Mondi enhances e-commerce product protection with ISTA transit simulation lab
03 Dec 2021 --- Mondi is opening an International Safe Transit Association (ISTA)-certified lab in Czechia to test high-performance corrugated e-commerce packaging. The testing equipment simulates the typical impacts packed goods face in transit.
The packaging and paper supplier’s new lab is located in České Budějovice at a Central European corrugated solutions flagship plant and hub for e-commerce packaging development and production.
The lab is an approved member of the Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS). This approval makes it a partner of choice for testing Amazon’s Tier 1-3 compliant packaging (FFP, SIOC and PFP), the online retailer’s market standard for reducing packaging volume in e-commerce logistics.
Carriers, online retailers and marketplaces, such as Amazon or FedEx, increasingly require packaging proven for compliance with ISTA standards using such performance tests. Mondi notes growing demand from various FMCG, consumer durables and industrial companies for proof their packaging meets these requirements.
Ensuring product protection
E-commerce product protection is a hot topic right now, with DS Smith research suggesting faulty and insufficient packaging designs could have resulted in over €1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) worth of damaged goods being delivered in Europe this Black Friday.
Mondi’s new lab features the latest testing equipment, enabling the full simulation of the typical impacts a packed product could encounter in standard retail, global logistics or e-commerce supply chains, such as compression, drop, vibration and clamp.
Mondi’s lab tests against impacts including compression, drop, vibration and clamp.
“Thorough and ISTA-standard testing eliminates the risk of product breakage and claims, and thus reduces costs and reputational damage for our customers,” notes Tarik Aniba, sales and marketing director at Mondi Corrugated Solutions.
“Performance tests also help us assess how existing packaging can be improved and processes sped up. Offering this service at our lab is another way we help our customers adapt to changing market requirements and remain agile, competitive and [environmentally] sustainable.”
Environmental performance
Mondi works with its customers to develop packaging solutions environmentally sustainable by design. Customers can minimize the overall use of materials, the need for filling materials, and transport volume through sized-to-fit, ready-to-ship and lightweight solutions, reducing their CO2 footprint.
The lab is an approved member of the Amazon Packaging Support and Supplier Network (APASS).
“The e-commerce industry and its supply chain are still relatively young, and topics like [environmental] sustainability and efficiency are critical,” Mondi’s e-commerce director Daniela Dorner told PackagingInsights in a recent discussion on Black Friday.
“As the supply chain becomes more mature, all players are collectively making progress, from packaging producers, brand owners and last-mile logistics providers to end-consumers and recyclers.”
Dorner says the issues still come down to two central problems: too much unnecessary plastic and over-packaging.
“When it comes to the first point, we are starting to see things moving in the right direction with many important e-commerce players switching to more [environmentally] sustainable alternatives, including paper-based solutions. Just recently, Amazon announced it would cut plastic packaging in Germany.”
“In addition, we are seeing a strong preference among end-consumers for online brands that use [environmentally] sustainable packaging. As for packaging optimization, innovative developments are taking place all the time, particularly when it comes to right-sizing to minimize material consumption and ensure that less air is being shipped.”
According to Innova Market Insights, 35% of global consumers have increased their home food delivery use since the virus outbreak.
By Joshua Poole
