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E-commerce Trends Emerging in Pharmaceutical Packaging

In this Q&A, Gavin Ashe, Managing Partner at Kite Packaging, talks packaging trends and innovation for 2016, saying industry too often focuses on the cheapest solution, not the best one.

In this Q&A, Gavin Ashe, Managing Partner at Kite Packaging, talks packaging trends and innovation for 2016.
In this Q&A, Gavin Ashe, Managing Partner at Kite Packaging, talks packaging trends and innovation for 2016.

Question: What is the next trend in packaging machinery?

Ashe: There are two significant trends emerging in the sector, both of which are both driven by the ecommerce sector. They are Pack volume minimization and pack velocity.

By pack volume minimization we are talking about getting the smallest possible pack to dispatch. The really smart players in the industry have woken up to the fact that it is costing them five times more to ship its goods than it spends on packing them.

Amazon’s latest figures show that they are spending up to 13% of their turnover on distribution and the truth is distribution in the e-commerce sector is all about cubic meters, not kilos. On the flip side we have the likes of DX saying that the physical size of a parcel is a very important factor in the cost of sortation and handling of parcels through its network.

So it’s going to be all about solutions that can reduce the shipping volume, which are likely to have a very strong year. Systems that make a pack the right size, do away with the need for void fill, will be key in reducing transport costs.

Pack velocity has been on the radar for a while now and it is simply about getting more packs through the packing operation per minute. Space is at a premium, with a real shortage of commercial property, staff costs are on the rise and margins are being squeezed. Businesses will have to be more efficient or face some very tough choices. So the trick is going be finding ways of being faster, while maintaining flexibility.

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