Manufacturing, logistics and procurement - October 2018
UCIMA has announced that ISO has approved the proposal from Italy to set up ISO/TC 313 Packaging Machinery. This new international technical committee will be responsible for drawing up standards with particular reference to aspects of safety, design and efficiency. Unified standards will now apply worldwide and not just in Europe, resolving the sectoral conflict between European, American and other countries’ standards.
Researchers at Bialystok University of Technology in Poland studied the potential impact of the Lean Manufacturing methodology on the implementation of the BRC Standard for Packaging. They found several areas in which Lean Manufacturing supports the standard. They also found six areas in which the standard contradicts the Lean Manufacturing approach. An article (284 kB) about the research is published in Engineering Management in Production and Services.
Four out of five executives surveyed by PwC report blockchain initiatives underway. The new research Blockchain is here. What’s your next move? (1.74 MB) surveyed 600 executives in 15 countries on their development of blockchain and views on its potential.
Annual survey on pallet use 2018
Modern Materials Handling (MMH) has published the results of its annual survey on pallet use. In the charts the findings are compared with the results of 2017 and 2016. In 2018, 93% of respondents use wood, more than a third use plastic, while wood composite (14%), metal (6%) and cardboard (4%) bring up the rear. MMH found that the importance of purchase price in the pallet selection process has slowly waned in recent years and is now tied with strength (57%). Cost per use and pallet weight are of less concern than reusability and durability. More results can be found in an article about the survey.
Corrugated packaging for household appliances
During the storage and sales stages of household appliances, the packaging must resist compressive loads in different directions. In this context, researchers at the Federal University of Santa Catarina-Brazil studied corrugated packaging. They aimed to develop and implement a procedure to analyse the failure due to material strength and the failure due to local buckling. An article (2.35 MB) about the research is published in the Journal of Applied Packaging Research.
Less interceptions of wood packaging material in 2017
Wood packaging material (WPM) can be a pathway for the introduction and spread of harmful organisms. For this reason more and more countries are demanding that wooden packaging complies with ISPM 15 and carries the mark of compliance. EUROPHYT-Interceptions is an on-line web-based rapid alert system for plant health interceptions in the EU. Member States and Switzerland have the obligation to rapidly notify harmful organisms (HOs) and other plant health risks found during import controls.
The recently published annual report (973 kB) over 2017 shows a marked decrease in WPM interceptions with HOs, although increases were noted from both India, and even more so for Belarus (almost entirely nematodes). Interceptions of WPM, non-compliant with ISPM 15, decreased considerably in 2017 (down 12.8% compared to 2016), the first reduction since 2014.
NVC members receive this information with all the relevant links in the monthly NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411.