NEFAB progresses on green packaging solutions path
NEFAB India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEFAB AB, Sweden, develops and manufactures complete packaging solutions for industrial products, has started drawing strategies to offer green packaging solutions. This will reduce the environmental impact as the company is working on optimising the packaging solutions by reducing the content by suggesting and supplying materials which are recyclable. By 2020, NEFAB India wants to be positioned as the most recognised brand of the Indian industrial packaging market by providing high quality products and service with focus on green packaging solutions.
“Our business concept is to offer complete packaging solutions that reduce total cost and environmental impact,” Prasad Mandrolli, Marketing Manager, NEFAB India said. “Ours is an ISO 14001:2004 company. The sensitivity of the product and its impact on the environment have to be analysed concurrently. The cost of the packaging is offset by reducing the cost of damages. Packaging sector is dominated by the unorganised players in the areas of corrugated, wooden and steel fabrication. There are only a few players like us in the organised sector. Scant respect for environment and excessive usage of tropical wood, rainforest plywood etc plague this pricedriven market,” he added.
The ISO 9001:2005 (QMS) and 14001:2004 (EMS) differentiate the manufacturers within the packaging industry. The industry does not have any major entry barriers and needs very low investment. The unorganised players often copy the solutions and offer them at much lower price. This is a big challenge for the organised sector companies. The automotive industry is highly price-sensitive and the packaging solutions have to be cost effective. Standardisation is the need for this industry which would support cost reduction. “At NEFAB, we intend to accelerate growth by coming out with costeffective and innovative solutions. Packing of products, container loading / lashing are typical cost-effective services offered which help eliminate damages,” Mandrolli said.
The challenges with respect to packaging are significant. Before designing any packaging solution, issues like the impact of weather changes have to be taken care of. In sea freight, due to condensation inside a container, a phenomenon called ‘Container Raining’ takes place. To absorb the moisture inside the container dehumidifying agents like container desiccants are suggested. They absorb the moisture present in the container and prevent ‘container raining’ affecting the packaging/product. This is just one part of the journey of the packaging material. When you consider domestic movement, where weather changes are common, it is always better to use ‘Close Body’ containers for transportation of material/ products along with container desiccants.
One of the basic functions of packaging is to assist in product handling. “We design packaging solutions keeping in mind the supply chain and total cost of logistics coupled with multimaterial engineering. Typically design of packaging solution would vary for fork lift handling, sling, overhead cranes and manual handling also at times,” Mandrolli said.
Packaging solution is something that needs to be designed considering the entire supply chain that is optimised for the mode of transport used, storage and distribution systems in play. It is not just a box that a designer designs but it is a solution. For a packaging solution to be acceptable in a supply chain, designer has to consider mode of transportation, product handling, storage requirements in addition to the details of the product to be packed and transported, he said.
There is no one single packaging material that the manufacturer suggests to the customers. The packaging that it suggests is material neutral, which means, which ever packaging material is suitable for the product to be packed, it is suggested. If there is a need for any hybrid solution, like combining 2 packaging materials, that is advised to customers. Typically for an expendable
flow, plywood, pinewood, OSB, corrugated boxes, pallets etc and a combination of these are packaging solutions. For a returnable flow, more sturdy materials like steel, rugged wooden skids, plastic containers, or a combination are used to provide the solution. “All our packaging solutions are RoHS, ISPM 15, FSC and E1 compliant, suitable for exports also to various countries,” he said.
“There are several parts that go into making a vehicle. This means, it is difficult to have a standard questionnaire for packaging design. When designing expendable packaging solutions for automotive industry, we try to gather information regarding product logistical flows, the supply chain process and storage or shelf details. When it comes to returnable packaging, the inputs that we need remain more or less same as that of expendable packaging solution, but we also concentrate on gathering information on project life, to & fro flow and transport costs. Since returnable packaging involves capital investment it would be useful to know payback period and Return on Investment (RoI). Typically, a returnable packaging solution has certain life period and the returnable flow should be economically viable as there are return freight costs involved,” Mandrolli said.
The market share is too big a term to use as there are a lot of unorganised players in the market. “But 15% of our turnover is contributed by the automotive market and it is in the growth trajectory. We are not involved in export business directly as of now. But majority of our customers use our packaging solutions for exporting their products. Currently, a little over 50% of our packaging is used for exports,” Mandrolli said.