Packaging solution evaluation at Aurobay - A case study of the packaging solutions at an engine supplier in the automotive industry

Abstract

Material flows and logistics systems have gained increasing attention over the last decades, where development towards a more holistic view of the supply chain and capacity utilization is in focus. Businesses today strive to preserve the environment while maintaining economic growth and gaining competitive advantage. The environmental aspect comes with pressure to reduce packaging waste and reuse materials, which have major impacts on the logistics infrastructure. In recent years it has shown that making changes in the materials handling systems can bring both economic and environmental benefits. In today’s industries, packaging has an important role as it ensures the quality of the product throughout the transport and enables safe and efficient handlings in the transportation system. In this master’s thesis the current packaging and associated systems at a Swedish automotive supplier, Aurobay, are investigated and evaluated, with the purpose to present improvements and alternative packaging solutions with increased performance in costs, sustainability and supply chain efficiency. The thesis is a case study based on a theoretical framework developed through literature studies and empirical findings at Aurobay. The thesis results in the presentation of two alternative packaging systems that increase performance within either transport costs and CO2-emissions, or parts presentation and quality of products, and a third solution where the current system is developed in-plant to improve production performance.