Packing
it right
Gautam
Bhattacharya underscores the importance of packaging in the SCM process
and describes one of the viable options available in corrugated fibre
board boxes
Supply
chain management refers to the management of a range of activities starting
from raw material availability to processing and packaging and ultimately
to making the product available on the retail shelf to be effectively
picked up by the discerning customer. It is of immense importance especially
in the case of agricultural produce and processed food market in India
– where supply chain facilities and innovations thereof play a
very major crucial role in the success of achieving maturity of the
market for those products in India and essentially to the export market
abroad. Pre and post harvest losses are very high in Ind ia (for agricultural
produce which effectively means the wastage factor in the processed
food segment too). The solution for this problem lies in many areas
– starting from improvement of roads, creating facilities for treatment,
washing, semi-processing and if required primary packing, creating elaborated
packaging system, creating cold storage and cold chain – not only
at major ports and airports but also at every important place of the
supply chain. In the above mentioned flow chart the importance of packaging
is ignored - as it not only plays a vital functional role of preservation,
containment and viable during transport, but also it can increase the
shelf life and hence its marketability. Packaging is
the
most
potent marketing tool itself for the product especially as the country
progresses toward a retail revolution. International markets are increasingly
asking for biodegradable packaging, or ecofriendly packaging using biodegradable
materials, and in this regard there is no better choice than Corrugated
Fibre Board Boxes (CFB). An area of extreme importance is the time consumed
by the bulk pack to reach the destination. The distribution chain that
it goes through especially the choice of transport and atmosphere through
which the bulk pack moves is important. The Relative Humidity (RH) and
temperature profile in course of the journey are the deciding factors
that come into play. These factors are of immense importance especially
in countries like India where the variation of RH and temperature is
very high. The only package that incorporates the qualities of a unit
pack and a bulk packaging system is CFB. It is probably the most accepted
form of secondary and tertiary packaging for a range of products. CFB
is basically a composite structure made up of at least one corrugated
layer and at least one flat layer. The corrugated layers are called
fluting' and the flat layers are called 'liners'. The performance requirements
range from concern for its appearance and advertising appeal to requirements
for mechanical strength properties (stacking strength, resistance to
rough handling including vibration and shock). On a very broad platform
the performance of a CFB container depends on
• The properties of the board (and hence the paper used)
• The construction of the container.
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