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A sealed pack of diced pork from Tesco. It shows the cooking time, number of servings, \'display until\' date, \'use by\' date, weight in kg, price, price to weight ratio in both £/kg and £/lb, freezing and storage instructions. It says \'Less than 3% Fat\' and \'No Carbs per serving\' and includes a barcode. The Union Flag, British Farm Standard tractor logo, and British Meat Quality Standard logo imply that it is British pork.
Tablets in a blister pack, which was itself packaged in a folding carton made of paperboard.
Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Package labelling (BrE) or labeling (AmE) is any written, electronic, or graphic communications on the packaging or on a separate but associated label.
Contents |
Packaging and package labelling have several objectives:
Packaging may be looked at as several different types. For example a transport package or distribution package is the package form used to ship, store, and handle the product or inner packages. Some identify a consumer package as one which is directed toward a consumer or household.
It is sometimes convenient to categorize packages by layer or function: "primary", "secondary", etc.
These broad categories can be somewhat arbitrary. For example, depending on the use, a shrink wrap can be primary packaging when applied directly to the product, secondary packaging when combining smaller packages, and tertiary packaging on some distribution packs.
Many types of symbols for package labelling are nationally and internationally standardized. For consumer packaging, symbols exist for product certifications, trademarks, proof of purchase, etc. Some requirements and symbols exist to communicate aspects of consumer use and safety. Recycling directions, Resin identification code (below), and package environmental claims have special codes and symbols.
Bar codes (below), Universal Product Codes, and RFID labels are common to allow automated information management.
"Wikipedia" encoded in Code 128
Shipments of hazardous materials or dangerous goods have special information and symbols (labels, plackards, etc) as required by UN, country, and specific carrier requirements. Two examples are below:
With transport packages, standardised symbols are also used to aid in handling. Some common ones are shown below while others are listed in ASTM D5445 "Standard Practice for Pictorial Markings for Handling of Goods" and ISO 780 "Pictorial marking for handling of goods".
Fragile.svg
Fragile |
Use no hand hooks |
Thiswayup.svg
This way up |
Keep away from sunlight |
Keepdry.svg
Keep away from water |
CentreOfGravity.svg
Centre of gravity |
Clamp as indicated |
Do not clamp as indicated |
Package design and development are often thought of as an integral part of the new product development process. Alternatively, development of a package (or component) can be a separate process, but must be linked closely with the product to be packaged. Package design starts with the identification of all the requirements: structural design, marketing, shelf life, quality assurance, logistics, legal, regulatory, graphic design, end-use, environmental, etc. The design criteria, time targets, resources, and cost constraints need to be established and agreed upon.
An example of how package design is affected by other factors is the relationship to logistics. When the distribution system includes individual shipments by a small parcel carrier, the sortation, handling, and mixed stacking make severe demands on the strength and protective ability of the transport package. If the logistics system consists of uniform palletized unit loads, the structural design of the package can be designed to those specific needs: vertical stacking, perhaps for a longer time frame. A package designed for one mode of shipment may not be suited for another.
Sometimes the objectives of package development seem contradictory. For example, packaging for an over-the-counter drug might require tamper resistance and child resistant features: These intentionally make the package difficult to open. The intended consumer, however, might be handicapped or elderly and be unable to readily open the package.
Package design may take place within a company or with various degrees of external packaging engineering: contract engineers, consultants, vendor evaluations, independent laboratories, contract packagers, total outsourcing, etc. Some sort of formal Project planning and Project Management methodology is required for all but the simplest package design and development programs. An effective quality management system and verification and validation protocols are mandatory for some types of packaging and reommended for all.
Package development involves considertions for sustainability, environmental responsibiity, and applicable environmental and recycling regulations. It may involve a life cycle assessment which considers the material and energy inputs and outputs to the package, the packaged product (contents), the packaging process, the logistics system, waste management, etc. It is necessary to know the relevant regulatory requirements for point of manufacture, sale, and use.
The traditional “three R’s” of reduce, reuse, and recycle are part of a waste hierarchy which may be considered in product and package development.
The waste hierarchy
A choice of packaging machinery includes, technical capabilities, labor requirements, worker safety, maintainability, serviceability, reliability, ability to integrate into the packaging line, capital cost, floorspace, flexibility (change-over, materials, etc.), energy usage, quality of outgoing packages, qualifications (for food, pharmaceuticals, etc.), throughput, efficiency, productivity, ergonomics, etc.
Packaging machines may be of the following general types:
Global packaging industry was worth $424 billion in 2004 [1] dominated by paper and plastic materials.
The first packages used the natural materials available at the time: Baskets of reeds, wineskins (Bota bags), wooden boxes, pottery vases, ceramic amphorae, wooden barrels, woven bags, etc. Processed materials were used to form packages as they were developed: for example, early glass and bronze vessels. The study of old packages is an important aspect of archaeology.
Iron and tin plated steel were used to make cans in the early 19th century. Paperboard cartons and corrugated fiberboard boxes were first introduced in the late 19th century.
Packaging advancements in the early 20th century included Bakelite closures on bottles, transparent cellophane overwraps and panels on cartons, increased processing efficiency and improved food safety. As additional materials such as aluminum and several types of plastic were developed, they were incorporated into packages to improve performance and functionality.
Hundreds of links are in the Category sections at the end of the article. In addition, links related to the product being packaged are very useful, with further links. For example, foods, pharmaceuticals, dangerous goods,etc.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
