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Find the perfect automation for your e-commerce packaging.
In e-commerce, fast processing and handling of orders are critical success factors, but execution must also be flawlessly and cost-efficiently. This requires a special approach of automation, adapted to the specific requirements and needs of the sector. In this blog, we will look at several aspects of packaging for e-commerce and how to deal with them for a perfect automation solution.
Batch-size-1
More product variation and personalisation have led for years to an evolution in the industry where batches and production runs become increasingly smaller. In automation, it requires short changeover times, to adjust machines as quickly as possible between two orders. In the e-commerce sector, this trend is taken to the extreme with batch sizes of one product each time. To accommodate this, automatic changeovers without an operator are needed with machines that can adjust themselves to the product that needs to be packaged. This can also mean that each product must be measured on the machine, so that the optimal packaging size can be selected.
Customized packaging
In addition, when there is variation in product dimensions and efficient packaging (high throughput, consistent product quality and protection) is required efficiently, it is advisable to switch to customized packaging. Packaging is then no longer formed from punched blanks (plano) but folded on the machine from endless cardboard on a roll or Z-fold. The aim of tailored packaging is to keep volumes as low as possible. It saves transport costs and reduces the need for filling material. The result is a more sustainable packaging solution that can be fully recycled.
Cardboard on a roll or Z-fold?
Packaging machines that make individual tailored packaging from endless cardboard, use cardboard on a roll or cardboard in Z-fold. If sturdy packages with thicker cardboard are required, cardboard in Z-fold is applied. This requires very advanced automation with smart mechatronics to avoid possible disturbance of the folds which are inherent to the Z-fold. If packages with normal to light cardboard are required, cardboard on a roll can be used to form the packaging around the product. Both automation systems have pros and contra’s, the right economical versus quality balance has to be made.
Orders with multiple products
A special challenge, where automation still reaches its limits today, is when multiple products needs to packed together in one order. One solution is to bundle the products during picking and give the bundle its own identification so it can be packed as one product. But that process can be complex. Another solution is to pack the products separately, which usually leads to the greatest volume efficiency when using tailored packaging. For orders with multiple products, it is usually too complicated to apply the ‘Box Last’ principle, in which a custom packaging is formed around the product. However, automation software can be developed to create packages with optimal dimensions based on the products, which is then filled manually by an operator.
While the ‘look and feel’ of packaging plays an important role in the marketing of products for the retail sector, this is not the case in e-commerce. Often it is even the explicit intention not to give any indication of what is in a package to reduce the chance of theft. However, in e-commerce too, it is possible to apply a personalized print to packaging, for example in the context of promotions. Ofcourse, e-commerce packaging by definition has personalized labels with among other things the shipping address. Printing and labelling requires reliable data processing with an effective final check to verify that the correct data has ended up on the correct packaging.
When choosing tailored packaging, it is advisable to select a well thought range of product dimensions that the automation machine should process. When both very small and extremely large packages are required, the complexity of an automation machine might become unnecessarily high. A solution is to apply the 80/20 rule, whereby the range of the machine is selected such that it can handle 80% of the required packaging. The remaining packaging can then be processed manually or on a separate automation machine.
The same 80/20 rule can be applied to big variations in order volumes, where it often might be more economical to deploy extra manpower during peaks than to build a machine that does not operate at its maximum capacity 80% of the time.
Automation solutions always have to be considered in its right context. Apart from that, extreme sizes, whether it is very long or very tiny, is not the topic here. Read more about examples of XXL or XS in our cases. Or just get in contact, we are happy to inform you.
In the e-commerce industry, there is a trend to make packaging as customer-friendly as possible, developing the best ‘easy opening’ systems. The added advantage is that the packaging can easily be reused for returns if necessary. In this context, the best ‘easy closing’ systems are often also developed. Therefore in general, applying automation machines that make custom-made packaging, contributes to customer-friendly experience and a lower CO2 footprint because no filling materials are needed, nor for the returns.
Why Avercon?
Avercon has extensive experience in designing and building packaging machines, also in e-commerce. As a ‘one stop shop’, we design machines and packaging lines that are tailored to the specific needs of a customer and cover all aspects of packaging, from receiving goods from picking to labelling and preparing for shipping. Our experienced engineering team builds high-performance machines with advanced functions such as fully automatic changeover and making tailormade packaging from endless cardboard. This allows you to choose for the perfect automation for your e-commerce packaging.
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