Packaging Design Information System for Distribution

Abstract

In the field of packaging and distribution, many computer aided automatic systems are already operating and effectively automating individual operations in various stages. Yet there seems to be no systems into a total strategic system.
This paper therefore describes a packaging design information system for distribution.
One of the most important factors in successful packaging design is the selection of a proper package strength capable of protecting product quality during transportation and storage. In deducing the necessary package strength, determination of degradation factors can greatly affect the accuracy of the estimation. With this in mind, we conducted various creep test and impact tests to measure the extents of degradation of fiberboards in the environment of distribution. From the measured values, the degradation factors for various distribution conditions are determined as basic data for automatic design by the computer.
Moreover, concerning the loading of packages, which has been difficult to deal with theoretically, the authors have investigated the ways for incorporating experienced operators' know-how of efficient operations and restrictive conditions to be expected. Then, an expert rule-base system is developed 'and a loading pattern can be deduced which as the maximum area efficiency under the applicable restrictions on loading.
In this report, we derived the degradation factor concerning the actual compressive strength through various experiments and structured a rule base using specialized deductions based on the intuition and long years of experience of our engineers. The results of this study show that it is now possible to develop a packaging design information system for distribulion combining the data base, production-rule-based systems for pallet loading pattern, compressive strength analysis and barcode system.