however, it can be difficult to find out exactly what amount of packaging you require without using an excessive amount of the packaging and wasting money and materials. sterling anthony is a logistics and packaging consultant based in detroit. he says that a businessman needs to get the best protection for its products at the least amount of expenditure. as packaging is an extremely inexpensive type of insurance, it is a very worthwhile investment. we have listed down three advances in packaging, which will help you to protect your products as well as save your money 1. software to suggest packaging choices. determining the best combination of packaging material and box size doesn&39t have to be a choice of trial and error. software, such as tops pro and cape systems, can help you to find out the most costeffective packaging design, says gregory batt. gregory batt specializes in protective packaging, in the department of food, nutrition and packaging sciences at clemson university. whereas such software programs aren&39t completely new, current advances have enabled them to manage products with odd shapes and sizes or mixed pallet loads of diverse product sizes with greater precision, he says. this software is mainly useful for businesses selling products of multiple weights and sizes. for instance, you could choose either a onesizefitsall box or a variety of customsized packages, which would have a material called "void fill," which is used to keep a product firm and intact during the transportation. packaging software uses various tactics to determine which box sizing options let you spend the smallest amount for the maximum protection, anthony says. for a small scale business, this kind of software could be bought for about 1,000, depending on what features are required, according to brad leonard, who is the ceo of cape systems. if it is not possible for you to afford such an investment, anthony suggests reaching out to one of the academes with highranked packaging programs, including rochester institute of technology, michigan state university, or clemson, which use this software as part of their educational curriculum and work with realworld organizations seeking packaging guidance. anthony further says that they have kept their doors open for the small companies. at clemson, companies often inquire batt if they can get involved in the senior capstone project of packaging program. he says that it basically costs the organization nothing in dollars other than some time on the phone. 2. new kinds of protective materials. companies can look out for some of the innovative ways to keep products from banging inside of boxes during transportation, mentions edward church, who is the president of the international safe transit association ista. ista is an east lansing, mich.based association, which develops package protectionrelated testing. he says that, lately, most of the improvements in materials are around void fill, giving substitutes to traditional cushioning materials like bubble wrap and styrofoam. new materials contain a mixture of many polymers that are more useful at absorbing shock as compared to singleblend polymers, batt mentions. for instance, a product called arcel is made by mixing polyethylene and polystyrene to produce foam that has more shock absorption abilities as compared to traditional styrofoam made of polystyrene. epor is another new blended material that is used in cushioning, which is more elastic and crack resistant than traditional foams. other void fill improvements involve new ways of encapsulating air to give cushioning for products, taking the idea of bubble wrapping to a new level. for instance, the company pregis sells chamberpak, puffed up air tubes that come in a variety of sizes to protect electronics during transportation. there&39s also the 995 airmove bubble packing machine. this machine lets you generate air cushions on demand with a nonautomatic device that pumps and seals air into a film roll. according to the information given by the trade publication &lsquopackaging world&rsquo, one roll of airmove film makes the alike of eight rolls of bubble wrap, saving on storage space and cutting costs over time. 3. more accurate preshipment testing is required. preshipment testing generates risks your packages might come across during transport, helping to reduce the risk of damage. church says, during the last few years, tools to simulate and detect potential hazards have become more accurate. ista has created around 23 packaging protection tests, which simulate how compression, vibration, dropping, and changes in humidity and temperature affect different packaged products. many packaging options are tested to find out which will best protect your product. to locate which of the 400 certified testing laboratories is nearby to them, small scale businesses can look on ista.org. according to the level of testing you require, church says, the service might charge you from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. even as, this may seem like a heavy upfront investment, damaged products or goods could cost you far more than these testing charges. source of information httpwww.entrepreneur.comarticle225557
