En fallstudie om transportförpackningars väg genom distributionskedjor

Sammanfattning: This project has been conducted with a case study approach. The studied objects are two different transport packages for the product Arboga skivbar leverpastej 250 gram, which is a Swedish liver paste. One of the transport packages is made of corrugated cardboard while the other one is a returnable plastic box that can be used over and over again. The packages have been studied during their way from the filling machine at the producer to the end user. The return flow and the recycling are also included to get a holistic view of the situation. Data has been collected through interviews and observations at each actor in the supply chain. The purpose of the project was to investigate how well each of the two packages fit into the studied distribution chains. Transports, environmental issues, economy and ease of use are essential parts of the project. Returnable packages are becoming more and more common in the Western World. The packages are produced to be reused and therefore they need to be washed and checked for deficiencies. The studied returnable packages in this project are one of the most common returnable systems in Sweden, called Svenska Retursystem AB (SRS). During this project it has been clear that the returnable plastic boxes are better suited for manual work than the packages made of corrugated cardboard. With good manual features time reduction in warehouses and shops can be feasible. There is also module thinking behind the manufacturing of the returnable packages. This feature makes it easier to pack transport packages of different sizes in a load carrier. The standard modules are also easy to use in automatic warehouses. Another positive feature associated with the returnable packages is the ability to arrange them in stacks. A problem that frequently occurred during the study was the labels on the returnable packages. It can be shown that it is of outmost importance to use labels suited for the environment that the packages are going to be transported in to minimize manual labor. The returnable packages, with its open design, also cause problems with theft, resulting in missing products for the end customer. Due to a big number of unrecorded cases the extension of the problem is yet unknown. The transport packages made of corrugated cardboard do not live up to the demands set by the supply chain regarding protection and stability. The problems do however not arise until the packages have been delivered to customers outside the production facility. This shortcoming is believed to come of the fact that the food industry is struggling with low margins where inexpensive alternatives are prioritized, with a result of lowered standard of quality. Regarding cube utilization the corrugated cardboard packages are preferable due to the ability to customize the size to any given product. The size of the returnable packages is not perfectly suited for the product to be carried which affects the cube utilization in a negative way as long as the load carrier only contains one product. Is the given product instead going to be transported together with other products on the same load carrier, the module feature of the returnable packages can have a positive effect on the cube utilization. The trend is towards a higher amount of load carriers loaded with a mix of products, which indicates that SRS and its returnable packages is an established and long lasting system.