On a Proposal for a Generic Package Development Process

• Globalization pressures have today inflicted significant changes in the way industrial enterprises are organized and how products are developed, manufactured and brought to market. A common denominator in many of these enterprises is the utilization of an organizational structure based on networks composed of divisions and supplier companies dispersed all over the world. ln these global enterprises the handling, transportation and storage of parts, subassemblies and final products creates an inner and an outer market, demanding in time and error-free deliveries to lowest possible costs and with a minimal impact on the environment. In order to successfully fulfil these demands it is necessary to focus not only on logistically related issues, but also to make sure that the Product-Package-System, the PPS for short, is developed in the most efficiently and effectively way possible. Since very few products are truly life cycle adapted, most products need supportive functions during part(s) of their life cycle - ranging from extensive systems of primary, secondary and tertiary packages to a simple wrapping or chemical surface protection. When a package is needed, considerations are seldom made to it during the actual development of the product see Bramklev (2004). In a proposal aiming at facilitating the fulfilment of the demands for an efficient and effective development of the PPS, Bjärnemo et al. (2000) suggested a development process for the integration of packaging logistics into the product development process. By adopting the proposed integration concept, the multidisciplinary product and packaging development team is given the freedom of allocating essential functions between product and package, thus making it possible to, in a most effective and efficient way, fulfilling the demands set out for a given PPS — something unattainable in the traditional, sequential, development of product and package. In three surveys, performed within the mechanical, food and pharmaceutical industries, Bramklev (2004) verified the interest and expectations in industry for the proposed integration concept. Note that these surveys, carried out as interviews, solely focused on the interest from the product manufacturing industries to integrate package development into their product development processes. The reason for not including the package manufacturing industries at this stage was simply the fact that these traditionally array themselves the role of supplier, thus entrust the initiative of cooperation to the product manufacturing industries. This somewhat passive role of the package manufacturing industry is an inevitable consequence of the predominant practice in the collaboration between the product manufacturing and the package manufacturing industries. From the surveys it was found that the initial definition and specifications of the package was frequently performed by the product development team/staff during the later parts of the product development process. In some of the companies, the production staff performed these tasks. After having defined and specified the package, the package manufacturing supplier was engaged to carry out the subsequent development and manufacturing of the package. Resulting from the confirmation of the validity of the integration concept - see Bramklev (2004), the second stage of the research project have been initiated, with the overall objective to develop an industrially implementable process model for the integration of product and package development. One of the cornerstones in achieving this goal is the access to a model of the package development process well adapted for integration into the product development process. The objective set out for research results presented here is to: Account for the development of a generic package development process which facilitates the establishment of the proposed integration concept and which also provides a more proactive and holistic approach to the development of new and innovative packages for the global market.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Annan maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Other Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

package development

product–package system

package development process

package supplier

case studies

packaging logistics

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