Introduction to Packaging Engineering

Yongquan Zhou, CPP

Project EngineerFedEx Packaging Design and Development

and

Adjunct FacultyCBU School of Engineering

What’s packaging?

Packaging has many faces. In its more familiar forms it is the box on the grocer's shelf and the wrapper on a candy bar. It can also be the crate around a machine or a bulk container for chemicals. It is art and science; it is materials and equipment; it is protection, promotion, law, logistics, manufacturing, and materials handling all rolled into one. It is many things to many people, and it is a very difficult concept to describe and define.

…

---- Handbook of Package Engineering, 2nd Edition by Joseph F. Hanlon

What’s packaging - continued?

Packaging is best described as a coordinated system of preparing goods for transport, distribution, storage, retailing, and use. It is a complex, dynamic, scientific, artistic, and controversial business function, which in its most fundamental form contains, protects/ preserves, transports, and informs/sells. Packaging is a service function that cannot exist by itself; it needs a product. If there is no product, there is no need for a package.

…

---- Fundamentals of Packaging Technology, 2nd Edition by Walter Soroka

What’s packaging - continued?

♦ the technique of preparing good for distribution;

♦ the design criteria, processes, and procedures used to protect material from deterioration and damage from the time manufacturing is completed until ultimate use or disposal;

♦ DISCUSSION: it includes cleaning, drying, preserving, packing, unitization, and marking

♦ the processes and procedures used to protect an item in a unit package

…

---- ASTM D996 Standard Terminology of Packaging and Distribution Environments

Why packaging?

You see more of it and think less about it than probably any other thing touching your life. The fact is that you just are not conscious of packaging. This shows how effectively it works for you - you just take it for granted.

Without packaging, your standard of living would fall far below the level you now enjoy. In fact, without it, you might not be around to enjoy any standard of living.

Without packages that protect the product and help you use it, the typical food item you take home from today's supermarket simply wouldn't be there. You would have nothing like the choice of food you now have- and at the price levels which mass packaging and mass distribution make possible.

Why packaging - continued?

Without packaging, the medicines your physician prescribes for you and the materials your surgeon uses when operating on you just wouldn't be available at today's level of sterility, uniformity, and value. And, in between life-sustaining foods and life-saving medicines, the accomplishments of packaging enrich your life beyond compare.

If you don't think so, when you go home stop and take a look at the first ten packages you see in your kitchen and bathroom. Just try to imaging how you would live without these products in the easy-to-use form which their packages provide.

…

---- FOREWORD to Opportunities in Packaging Science by David Olsson and Harold Raphael

By R. Bruce Holmgren, Editor Director, Packaging

What's packaging engineering?

♦ Packaging engineering is the activity in which scientific and engineering principles are applied in solving the problem of functional design, formation, filling, closing, and/or preparation for shipment of containers (regardless of type or kind) or the product enclosed therein.

♦ Packaging engineering includes the study of products, packages, materials and containers, structures, methods, machinery, and transportation; it deals with such disciplines as chemistry, physics, mechanics, machine design, industrial engineering, electronics, materials handling, and other specialized skills.

The system of packaging science 1

• Packaging sociology • Packaging technology

>> Packaging environment >> Product science

>> Marketing >> Packaging design

• Packaging materials science >> Packaging mechanics

>> Materials engineering >> Distribution engineering

>> Materials processing >> Packaging evaluation

Who's packaging engineer?

♦ Any individual who is engaged in the packaging engineering function is in essence a packaging engineer.

♦ He/she may have his/her major training in one of these specific areas, depending upon the main emphasis of his assignment

Why work in packaging?

♦ It is still an area for pioneering

♦ It has substantial social, environmental, and ecological challenges to be dealt with

♦ It represents a key, vital position in a growing number of companies

♦ It is increasing in importance in the day-to-day management of business

♦ It provides the satisfaction of doing an important job

♦ It offers opportunities for advancement

♦ Generally the pay is good

…

ChooseProper

Cushioning

DesignVirtual

Prototype

SimulateEvaluateVirtual

Prototype

MeetSpecs

?

Yes

DefineProductFragility

Define theEnvironment

FabricatePrototype

TestValidate

Prototype

No

Career opportunities in packaging

♦ Packaging materials

♦ Packaging design

Career opportunities in packaging - continued

♦ Packaging research and development

Snapshot of Impact/Drop Data

Impact Orientation – 40LB Package

Equivalent Drop Height Frequency and Cumulative Percentage – 40LB Package

Truck Vibration - PSDTruck Vibration - PSD

Truck Vibration PSD

0.00000001

0.0000001

0.000001

0.00001

0.0001

0.001

0.01

0.1

1 10 100 1000

Frequency (Hz)

PSD

(G^2

/Hz)

CH 1 PSD (G^2/Hz)

CH 2 PSD (G^2/Hz)

CH 3 PSD (G^2/Hz)

Career opportunities in packaging - continued

♦ Packaging machinery design and development

Career opportunities in packaging - continued

♦ Purchasing, marketing, sales, advertising

♦ Packaging management

Who hire packaging engineers?

♦ Packaging users

- Food/beverage, medical/pharmaceutical makers - Computer, electronics, consumer goods

- Household, industrial, institutional products makers - Transportation companies

♦ Packaging suppliers

- Materials makers - Machinery manufacturers

♦ Packaging services providers

- Contract packagers - Design firms - Testing and research labs

- Consultants - Associations - Testing equipment/instruments makers

Who hire packaging engineers in Memphis, Mid-south?

♦ Memphis is the world distribution center

– Air/ground carriers

– Warehouse/distribution centers

– Packaging suppliers and packaging services

♦ Memphis has several major manufacturers

- Medical/pharmaceutical makers - Food/beverage, consumer goods companies

-

♦ BBQ

…

Divisions of packaging

♦ Based on end-user

– Consumer packaging– Industrial packaging– Institutional packaging– Military packaging– Government packaging

♦ Based on packaging level

– Primary packaging– Secondary packaging– Distribution packaging– Unitized/palletized packaging– Containerized packaging (1, 2)

Divisions of packaging - continued

♦ Based on commodity

– Food packaging– Pharmaceutical packaging– Medical device packaging– Electronics packaging– Cosmetic packaging– Chemical packaging– Hazardous materials packaging

Functions of packaging

♦ 4 Principal packaging functions

– Contain– Protect/Preserve– Transport– Inform/Sell

♦ Other packaging functions - performance

– Convenience

~ Carry ~ Open ~ Dispense~ Measure ~ Cut ~ Close/re-close

– Utility

Functions of packaging - continued

♦ Technical functions

- Contain - Protect/Preserve - Transport- Dispense - Measure - Store

♦ Marketing functions

- Communicate - Display - Inform- Promote - Sell - Motivate

Functions of packaging - continued

♦ Product characteristics

♦ Examples of protective packaging problems and concerns

♦ Typical preservation packaging problems and concerns

♦ Typical transport handling and storage information

♦ Retail packaging functionalities vs transport packaging functionalities

♦ Application of packaging functions survey by Dr. David L. Olsson

The packaging industry 1

♦ Packaging suppliers

- Producers of raw materials- Converters of raw materials- Packaging machinery manufacturers

♦ Packaging service organizations

- Contract packagers- Testing and research organizations- Trade associations

♦ Packaging users

- Consumer- Industrial- Institutional- Military

- Consultants- Testing machine manufacturers

Some professional associations related to packaging

♦ Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP)♦ World Packaging Organization (WPO)♦ Women in Packaging♦ International Safe Transit Association (ISTA)♦ American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)♦ International Organization for Standardization (ISO)♦ Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI)♦ International Molded Pulp Environmental Packaging Association (IMPEPA)♦ Flexible Packaging Association♦ Fibre Box Association♦ Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) 1, 2

Major schools with B.S. degree in packaging 1

♦ Clemson University, Clemson, SC

♦ Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI

♦ Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

♦ San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

♦ University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI

Knowledge in packaging will help engineering students

♦ Knowledge in packaging will enhance and increase career opportunities and alternatives for engineering students

♦ There are limited students graduated with packaging degree, option, or minor around the country while the demands for packaging professionals are increasing

♦ Many, if not all, companies need even more packaging professionals to help change their products and business suitable for the new economy of internet and e-commence

♦ Many companies need to hire packaging engineers not only with packaging engineering and packaging science background but also with other engineering backgrounds such as mechanical and chemical engineering

♦ Knowledge in packaging will also help future mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, industrial engineers, or chemical engineers

…

Questions?

Thank you!