Packaging design seems to be going "back to the future." At least it felt that way to me when I looked over the outstanding new packaging designs recognized in the DuPont Packaging Awards. Fancy plastic packaging is out, and old-fashioned materials like paperboard and cloth are back in. Two examples jumped out at me.
In a new design for the Fusion ProGlide, Gillette engineers dropped a thermoformed plastic "clamshell" approach and chose a formable pulp tray made of renewable bamboo and bulrush fiber-based material. That's right, bulrush, as in Moses. Clamshells are hard plastic cases that show off products in a dramatic way, but they can require a pair of scissors to penetrate and, frankly, are wasteful.
The DuPont judges said "the new package pushed the boundaries of pulp trays, reducing both cost and material weight." Not surprisingly, they are also much easier to open. And "renewable" is a magic word today. Is the benefit backed up with a lifecycle analysis? Don't know. "Renewable" doesn't necessarily equate with "good" as we discovered with corn-based ethanol fuel.
In another winner, cloth replaces plastic.
Household Essentials is now packaging its ironing board cover in a dual-function, sewn-in cloth pouch that can be used later as a spray bottle holder. Elimination of the outer package reduces package weight by 14 percent and can keep approximately 375,000 pounds of PVC from going into landfills. The 35 percent smaller package size reduces shipping costs and shrinks retail display space by 30 percent. "This approach yields a more upscale image and enhances shelf appeal to consumers who can touch and feel the product inside," the judges reported.
In another item of interest, protective secondary packaging used for electronics is made from mushroom roots and regionally sourced agricultural byproducts such as cotton burrs and oat hulls. The material is called EcoCradle.
A packaging material made from mushroom roots was a winner in the 23rd DuPont Packaging Awards.
Source: DuPont
Where are we headed?
Maybe next year's winners will get us back to wooden barrels and pewter boxes.
Biodegradable mushroom packaging--that's thinking out of the box and very impressive. I hope we apply this type of innovation throughout the packaging indutry. We provide protective packaging for large things such airplanes, automobiles, military equipment. See how planes are 'packaged' for corrosion protection at http://www.protectivepackaging.net/
Paper packaging can be a definite plus to end users. Clamshell packages can be unsafe when you need to open them with a knife. Using recycled pulp for containers is a great way to use the material at one last time before it ends up in a landfill.
I would have to agree that clamshell packaging can be wasteful, Especially since it is usually intended for single use. I also don't like the clam shells that you need to cut through (I like snap designs the best).
While going green to cut back waste is good, thought must be put into how rugged the enviro-friendly package must be able to withstand packing, stacking, & shipping.
The clamshell packaging is wasteful and tough to get into. I am glad Gillette has already implemented a new design to cut back waste, however I wonder how many more companies will do the same and change their packaging design.
There are many good biologically-based materials out there, but they have always been looked down upon. Fortunately, we now have buzzwords for these things: "biomaterials," "renewable," etc.
There is an excellent book out there for anyone with an engineering background who is interested in biologically-based materials. It is called Mechanical Design in Organisms. It describes a wide variety of naturally-occurring materials and structures in terms of engineering mechanics. Portions are available on Google Books. It is also available on Amazon.
My thesis advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Dr. Pradeep Rohatgi, got his start working on composites reinforced with natural materials such as banana, coconut, and sisal.
Personally, I am hoping to get a chance to take a couple of biology classes at the local community college sometime in the near future. As an engineering student, I never took a single biology class in college. Looking back, I think this left a gap in my education. Maybe part of the reason why biologically-based materials have been so little used is the lack of familiarity on the part of many engineers.
Even using scissors on those clamshells is tough. Of course, without those hard plastic containers, the American public never would have been introduced to the "As Seen on TV" cutter made especially for those impossible to open without cutting your hand packages. It's good to see companies moving toward more environmentally friendly materials even if they might cost them more to produce.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
