Packing and Packaging
- PACKING is the enclosure of something in a package or box. Packing is also the protection and containment of the consignment during its transit from the seller’s to the buyer’s premises.
- PACKAGING is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging is also considered as one way of securing cargo putting them in cartons, drums, sacks etc.
- Packaging is a coordinated system of preparing goods for safe, secure, efficient and effective handling, transport, distribution, storage, retailing, consumption and recovery, reuse or disposal combined with maximizing consumer value, sales and hence profit.
Factors to Consider When Packing
- The nature of the goods
- Their fragility
- Their value
- Their hazardous nature
- Their propensity to suffer from damp
- Their propensity to sweat or taint
- Their duration of transport in different transit corridors
- Their modes of transport and their handling equipment
- Whether the goods will go door-to-door in a single movement as a full container load (FCL) or whether they constitute a consolidation shipping system, less than Container Load (LCL).
Packaging Types
Packaging may be looked at as several different types. For example a transport package or distribution package can be the shipping container used to ship, store, and handle the product or inner packages.
- Primary packaging is the material that first envelops the product and holds it. This usually is the smallest unit of distribution or use and is the package which is in direct contact with the contents.
- Secondary packaging is outside the primary packaging – perhaps used to group primary packages together.
- Tertiary packaging is used for bulk handling, warehouse storage and transport shipping. The most common form is a palletized unit load that packs tightly into containers.
Function of a Package
- Protection against common hazards of warehousing and transportation,
- Containment – to resist leakage, spillage or subsequent loss. This detail is, however, based on the type of commodity.
- Information – Advertisement of the commodity to cargo content and ingredients
- Identification details
- Handling instructions
- Packages also assist with the utility of the commodity and also package.
- Space utility in the warehouse is also quite dependent on the packaging.
The Purposes of Packaging and Package Labels
Packaging and package labeling have several objectives
- Physical protection
- Barrier protection.
- Containment or agglomeration
- Information transmission
- Marketing
- Security
- Convenience
- Portion control