Date and Time
September 13-15, 2010
9am - 5pm
Location
DDL, Inc.
10200 Valley View Road #101
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344-3754
Teacher
Kevin Howard
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(approx. 700K)
Course Description
A pragmatic design approach to minimize costs of supply chain logistics through wiser product and packaging design and better test methods.
Packaging Economics
Financial aspects of packaging. Many companies are departmentalized in ways that obfuscate their true costs of packaging and product design. Often their R&D and Manufacturing engineering managers keep track of direct material costs while Traffic or Supply Chain people attempt to minimize transportation and logistics costs. Unfortunately, product and packaging design choices directly affect the costs of
- shipping,
- handling,
- storage and
- field failures.
These logistics costs can easily reach 5 to 10 times the cost of the packaging materials. These leveraged costs mean that small changes in product and packaging designs can save significant amounts of money. Lacking a holistic approach in the design community that accounts for such costs, few businesses minimize their overall costs.
Product Design
Few product designers have been educated about common material handling hazards found in distribution, nor about the standard sizing of pallets or modes of transport. Packaging engineers can share knowledge about these details to help produce lower cost product solutions. Traffic/Supply Chain people routinely negotiate the best rates possible for each mode of transport. Packaging engineers can initiate far greater cost savings by improving product density, especially for air shipments.
Optimized Packaging
Packaging engineers can contribute hugely to their employers’ profitability by extending their knowledge and influence towards more appropriate product design, better test methods, smarter material handling, influencing more efficient assembly line pack-out processes and by taking a more holistic approach to packaging structural design (taking into account tool layout, material sustainability, and impact upon logistics costs).
Not only is optimized packaging design important, but balance should be maintained between
- smarter component design that allows lower in-bound costs and better manufacturing line assembly times;
- product designs that produce the highest pallet/truck/ocean container/air cargo density possible, and
- thus the lowest possible logistics costs (this entails influencing product/hardware fragility, size and geometry);
- advanced laboratory testing techniques to assure the proper amount of packaging protection and low product failure rates; and
For whom intended
Packaging engineers, supply chain managers and product engineers need this course to better understand the cost implications of their design decisions. Examples will be provided on
- how components can be designed to limit subsequent
- packaging,
- material handling,
- shipping and
- manufacturing assembly costs;
- how packaging can be optimized;
- how testing can be dramatically improved for lower costs and less field damage; and
- how to better balance the costs of packaging and product design to achieve the lowest possible landed costs
an important goal for most manufacturers.
Course Outline
I. The focus of this course: how to minimize costs.
- Where’s the money?
- Hazards of distribution…do you know yours?
- Packaging designs can invite high damages.
- Why are packages so large?
II. Shock and vibe
- How and why do products respond to inputs.
- Are your tests representative of distribution?
- Are ASTM and ISTA tests all you need to minimize costs?
- Are ASTM and ISTA tests all you need to minimize costs?
- Suggestions for test practices.
- More products, more orientations, fewer drops
- Damage boundary as a product design tool
- High speed video for fine tuning cushion design
III. Distribution: Why you need to see it for yourself
- What are the consistent failures?
- What are the root causes of failure?
- Why different problems occur in different places.
- How to use this knowledge for better tests and designs
IV. Design, tactical and strategic
- Pallets: typical problems and solutions. Can you eliminate the pallet?
- Corrugated boxes: easy ways to improve quality and minimize costs
- Products and components: the tradeoffs between packaging and better design
- The 6 step method and why it costs you money
- The design process: minimize overall costs with outside in thinking
- Cushions: theory vs. practice…how to minimize costs
- How’s your customer’s OOBE (out of box experience)?
V. Green packaging
- How one company changed from foam to molded pulp
- Why you need to eliminate PVC thermoform packaging
- Light weight and densified loads: excellent for both costs and the environment
VI. Could the best package be no package?
- Component design to minimize packaging
- Product design that requires less packaging
- Packaging postponement: add packaging when you need it
- Minimizing wasted space in the package, between packages, between unit loads
Award of certificates
Text Materials
Each participant will receive a binder of pertinent material on packaging and dynamic testing.
Location
DDL, Inc.
10200 Valley View Road #101
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344-3754
Tel: 1-800-229-4235
Please visit Google Maps for map and directions to DDL.
Suggestion for Accommodation
Hyatt Place Minneapolis/Eden Prairie
11369 Viking Drive
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
Phone: 1-888-492-8847
Fee/Registration
Fee is US$2,595 per student. Payment in advance via check, VISA or Mastercard preferred credit cards or bank transfer (ask for transfer details).
For registration and payment received one month prior to course, deduct $100. For three or more participants from an organization and payment received one month prior to course, deduct $200 each.
For your convenience, click on the top button to expeditiously enroll online or click the lower button to enroll via Fax. Alternatively you can call our office at (805) 564-1260.
