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New supply chain demands new package design standards

The complexity of the e-commerce supply chain is evolving at a rapid pace, and new testing standards and data are required to keep up with new performance demands.

ISTA
ISTA

According to Eric Hiser, Vice President of Technical at ISTA, the evolution of e-commerce and it’s increasingly complex delivery methods combined with increased touch points (brick & mortar has an average of 7-9 touches vs. e-commerce’s 20+ touches), create a higher potential for product damage during shipping.

Hiser presented at the ISTA European Packaging Symposium in Amsterdam today, and said that because traditional retail packaging is typically not sufficient for direct-to-consumer ­– and has been reduced in past years due to concerns over sustainability – more packaging may be required now to avoid the loss of product and the resultant cost and environmental impact of a wasted product.

Hiser said that safety is even more important than damage, and cited a January 2018 Packaging World example of a test of cold food items in 169 meal kits – 47% arrived with surface temperatures in the USDA “danger zone.”

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