3. Delivery
What to expect
Upon project completion, a Y.G. Packaging Solutions representative will provide an eco-design report for all SKUs analyzed during the project. This report is designed to give you everything you need to implement packaging solutions in your organization. It includes the following sections:
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- Production information: All design and process-related information necessary to execute the recommended changes to your packaging system
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- Cost modeling: Comparison of the total costs of existing and improved packaging systems across all domains of your operation
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- Environmental impact assessment: Comparison of life cycle environmental impacts of packaging systems based on the ecoinvent life cycle inventory database
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- Goal attainment report: Information about how your eco-design project has helped your organization make progress towards packaging and sustainability goals
Production information
The production information section contains all necessary information to implement new packaging solutions. It typically includes:
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- Blueprints of packaging components, unit load configurations, and transportation loading diagrams
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- Structural analyses of packaging components, including safe storage and handling guidelines
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- Manufacturing specifications for packaging components
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- Guidance on any necessary adaptations to your equipment or operations
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- Recommendations for best practices in your packaging operation
On request, we can also work with you to find vendors for packaging components and verify that they are manufactured to the correct specifications.
Cost modeling
Our custom cost modeling tools calculate the true costs of your distribution packaging systems.
The life cycle phases our cost modeling tool considers are:
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- Component: Purchase price of distribution packaging components
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- Transportation: Freight costs for product and packaging
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- Labor: Costs associated with human handling time
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- Inventory: Cost of storage space allocated for distribution packaging components
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- Damages: Cost of damages to product and packaging components in storage and distribution
We use cost modeling to help you understand when and how an investment in packaging design pays dividends in other areas of your operation. Baseline and improved systems are compared to help your organization make informed decisions about investments related to packaging design changes.
Let’s take a detailed look at the packaging system costs for Acme Foods:
Baseline packaging system
The baseline packaging system resulted in a total annual expense of $9.84 million, or $0.23 per can of soup produced. The majority of system costs resulted from packaging component costs and product damages.
Of the $9.84 million in annual system expenses, $5.96 million (61%) was from components, $2.69 million (27%) was from damages, and $0.98 million (10%) was from transportation. We see that reducing component costs and product damages is the most effective way to reduce the cost of the packaging system.
Improved packaging system
The improved packaging system resulted in a total annual expense of $7.43 million, or $0.18 per can of soup produced. This represents $2.41 million in annual cost savings.
The majority of cost savings came from a reduction in damages ($2.16 million) and component costs ($0.27 million). A reduction in handling time from 5 minutes to 4 minutes per unit load reduced annual expenses by an additional $0.03 million, offsetting a marginal increase in transportation expenses.
Comparison of packaging systems
As seen in the graph above, the greatest savings come from a reduction in product damages and a reduction in total unit load component costs. Notably, this savings is achieved by increasing the cost of the pallet, an example of how systems based design can benefit your operation.
Environmental impact assessment
Your eco-design report will include detailed environmental impact assessments comparing your existing distribution packaging systems to our suggested alternative systems. These assessments are built on data from ecoinvent, the most widely used life cycle inventory database in the environmental services industry.
The following section will show excerpts from Acme Foods’ environmental impact assessment:
Acme Foods: Reduction in environmental impacts
First, we will compare the impacts of Acme’s baseline and improved packaging systems across six environmental impact categories:
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- Climate change
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- Cumulative energy demand
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- Ecosystems
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- Human health
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- Resources
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- Water depletion
- Water depletion
A lower score in each category is better. These do not include impacts of products or primary packaging, including damaged goods due to packaging failure, so these figures are conservative estimates of the true environmental value of the eco-design service.
An impact reduction was seen in all six categories. Eco-design reduced the packaging system’s annual carbon emissions by 80 metric tons (11.5%), equivalent to five Americans’ annual carbon footprint; energy demand by 5,000 GJ (18.0%); ecosystems harm by one tenth of a species per year (17.9%); human health by 0.3 disability-adjusted life years (11.8%); resource value depletion by $9,000 (14.3%); and water depletion by 30,000 liters (14.2%).
The overall weighted environmental impacts of Acme’s packaging system were reduced by 14.9% through the eco-design process.
Goal attainment report
The goal attainment report is the final section of your eco-design report. It describes the outcomes of the project in relation to your stated goals related to packaging and sustainability. Information related to compliance with environmental regulations in your jurisdiction will also be included here where relevant.
Acme Foods was able to meet their goal of reducing product damages in transit, reduce their Scope III emissions by 80 tons, and increase the recycled content of their distribution packaging from 16% to 25%.
Next steps
This is the final article in the series about the Y.G. Packaging Solutions eco-design process for distribution packaging. Next, you will learn about the outcomes of distribution packaging on a much greater scale.