The goods and services tax (GST) is set to be rolled out later this year. The implementation of GST will lead to more and more products travelling longer distances in transit, passing through several weather zones. In such a scenario, packaging will need to withstand many more challenges.
The rise in modern trade has lead to many high-value SKUs of FMCG items reaching multitude of stores. These segments report shrinkage of more than 6% to around 30-50% in transit. Modern trade also implies smarter movement of goods within the store – palletisation, mechanised movement, vertical stacking. All these will test the durability of the sealing of shipper cartons.
We ask four packaging technologists and one equipment manufacturer how they look at these challenges that the humble courrugated box encounters and discuss if automation can help resolve the issues.
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Do you feel the need bring in automation for corrugated case packing? |
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Anand Rawat In India, most of the primary packaging lines are automated and to some extent even secondary packaging is automated. However, when it comes to tertiary packing, companies are reluctant to adopt automation and rely on manual labour oriented processes. Manual processes come with inherent troubles in supply chain and logistics. Also, because there is limited demand for the end-of-the-line automation, solutions for auto case packing are restricted to big OEMs in the market, allowing them to charge at their will. As and when more and more users will demand automation, the cost of technology will become affordable. Automation is the future and will definitely replace manual processes. Investing in automation is investing in future. |
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Amit Saurkar Yes, I feel the need to bring in end-of-the-line automation. It will help us improve overall packing line efficiency, output and enable faster time to market. It will also help minimise manual labour costs. Many times due to the manual packing of corrugated boxes, the box formation (squaring) gets disturbed and this hampers the in-transit box performance, hence automation is the need of the day. |
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Narayan Iyer I feel that automatic corrugated case packing will help in bringing significant improvement in productivity only where the annual volume is very high. Having said that, these days it has become critical to entirely eliminate manual intervention from the packing processes from a compliance point of view, especially in a pharma company. |
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Sudarshan Sambhaskar Manual handling of corrugated boxes definitely affects its strength and performance characteristics. Secondly, using BOPP tape for case sealing is a hazard to product security in the transit. The fully automatic case making and sealing equipment maintain the compression strength and flute alignment, thus the box performance properties are not hampered. And using hotmelt adhesive instead of BOPP tape helps adhere the major flaps perfectly, thus guaranteeing tamper evidence. |
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P Sajith In India, packaging automation starts and ends with primary packaging. Generally, the brand owners’ focus is mainly on the ability of packaging to communicate with the consumer. What is often neglected is the fact that this communication cannot be only through attractive designs and colours. The security and integrity of the product from shipper to shelf is also a vital factor. A wet pouch of edible oil, a damaged box of chocolates or a broken chilli powder packet does not send the right message to the consumer. And then you have nightmares for supply chain and logistics – damaged shipper cartons, boxes unsealed in transit and missing number of items inside a box. Primary packaging in India is predominantly flexible, supply chain logistics are pretty demanding and brands are faced with serious problems of damages and pilferage in transit. Brand owners need to focus on ensuring product security by reinforcing the secondary and tertiary packaging. An effective packaging needs to sell and protect the merchandise, while being cost-efficient at the same time. Automation in end-of-the-line packaging and introduction of better packaging materials are the only way to achieve this objective. |
| What are the other challenges in automation of end of line packaging? | |
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Anand Rawat In India manual labour is cheaper and easily available when compared to developed nations. Hence, the biggest problem in automating processes is to justify its cost against the manual operation. It’s for this reason that even big daddies in the market are reluctant to loosen the purse strings when it comes to end-to-end automated systems. Secondly, there is hardly any OEM locally available in India that supplies automation systems at an affordable cost. Hence, only MNCs end up affording foreign OEMs, that too only where there is mass production set-up. |
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Amit Saurkar Automated case packing will work well where there are high-speed primary or secondary packing lines for producing high volume SKUs. Challenges seep in where there are low volumes SKUs leading to frequent changeovers on production lines. In this case, there needs to be a rationalisation of corrugated sizes so that variety of SKUs would require similar sizes cases, thus reducing frequent changeovers. Also, the floor space is another challenge as conventional case packing consumes relatively less space. |
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Narayan Iyer I see three challenges. One, the large range of shipper sizes leading to multiple changeovers. Two, need to train the operator to handle the machine and finally, high initial investment. |
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P Sajith Director Impel Services (Welbound) Welbound (Impel) has introduced end-of-the-line machines for corrugated box forming, packing and sealing. This product is designed and developed with indigenous expertise in order to address the above mentioned challenges. Our Stelda (Secure, Tamper Evident and Low DAmages in transit) range of machines help the brand owner introduce systems and methods of secondary packaging that reduce or eliminate damages and pilferage in transit. In this process we have had the support of packaging experts like Nordson and Henkel Adhesives. We have also partnered with companies like Econocorp of USA who have years of experience in this field. Impel has already developed end-of-the-line packaging equipment including case formers, sealers and is in the process of introducing more solutions in this space. This would mean that the brands will have custom-made solutions, made available locally, cost-effectively. |
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What are the supply chain challenges with regards to security of your products in transit? |
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Anand Rawat In my experience, I haven’t heard of any security breach. Ideally, the logistics are dedicated and trusted enough for every company. Also, with bigger brands, the coding on pouches, corrugated boxes etc makes them safer against any tampering. |
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Amit Saurkar Many times, we have noticed that there is under count in packed corrugated cases. This happens because of tampering of corrugated boxes during transit. The BOPP tape is peeled off and then the box is re-taped after accessing the content. With the help of automation, we can explore possibilities of closing corrugated flaps by hotmelt glue or pasting it with adhesive so that there will be evidence of tampering. And when anyone attempts to close it again then there will be a permanent impression of damage on the corrugated case. |
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Narayan Iyer In general, we face a challenge in maintaining the storage temperature inside the vehicle/container during transit of product within the proposed limit till it reaches the destination. Deviation of temperature above or below the provided limits results in complete destruction of all the batches or products shipped in that particular environment condition. Another big issue is the entry of insects inside the shipment during transit. Some times in sea shipment, we have observed complete shifting of pallet inside the container. The boxes then tend to fall down when the container is opened at the receiver end and this damages the product. |
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Sudarshan Sambhaskar During the transit, BOPP tape can be tampered easily and unit packs can be removed from the box and the tape is re-sealed smartly. But in automatic case packing application, it is very difficult to open the major flap without destroying the box. |
| What are your expectations from case packing equipment manufacturers? | |
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Anand Rawat Cheaper and affordable technology. |
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Amit Saurkar The case packing equipment must occupy minimum floor space and the cost of the machine needs to be affordable. More importantly, the proof-of-principle provision should be available to prove the concept. The equipment manufacturers should work on lease or rental models for promotion and establish the performance of the machine. |
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Narayan Iyer The case packing equipment manufacturers should understand the User Requirement Sheet (URS) before supplying the equipment because most of the time we face the issue after receiving the machine at our end. Secondly, they should be able to manufacture a customised machine as per the end-user requirement. Also, it will help the users if the manufacturers can share key line diagrams and paper or board specification details of the corrugated boxes that will run efficiently on their machine thus eliminating the trial and error method to identify proper KLD and specification by the user after the machine is installed. The machine should be equipped with operator safety features and should be complaint with 21CFR guidelines especially when they are supplying to pharma companies. The machine should be as compact as possible to manage the space constraint on the packing line, which is a common issue. And finally, the machine should have a minimum number of change parts. |
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Sudarshan Sambhaskar The automatic case sealing machine should be able to handle a variety of box sizes and designs and should have the facility to generate reports automatically. |
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Are the corrugated boxes manufactured in India suitable to go on automatic equipment or lines? |
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Anand Rawat Yes, we have used corrugated boxes supplied by local manufacturers on automatic lines during my stint at Nestle for packing Maggie. They work perfectly fine. |
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Amit Saurkar It works provided the corrugated boxes are manufactured on fully automated corrugation lines. Also, the workmanship parameters like die-punching, cutting and creasing operation need to be extremely precise.
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Narayan Iyer Initially, we faced certain issues in case erection on automated lines because of the low quality of kraft paper as well as box making. However, with a new vendor, who manufactures boxes on a fully automatic line and rotary die-cutting machine facility, the operation is now smooth. |
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Sudarshan Sambhaskar Not all suppliers are able to provide good quality boxes. But there are few top notch box makers who can manufacture CFB boxes to run on automated lines. |