks, easy-open beverage and food cans and aseptic cartons are good examples of convenience packaging. These types of packaging reflect the demand for convenience and quick food preparation in a way that guarantees freshness.
Other examples of the convenience provided by packaging:
• Individually wrapped butter and stock cubes provide the consumer with the precise amount of the product they desire, reducing labour cost and waste of the product.
• The controlled dispensing of the product by way of spouts, squeeze bottles, spray cans and aerosols.
• Light-weight medical devices are packaged in peel-open, pre-sterilised containers designed for easy use in operating rooms, patients' rooms, or laboratories. In the administration of drugs, unit-dose packaging, solid and liquid, in small containers allows sealed, unused drugs to be returned to stock. Medical packaging also reduces the risk of accidental overdose or improper use by children (child resistant closures).
Environmental Aspects
Packaging reduces the amount of waste going to landfill. Without the benefit of packaging to preserve food, a higher proportion of food would become spoiled and consequently consigned to garbage collection for land disposal.
When the food is packaged, the unwanted portions such as skins, outer leaves and trimmings, remain at the processing point where they can be economically recovered and used in the manufacture of valuable by-products.
Waste management and recycling strategies introduced by the packaging industry over recent years aim to reduce the impact of packaging on the environment. The industry has a long history of involvement in environmental issues and has signed numerous waste management and reduction agreements at both the National and State level. It is important, however, that food safety is in no way compromised by these government policy actions which aim at minimising the environmental impact of food packaging. At the end of the day, the primary responsibility of packaging is to guarantee the integrity of its contents.
The environment will remain a major issue for the packaging industry. The driving forces are threefold - the consumer, commercial interests, and government legislation. On the commercial side, supply chain factors will play a key role as companies in the retail chain respond to the environmental challenge . Recycling, downgauging and "simplicity" will remain on the agenda. Commercial reality will ensure that it will be comparatively rare for a company to package a product deliberately with more packaging than is necessary thus increasing cost and, thereby, making the product less competitive.
Reduction of Pilferage
Packaging of a wide variety of products sold from self-service counters is designed to reduce stealing. The product may be sold in a blister package sealed to a large paperboard backing. The large card makes the package more difficult to conceal and steal. Other examples of security packages are lock-on caps and tamper-proof closures.
PACKAGING IN TODAY'S COMPETITIVE BUSINESS WORLD
Increasingly, in today's competitive commercial environment, a number of other demands are being made of packaging. The packaging industry is responding to the pressures of changing trends and influences to ensure it is able to respond quickly and effectively to new challenges.
Improved supply chain management - Electronic information systems will eventually link the entire supply chain: providing immediate and accurate information to reduce costs and time delays; simplify logistics and inventory management; improve utilisation of distribution and transportation systems; and provide improved response to customer demand. Strategic alliances throughout the supply chain are already proliferating and manufacturers and users of packaging are working together more closely to achieve these gains.
Marketing trends are placing increasing emphasis on the look, sales appeal and quality of retail packaging. Packaging helps sell products by providing product differentiation and presentation, greater brand awareness and convenience. The continuously changing demands of consumers will require higher quality graphics and promotional links between graphics and advertising to support brand identities, plus the ability to reflect current consumer trends and images.
Maintaining a competitive edge will continue to put pressure on the Australian packaging industry to perform while the customers of Australian packaging will maintain this pressure for industry to provide cost competitive and innovative solutions. |
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