Improving transport packaging sustainability – a case study in a production logistics company

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Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master Thesis
Program
Supply chain management (MPSCM), MSc
Publicerad
2013
Författare
Fécourt, Adrien
Li, Tingting
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This master thesis aims to enhance knowledge on how to contribute to an increased sustainability in transport packaging. Five main categories gathering improvement strategy opportunities are developed and illustrated in an Ishikawa diagram. These categories are Process, People, Environment, Unitisation and Material. Empirical data has been collected at company X, both at its headquarters in Gothenburg, and during a one-week visit to its International Distribution Centre in Poland, where interviews to shop floor operators, observations at the packing station, and experiments of different transport packaging alternatives have been carried out. Four initiatives have been undertaken during this study. (1) The layout at the packing area was redesigned to make the material flow more direct and the packing process lean. (2) A guidebook for standardizing operators’ packing methods has been created. (3) Knowledge has been gained from experiments to define best load units across the supply chain. (4) The most valuable packaging materials have been figured out to make a return flow of packaging material possible. This would reduce raw material consumption as well as reduce the procurement costs of packaging materials. Due to the limitation that only one company has been examined deeply in this master thesis, the result of the study is mainly a good support to the case company focused to work towards sustainable transport packaging. However, the categories of improvement strategy opportunities and the method used in this master thesis can still be a reference to other manufacturing companies in industry. Keywords: transport packaging, sustainability, standardization, process mapping, cyclical packaging. Acknowledgements The authors of this thesis would like to express their gratitude to several individuals whom made this thesis possible: Pehr-Ola Pahlén, Technology Management and Economics department, Chalmers University of Technology, for the effective supervision of the thesis. Per Siesing, Director of Supply Chain at Company X, for his guidance and excellent inputs throughout the thesis. Mariusz Piechocki, International Distribution Centre warehouse manager, and Robert Kazmierczak, International Distribution Centre general manager, for their warm welcome in Poland and time spent to reply to our numerous questions. Company X and all the employees in Gothenburg for hosting the authors during the master thesis. All the operators at the International Distribution Centre in Poland for their nice welcome and English explanations.
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Transport , Industriell organisation, administration och ekonomi , Transport , Industrial organisation, administration and economics
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