“Performance within packaging logistics is all about doing the right things, doing things right, and positioning your products and services in relation to your competitors’ products and services,” says Innventia’s Chris Dominic, who will be defending his thesis on the subject this week. His work highlights the demands and requirements placed on packaging by various players, and offers tools for developing more efficient systems.

“The aim of my thesis is to reinforce knowledge about packaging and its integral role with actors throughout the supply and demand chain,” he continues. “The aim is to be able to improve packaging logistics performance from a holistic perspective, thereby avoiding the risk of suboptimisation at any stage. It’s not just you who needs to be satisfied – so does your customer, and your customer’s customer.”

Chris has created a model for improving knowledge about packaging logistics. This model includes the Packaging Scorecard tool, which measures the performance of packaging logistics and shows which deficiencies exist at various levels within the supply chain. The tool has been further developed, and is already available online under the name of Packaperforma.

“I started working with packaging because it’s an interesting area for demonstrating in a concrete manner how logistics works,” explains Chris, who trained as a logistician. “But to my surprise, I discovered that there weren’t any tools for measuring performance in this field!”

The tool that Chris has now developed structures the requirements placed on packaging by various actors. The user inputs data about his own packages. By comparing this with data for the “best in class” packaging, the tool suggests effective packaging development where deficiencies are identified. It therefore answers questions such as “Where do I stand in comparison with my competitors, and what should I do to improve my packaging?”

In order to be able to say something about packaging logistics performance, it is important to understand the supply chains within packaging logistics. In his research, Chris interviewed almost a hundred companies within various value chains and conducted case studies.

“We talk rather carelessly about value chains. It’s actually a case of companies, or more accurately people within companies, who should have these contacts and knowledge about packaging. For the manufacturer, the question of how to design packaging is a central aspect, whereas the distributor sees things differently. At some point here the packaging makes the transition from hardware to become a service.”

Is the tool fully developed now? No – Chris already has his next goal in sight.
“I want to investigate how aspects such as sustainability can be applied to the packaging logistics models. Then we come to questions such as fossil fuels, water consumption and energy efficiency, but these go hand in hand with existing ways of thinking. The aim is therefore to investigate how effective logistics can contribute towards a more sustainable world.”
An impressive aim, and one that is worthy of a newly qualified Doctor in Packaging Logistics.

Chris Dominic will defend his thesis on 13 April at 13:15 in the STFI room.