Future of Packaging

ERA Group's whitepaper starts from the fact that costs for both wood-based and synthetic packaging have fluctuated heavily in recent years, and that packaging affects cost, environmental impact and customer satisfaction across the logistics chain. It covers six areas of packaging optimisation: professional packaging management, cost optimisation, material and design optimisation, size optimisation, sustainability and process optimisation.

Packaging management is framed around strategic supplier concentration versus diversification — redundancy for critical materials, while simpler 'me-too' items may sit with a single supplier. Contract management with defined service levels and agreed price-adjustment mechanisms is central, and price levels can be secured for two to three years rather than renegotiated continually.

Cost optimisation should start at item level, assessing both price and genuine production and delivery capacity. Geography matters: corrugated cardboard has high transport volume relative to goods value and is usually sourced within roughly 300–400 km, whereas big bags are often best sourced from South-East Europe or Asia.

Size optimisation receives particular emphasis. Average fill rates in e-commerce are stated to be only around 50%, and since roughly 80% of packaging cost is process cost, choosing the right format gives a long lever. The content is ERA Group's own; JMF Europe summarises it briefly and the original English document remains the complete source.