The Contribution of Corrugated Cardboard as Packaging Material in Logistics

Introduction

Packaging is a primary subject which plays significant roles in the logistics and marketing of any company. Businesses consider logistics and the supply chain as key areas which will determine business success or failure. As such, it is essential to prioritize areas in a firm that represents the components of logistics and distribution (Coyle et al., 2016). Therefore, organizations need to understand the interrelation between activities such as packaging, storage, and transportation thereby, the abovementioned activities should be linked and managed more effectively by any company. Integrating logistics and packaging through logistical packaging makes it easy for any company to enhance its logistics efficiency which will meet the logistics needs of clients from the manufacturing process to packaging designs. Logistical packaging ensures that a company provides the need for packaging to incorporate logistics and retailing standpoints, which increases the competitiveness of any business (Shan & Julius, 2015). Packaging is also a focal point in the supply chain. Many research does not consider the customer value which links to the logistics packaging; it is, therefore, vital to consider logistical packaging about consumer value since they are relating matters. Poor packaging makes customers to incur a lot of costs while repairing the damages that are incurred during the inbound as well as the outbound logistical operations. Goods undergo a lot of activities during the transportation, management, and storage such activities include; reloading, unpacking, storing, and repacking. As such, if companies and individuals do not handle the consignment carefully, they will end up damaging the package. Companies that consider customer value during the physical movements of goods will always deliver substantial savings as well as the cost to customers thereby the organization will succeed within the industry. Suitable packaging is still vital for the smooth movement of commodities in the logistics chain. It is essential for manufacturing companies to develop an effective packaging solution such as corrugated cardboards to realize the economic and technological benefits which are the basis for this paper (Garcia-Arca et al., 2014).

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The advancements in technology in the fourth industrial revolution have led to the development of corrugated cardboard which is made from an arched paper called fluting. Coming up with corrugated cardboard entails utilizing a fairly high-tech solution which uses innovative computer design as well as advanced manufacturing systems (Sandoval, 2016). The aforementioned innovative design above makes corrugated cardboard the best choice for many packaging designers. Companies that utilize corrugated cardboard as their packaging material enjoys the following benefits:

Corrugated cardboard tolerates heavyweight both in storage and carrying mode. Companies need to take into consideration the need to pile up goods on one another as such utilizing corrugated cardboard is useful since it withstands the strong compressive force which is incurred while carrying the products on cart or pallet. The corrugated cardboard will be adequate to protect the products from damage and thereby limit the costs of repairs and loss to a given company's logistics (Ben Slimane & Youmard, 2015).

Moreover, corrugated cardboard protects fragile products. It is useful for company logistics to understand how easy a product can get damaged or be broken. As such, it is easy to utilize the corrugated cardboard which is strong enough and will ensure protection to the good as much as possible. Corrugated cardboard offers packaging goods ranges from thinnest qualities to the heavy duty products. As such, goods packaged in corrugated cardboards can undergo some in-transit movements in the flow to deliver them to the desired customers. Corrugated cardboard always prevents the damage of products along the distribution channel. Customers still are pleased when they can easily trans-load and shift the good from one place to another. Therefore corrugated cardboard makes it easy for them to achieve the abovementioned activity with ease (Ben Slimane & Youmard, 2015).

Corrugated cardboard is useful for inner packaging since it withstands vibrations when transporting goods. Limiting fluctuations assures protection to products. It is therefore essential to get rid of expanded polystyrene packaging and apply to package with corrugated materials while engaging in inner packaging (Kawecki et al., 2017).

Customer value is delivered by companies that emphasize a logistic process that ensures maintain a packaging design that is fit-for-purpose. Using corrugated cardboard will enhance a variety of use packaging solution which is essential customer value. The use of corrugated cardboard is widening more product packaging. Companies should have a packaging solution which can come up with a multiple usage packaging designs from corrugated cardboard by ensuring an accurate weighing. The abovementioned will save costs to many companies and lower the effects on the environment. Customers can utilize the smart packaging solution like corrugated cardboard in a variable field in the supply chain (Kawecki et al., 2017).

Corrugated cardboards limit environmental pollution since it is a renewable solution to packaging that meets the demands of customers who face many packaging challenges today. Companies should strive to ensure they minimize effects on the environment through packaging solutions. Renewable packaging assists customers to create a useful resource dynamic, efficient business environment. It is crucial if companies will use completely renewable fresh materials to care for their customers' needs for recycling. As such, utilizing corrugated cardboard builds the brand value for consumers, thereby growing the sales of firms using the packaging design. The utilization of corrugated cardboard replaces non-renewable materials thus managing the value chain that supports the acquisition of many customers due to the implication that non-renewable packaging materials pollute the environment. Corrugated materials make the world more sustainable since they are made from a traced origin of fiber which is a recyclable raw material. Recycling assist customers to reduce the environmental footprint across the entire logistics chain. The corrugated cardboard can be reused to save money and secure the environment. Utilizing the corrugated cardboard has an impact on waste management and helps firms to reduce the total costs used to dispose of wastes by companies. The conceptualization of the abovementioned argument is realized when a company limit costs such as transport to move wastes to the disposal site. As such, the environmental sustainability initiatives from customers will be achieved by firms (Davis, 2016).

Corrugated cardboard enhances the determination of a packaging unit that a company will utilize for a given product. As such, companies engage in testing criteria basing on the following metrics; shock survival and withstanding of vibrations during movement in the logistic chain, the right dimension for a packaging unit, size of the packaging unit, weight, bending stiffness, and compression. Testing the above metrics enables firms to determine the packaging material that can withstand the above parameters to ensure the safety of the consignment. As such, corrugated cardboard is suitable to face the above tests thus assuring protection of the goods under shipment (Rundh, 2016).

Corrugated cardboard offers product protection by providing a disturbance-free status to goods. The solution is designed to ensure providing high protection to sounds, therefore, reduce risks of damage to the products. The distribution process encounters a lot of disturbances to the rights; companies should always secure the rights to enhance customer retention. Corrugated cardboard can protect the products from shock, vibration, and corrosion. The corrugated cardboard should have a plastic film inserted in it that prevents corrosion of assets, more so, the thickness of the corrugated cardboard limits the shock and vibration from destroying the product. The above technical aspect protects the product at primary, secondary, and tertiary level. Sensitive goods require the right protection that is guaranteed by corrugated cardboard to limit shock throughout the logistics chain (Janjarasskul & Suppakul, 2018).

A product's density and girth should offer a company insight on what packaging material to use. For instance, corrugated cardboard is useful to package goods with lightweight. Weight tolerance is essential at the time of storage and when the asset is subjected to dense stacking during transit or while at the distribution centers. It is crucial that companies that deal with fragile products like electronics to utilize corrugated cardboard for inner packaging (Chan et al., 2017).

On the other hand, corrugated cardboards are useful to package goods that will be stored for future distribution since they are less harmful to the environment and their biomaterial are helpful in other fields like agriculture due to the capability of corrugated cardboard to decompose (Samanta et al., 2016).

Technically, corrugated cardboard can be altered into different shapes to suit any product as companies need to utilize the corrugated cardboards since they come in various forms to adapt to any industrial demand. More so, the printing options are as well customizable, and the material can receive different coatings, adhesiveness, treatments, and they can be flame resistant (Pathare & Opara, 2014).

Companies that are facing financial challenges should utilize corrugated cardboard to package goods since they are least expensive. Moreover, such packaging materials do not demand high costs of labor, technology, and tools to manufacture them. Limiting manufacturing costs is a way to enable a firm to stand at a competitive advantage in the market provided such a company ensures that quality safety is assured to goods supplied in the market (Battini et al., 2016).

Engineers utilize the arched design which provides that corrugated cardboard is not smooth to burst since a standard piece of the board can hold about 32lbs. As such, it will require more pressure for one to break a hole through a panel of corrugated cardboard. On the other hand, a typical piece of corrugated cardboard holds about 200lbs thereby providing strength for more protection for packaged goods. On the technical aspect, the empty spaces provided in the corrugated cardboard acts as insulators (Tilton, 2014).

It is easy for a company to lower the transportation costs of a good through packaging it in corrugated cardboard. The board is three times lighter than packaging equipment made from wood. The light cardboard gives room for the increase in net weight of goods under transportation thereby cutting the transportation costs to companies. On the other hand, companies that utilize the corrugated cardboard are in one way able to advertise their products on the carton since it is easy to print an advert on the box. Moreover, information concerning the outcome might be published in the box to limit a lot of paper materials that accompany one product (Ylitalo, 2015).

Conclusion

The computer-assisted design and technology have to ease the manufacturing process of corrugated cardboard packages due to higher automation and productivity thereby compress the time which firms might use to execute different models on the corrugated cardboard. The above creates time for other organizatio...