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Packaging costs (direct labor and material) account for a substantial portion of a product's manufactured cost and so it is desirable to minimize these costs. And since major productivity gains have already been realised in manufacturing operations, the last frontier for productivity improvements appears to be in logistics. A formal methodology is therefore proposed to assess the efficiency of manual insertion and packing operations such as folding, insertion, labeling, sealing and scanning. Through this methodology, inefficient packaging operations can be identified and improved upon. This paper also discusses how standard manual handling and insertion times can be computed from raw data collected from industry. These standard manual handling and insertion times form the basis for the computation of the manual packaging efficiency expressed as a packaging index. The closer the index is to 1, the more efficient are the packaging operations. Tables of standard times for labelling, scanning barcodes, sealing with adhesive tape, and insertion into Zip‐Lock™ bags and cardboard boxes with two, three and four flaps are presented. A simple five‐step procedure records the ideal and actual packaging times in a worksheet, from which the packaging efficiency may be computed. The methodology was applied to the packaging of mobile phones, hard disk drives, a desk‐jet printer, a notebook computer, a video cassette recorder and a microwave oven. The packaging efficiencies of the three popular mobile phone models were computed to be 81.5 percent, 76 percent and 74.4 percent. By adopting the best packaging features of two competitor models, it was found that the packaging efficiency of one model of mobile phone could be improved by 13.7 percent. Arising from the research, the authors postulated a general manual packaging line consisting of all conceivable manual packaging operations. This generic manual packaging line is significant in a specific line for a specific product may be quickly configured from it. Finally, arising from the experience of the authors in this research, guidelines for the design of efficient packaging lines are proposed.

Proposes a computationally‐simple method, based on the centroid solid angle, for computing the probability distributions of the natural resting aspects of small parts, the fore‐knowledge of which can improve the design of vibratory feeders and orienting devices. The centroid solid angle (CSA) hypothesis postulates that the probability of a part coming to rest on a particular aspect is directly proportional to the solid angle subtended by the aspect with respect to the centroid (the centroid solid angle) and inversely proportional to the height of the centroid from the aspect in question. When benchmarked against Boothroyd’s energy barrier method, its results did not deviate from those of the energy barrier method by more than 0.04. Examines studies of a cylindrical prismatic part and a symmetrical T‐shaped prism. The drop tests used to obtain the authors’ empirical data were validated by experiments conducted on vibratory bowl feeders, subjected to different vibration frequencies. The tracks of one of the bowls was coated with urethane to simulate a soft surface. In the case of both frequencies, the empirical results are in generally good agreement with the predictions of the CSA hypothesis; the largest deviation was 0.07. As for the urethane track, the largest deviation was 0.08, thereby corroborating the results of the drop test method.

During handling and transportation, a product may be damaged due to mechanical shocks resulting mainly from impact. The current design practice of expandable polystyrene (EPS) protective packaging hinges on two main aspects: the determination of the size of the basic features of the buffer cushions (procedural); and the selection of an appropriate buffer configuration and its related arrangements (heuristics), and depends largely on the designer’s competence and experience. Discusses an integrated design approach for protective packaging, which aims to integrate both these aspects into a seamless design process, using multiple layers of neural networks to characterise the cushioning curve patterns of EPS materials, determine cushioning configurations and arrangements based on package‐to‐product characteristics, and size the buffer features. The favourable results obtained from a study comparing manually‐designed and network‐generated buffer configuration solutions highlight the potential of the approach.

The outcome of product development, i.e. the product design, together with the packaging solution, has a great impact on the logistics performance of supply chains. Despite this, packaging has traditionally been given a very modest role in the product development literature as well as in the logistics literature. The aim of this paper is to show how logistics performance and product design can be affected, and improved, by the packaging organization within a company.

A single case study has been conducted at IKEA, including on‐site interviews and review of internal documents. Along with the case study, a literature study has been conducted within the areas of product development, packaging and logistics.

The IKEA case suggests that the packaging function should have a strong link to both the logistics function and the product development function within a product‐developing company to be able to improve the logistics performance.

As the evidence is collected through a single case study, the results are not to be seen as generalizable but should be regarded as a first step to future research within the interface of product development, packaging and logistics.

Packaging and logistics are usually considered late in the product development process with the result that possible logistics solutions are constrained. Through considering “the whole package” – i.e. the product, the packaging and the supply chain characteristics – at an early stage in the product development process, savings can be made.

This paper includes the aspects of product development, logistics and packaging, an interface with very limited research contributions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms manage the front end of new product development projects where packaging forms a core part of the product itself. Within the fast-moving consumer goods industry, innovation provides opportunities to create packaging that forms an integrated part of the product offering. The authors refer to these as packaging-integrated-products. This study conceptualises three levels of integration and investigates how they impact upon the management of the front end.

The study consisted of a two-phase design. This involved a preliminary study with key informants, followed by a multiple case study design, which examines product development projects with differing extents of packaging integration.

The results identify nine different new product opportunities. The authors also present 11 propositions that reveal the key characteristics of the front end of packaging-integrated development projects, as well as the project management requirements to capture the opportunities they present.

Initial insights into a number of unique front-end project management characteristics required to deliver different project types form an area for further research to better understand product packaging integration. The propositions presented guide the way forward for future studies.

The findings provide marketers with new understanding of three types of new product opportunities presented by packaging integration and demonstrate what is required to capture the opportunities they present in the front end of product development.

The paper contributes to extant studies of packaging development in the marketing literature, which have previously failed to capture the high levels of integration between packaging and the product. The authors present a new conceptual approach to understanding integration and subsequently uncover how the opportunities it presents can be captured.

The purpose of this paper is to study how packaging and packaging design can contribute to competitive advantage for marketing a consumer product.

Different influences from actors in the packaging design process are discussed in a conceptual model. A single case study based on five “corporate stories” about packaging development resulting in a new package are presented and analysed.

The present study demonstrates influences on the design process of a package from external and internal factors. The outcome of the design process is, to a great extent, dependent on the interaction between the main actors in this process. The study argues for the importance of the interaction with customers for planning and conducting the design. The result of such a process is a package that can trigger customers make a purchase and/or re‐inforce the brand name for a re‐purchase of the product.

The main implications for management are that packaging is a vital instrument in modern marketing activities for consumer goods, for example in the competitive food industry. The study highlights a few factors that trigger a customer to purchase a product by designing a suitable package for the product. Packaging design makes it possible to introduce new and better solutions for diverse marketing and logistic problems in a supply chain.

This paper fulfils an identified need for contributions to more research on packaging and marketing strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to compare and find the significance of aesthetic standards related to the packaging design of pure milk among two groups of parents and children in order to help the designers and marketers to identify these two groups of consumers well.

The results of questionnaire were used to get the required data. The selected samples were divided into two groups of 110 parents and children aged between seven and 14 years old who responded to the questions. The subjects were compared and evaluated within the convenience stores in the cosmopolitan city of Tehran based on four independent variables as the influential factors in packaging attractiveness. Data were analyzed through the statistical analysis software using the Independent t-test analysis.

The results of analysis showed that all the variables vary significantly among these two groups. Besides, the importance and priority of variables were determined for each group based on the mean score of each variable.

According to the results of this study, it could be concluded that the selection criteria and packaging attractiveness varies among children and parents, and the aesthetic factors of packaging could be used with different priorities for these two groups. And also at the end of research some practical recommendations are presented in order of importance based on parents’ preferences.

This paper addresses the question of trade‐offs in supply chains by exploring the roles of packaging in distribution networks. Taking a starting point in the logistical role of packaging and the potential trade‐offs with its marketing and environmental roles, the paper illustrates some difficulties with integrated systems. The paper discusses the concept of packaging as an integrated system and presents a case study of a transport package, a roll‐rack, for distribution of fresh milk. The analysis shows that although it fulfils well all its three roles for milk, the roll‐rack's efficiency is decreasing as continuously larger volumes of products for which it was not designed, are distributed through the network. Because it is so integrated in the milk‐chain and adaptations have developed between the roll‐rack and other resources such as vehicles, terminals and display facilities in the stores, it is difficult to use for other products. As similar adaptations have developed within the other package/product chains, it is also difficult to replace other transport packages with the roll‐rack. The paper contributes to the understanding of use and development of logistics resources, trade‐offs between adaptation and adaptability, integration and standardisation.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an exploratory analysis of low‐income women consumers' consumption of low‐involvement grocery products, and to explore the relevance of cognitive dissonance in this consumption.

One focus group discussion and 30 in‐depth interviews are conducted with low‐income women consumer at Salford area of the north‐west of England to explore their salient beliefs, motivations, attitudes and behaviours in respect of their consumption of low‐involvement grocery products.

Findings suggest that low‐income women consumers engage in habitual purchasing and are not loyal to brands of grocery products. However, they often buy stores' own value‐range brands as they believe that these products are similar to manufacturers' brands. They do not perceive price to be an indication of quality, rather they attribute basic differences between the stores' own value‐range and manufacturers' brands as “expensive packaging” and the popularity of the brand name. Value for money is revealed as a key motivation underlying their purchasing of grocery products. Consequently, they are very sensitive to sales promotions and actively engage in making comparisons between the promotions in different stores within their locality. These confirm the incidence of cognitive dissonance in their consumption of these products.

This paper shows that generalisation in consumer behaviour without due reference to the contextual factors identified among low‐income women consumers provides a limited understanding of their decision making and purchase behaviour. It also supplements the limited empirical information on low‐income consumers, and consequently will be of interest to marketing practitioners, as it will reveal potential directions for low‐involvement product strategies in respect of the low‐income consumer.

Packaging is a strategic tool that merits holistic management. Three managerial disciplines have the potential to significantly influence packaging strategy: marketing, logistics, and ethics. Despite the multidimensional nature of packaging, the academic literature tends to analyse these three dimensions separately. To address this shortcoming of a more integrated approach, the aim of this paper is to identify the main integration areas among marketing, logistics, and ethics in packaging innovation projects, in the retail grocery sector.

In total, 186 cases of packaging design were selected and the data collected were analysed by quantitative content analysis (cross‐tabulation).

The results show that simultaneous integration among marketing, logistics and ethics recurs in only one third of the cases. The main area of integration is between marketing and ethics. To a lesser extent, there is a significant degree of integration between marketing and logistics as well as between logistics and ethics. Nevertheless, the findings of this initial analysis suggest that the potential in terms of integration has yet to be exploited.

Taking a holistic view of innovation in packaging, the study can assist managers participating in packaging management by providing a conceptual instrument for the integrated evaluation of the multidimensional relationships among the three perspectives.

The paper provides the first empirical exploration in this field and an original conceptual framework that could serve as a theoretical reference point for future research and as a managerial tool, recognising the urgent need for a careful understanding of how marketing, logistics and ethics may be integrated in innovation projects.