Methodology for selecting packaging alternatives: an “action research” application in the industrial sector

Jesus Garcia-Arca (), Jose A. Comesaña-Benavides, A. Trinidad Gonzalez-Portela Garrido and J. Carlos Prado-Prado
Additional contact information
Jesus Garcia-Arca: Universidade de Vigo
Jose A. Comesaña-Benavides: Universidade de Vigo
A. Trinidad Gonzalez-Portela Garrido: Universidade de Vigo
J. Carlos Prado-Prado: Universidade de Vigo

Central European Journal of Operations Research, 2021, vol. 29, issue 4, No 12, 1427-1446

Abstract: Abstract Packaging could and should be considered one of the key elements that promote supply chain performance in terms of efficiency and sustainability. Although, packaging should be considered as a system comprising three different levels (primary, secondary and tertiary), in the industrial sphere design problems are usually centered exclusively on two levels: the primary packaging (the “box”) and the tertiary packaging (the “unit load”). Thus, the main object of this paper is to propose a methodology that facilitates, in a comprehensive way, decision making in packaging system design in order to reduce total costs. To do so, the methodology makes a qualitative and quantitative exploration (including a proposal of a heuristic method) to establish strategies that enable the definition, comparison and selection of an efficient range of package designs (with their associated dimensions) that is efficient and sustainable in an overall way in terms of purchasing costs, logistics costs and environmental costs. Likewise, the authors develop the successful case of a Spanish company implementing successfully the proposed methodology. To develop this case, the authors have adopted an “Action Research” approach. The empirical validation process was developed over almost 10 years.

Keywords: Packaging; Box; Unit load; Efficiency; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10100-020-00724-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:cejnor:v:29:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10100-020-00724-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... search/journal/10100

DOI: 10.1007/s10100-020-00724-3

Access Statistics for this article

Central European Journal of Operations Research is currently edited by Ulrike Leopold-Wildburger

More articles in Central European Journal of Operations Research from Springer, Slovak Society for Operations Research, Hungarian Operational Research Society, Czech Society for Operations Research, Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR), Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research, Croatian Operational Research Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().