Bill Armstrong
Technical Development Manager
Sealed Air

Arnold Barlow
Customer Solutions Manager
UPS

As “Green” moves from fad to fact, stakeholders will increasingly demand that companies address sustainability in all aspects of their operations. Is the goal of maximizing profits at odds with the desire to minimize environmental impact? We will look at several factors in the transport packaging slice of the supply chain and show that sustainability and sound business practices can go hand in hand. Specific examples and case studies will suggest practical, actionable steps that any package shipper can apply.

co-presented with A.J. Gruber

Current packaging industry standards specify single axis (vertical) vibration for transportation simulation; however transportation vehicles undergo vibration in both lateral and longitudinal axes as well. Although the vertical motion is overall more intense, the lateral and longitudinal motion is often equal in intensity or even higher than that of the vertical motion within particular frequency ranges. This presentation will discuss the use of simultaneous three axis vibration as compared to single axis vibration in the evaluation of individual packaged product response and the stability of a unit load

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Standard PSD's do not include discrete vibration events that may be a source of damage to your product. By using field data recorders, you can discover and characterize these events so they may be simulated in the laboratory. Data from domestic truck and international ocean container shipments will be used to illustrate.

This presentation will explain the theory behind generating cushion curves for corrugated board, along with an overview of past research results, and preliminary results from recent research.

Every day, Intel Corporation airfreights extremely fragile, high value silicon wafers around the world with aggressive damage constraints and lowest total cost expectations. To meet these expectations, Intel engineers utilize information from data recorders to CCTV, and work closely with logistics internal and external partners, leading to continuous shipping lane, mode, test and design changes.

Global industrialization occurred in response to both consumers and manufacturers demand for lower product prices and availability of goods and services. As a result, products are transported greater distances. Shipping constitutes the majority of logistics costs in the export/import supply chain. Shippers and buyers commonly attempt to minimize these costs by maximizing the capacity of ocean freight containers (cube or weight). A systematic approach was developed to determine which method of loading (floor loading or unitizing on pallets) is most efficient in regard to cost and time.

co-presented with Ralph Rupert

Most products travel in corrugated boxes. Most companies specify corrugated boxes using drawings with dimensions and material specifications. The dimensions are usually shown on a blank (an open box), while material specifications will focus on flute size, paper weight, Mullen burst value and/or edge crush value. This presentation will discuss the shortcomings of these standard approaches and recommend alternatives that have resulted in significant savings and more consistent quality, especially for companies that need to purchase boxes in countries outside the US.

Advancements in finite element analysis techniques are making it possible to perform computer simulations of standard industry unit load tests. Progress in developing these “virtual” test methods will be discussed along with several examples. These methods allow transportation and warehouse stacking performance of unitized loads to be studied earlier in the package development process, before physical samples are available, with commensurate reductions in risk, cost, and speed to market.

This session will explore sustainability assessments during packaging design stages to make informed decisions about material and process selection. We will also discuss the value of benchmarking to track progress towards stated sustainability goals using life cycle assessment methodology. The presentation will speak to the relevant life cycle metrics and introduce COMPASS, the online comparative packaging assessment software developed by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition.

Are you tasked with finding GREEN designs for your company’s packaging? Need some ideas to get you started? Green is great, but how do you make it come alive as a packaging engineer? Hop on board for a tour through some sustainable package design ideas and case studies ranging from suspension packs for circuit card assemblies, air bags, collapsible and reusable large cabinet packs, to disk drive packaging, and opportunities from the inbound supply chain. Practical lessons learned using a variety of materials and design approaches are shared by an experienced packaging engineer from the electronics industry.

This presentation will explain a methodology of using established company infrastructure to equip KT systems with electronic data recorders, monitor or measure the shipment, and return the devices to the factory for reuse – all in a closed loop tracked process. It will cover how it the process starts at the design engineering NPI (new product introduction) and continues through beta and production shipments.

This presentation is the first public presentation of the first-ever industry-wide life cycle assessment of an average corrugated box including the history, challenges encountered and some thoughts for interpreting the results. The study allowed the industry to document our current position and to map a course for future goals.

Education Master of Administrative Science, Johns Hopkins University; BS Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan Activities Member of TAPPI, ASTM, ANSI, IoPP; ISO delegate Achievements Brian’s primary responsibilities involve the management of the various FBA committee groups addressing industry issues in the areas of Sustainability, Environmental, Safety & Health, and RFID. Since the start of the FBA Sustainability Committee in 2006, Brian has been the corrugated industry point person in efforts with Wal-Mart and other organizations involving the topic of sustainability.

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Discussion on the progress of a new packaging test protocol that is being developed in partnership with ISTA. The new test protocol will cover all types of packages and is expected to provide more accurate simulations of the distribution environment as it is based on data collection and observations from the Sam’s Club distribution system. This project is part of Walmart’s effort to reduce product packaging while ensuring the reliable transportation of products.

Education University of California, Berkeley - B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Activities IoPP member Achievements Significant contributions to the Wal-Mart Packaging Sustainable Value Network; Developed packaging for new item launches at a large CPG company, with a focus on display and Club-ready packaging.

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The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the stress energy method of cushion testing can be applied to polymeric foams with thicknesses less than one inch. A summary of the methods used, test results and implications to the packaging community will be discussed.

This paper examines the cost and carbon footprint for shipping unit-loads of palletized electronics from Shanghai to a Chicago distribution center via air, sea and land. A comparison is made for shipping the same product in two different cube sizes to understand the enviro-cost economics of cube and weight reduction.

Education MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland; MBA from the Wharton School Activities A management consultant for over 20 years with multi-national and entrepreneurial clients in chemicals, plastics, packaging and environmental technologies. Over the last 5 years, client work with the ARCEL® business at NOVA Chemicals has led to expertise in transport packaging including: foam cushion performance and design; impact of cube reduction on economics and carbon footprint; and cube optimization methodologies.

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Education Virginia Tech – currently pursuing PhD in Wood Science, University of Akron – BS in Chemical Engineering Activities ISTA member, IoPP member and advisory to VT IoPP student chapter, Chair ANSI MH1 Pallet Standards Committee, NIPHLE member

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A number of valuable presentations have been made at the Forum in recent years focusing on sustainability and the critical importance of this issue; in some cases this has included example packaging reduction initiatives that demonstrated tangible areas for improvement. This presentation discusses a number of hypothetical solutions further into the future by considering the technology, packaging, logistics and supply chain advances that we might need to engineer to make a step change towards sustainability.

Most standard vibration tests are run at increased intensity to reduce test time. This paper reviews the thinking behind test acceleration and considers the implications of accelerating kurtosis corrected tests – with some interesting and surprising results!

Education BA (Hons) Physics Activities ISTA Director 1996 - 2002; Associate Lecturer, Brunel University 1990 - 2002; Visiting Lecturer Jinan University 2009; Editor-in-Chief, Packaging Technology & Science Achievements Proud Recipient of the 2009 R. David LeButt award

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In today’s global shipping environment, handling of sea containers continues to be a challenge as port conditions vary. This presentation will share some recent studies done to collect data and video on handling of containers at global ports.

Education Michigan State University - PhD, MS, BS Activities ASTM D10 Division 1 Chair, ISTA VP-Testing, IAPRI Board of Directors

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A series of case studies will be used to illustrate new technologies and methods for automating packaging design, virtual prototyping, interfacing packaging design with business and logistics systems, enabling collaboration through the packaging supply chain and utilizing on-demand, one off packaging technologies to replace damaged shippers onsite at the retailer.

With companies adjusting their packaging needs to the changing economy, many are asking packaging labs to test pallet loads for ability to survive the anticipated distribution environments. But they don’t know which testing protocol to use. This investigation compares ISTA 3E, NMFC Rule 180, and the new ISTA Project 3B for a number of real products, packages, and situations.

Education BS in Management Computer Systems and MS in Occupational Safety and Health from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Activities ASTM D10 and ISTA

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