Jesús García-Arca1, A. Trinidad González-Portela Garrido1, Iván González-Boubeta
Jesús García-Arca1, A. Trinidad González-Portela Garrido1, Iván González-Boubeta1 and J. Carlos Prado-Prado1
1 Grupo de Ingeniería de Organización (GIO). University of Vigo. Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial, campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
1. Introduction
The first aim of this paper is to identify and justify the main potential lines for improvements in the realm of SPL. The paper also goes beyond the purely conceptual to illustrate that potential by analyzing four case studies, two retail sector firms (a pipzza manufacturer and a fish product manufacturer), and two industrial sector firms (a street furniture manufacturer and an automotive supplier), by using the “Action Research” methodology. This approach implies that the authors participate directly in the applied projects, leading and coordinating the implementation of the improvements though work teams. Thanks to this involvement, the researchers have the opportunity to witness the process not only as mere observers but also as real “agents of change” in intervention and knowhow-compiling processes.
2. Actions for developing Sustainable Packaging Logistics
The many faces and the impacts of the design requirements that packaging must satisfy can be understood from a point of view of sustainability. Those requirements are located on very different planes and have very different needs. They include, for example, commercial aspects, protection, production, logistics, sales and purchasing, the environment, ergonomics, the law, or communication.
García-Arca et al. [1] adapt, fine-tune and enlarge the “Packaging Logistics” approach proposed by Saghir [7] to the context of sustainability, coining the term “Sustainable Packaging Logistics” (SPL), which they define as: “The process of designing, implementing, and controlling the integrated packaging, product and supply chain systems in order to prepare goods for safe, secure, efficient and effective handling, transport, distribution, storage, retailing, consumption, recovery, reuse or disposal, and related information, with a view to maximizing social and consumer value, sales, and profit from a sustainable perspective, and on a continuous adaptation basis”.
What that means, therefore, is integration of packaging design in the first stages of product and supply chain design, with a “dynamic” approach so that it can adapt at all times not only to the different visions and perceptions of the design requirements that each stage of the supply chain values and perceives, but also to the changes that can arise in the design requirements themselves or in the environment (technological, legal, etc.). This area of changes would include the improvement which have already been successfully adopted by other firms but which cannot be applied indiscriminately without prior knowledge of the conditioning factors of the products and the supply chains themselves. Table 1 summarizes these changes compiled by the authors through a literature review [2-8], sh