This part contains the analysis and concluding discussion regarding the findings of the case studies. The four product cases have described the distribution of four different fresh food products. These products have similarities regarding both the limited time frame in which they are distributed as well as unexpected variations in supply. As for seasonal importance, this only impacts to a considerable degree on the distribution of Corona strawberries. This part focuses on analysing the use of the package as an information resource based on the preceding case narratives regarding the distribution of these products.
This use will therefore be analysed based on empirical data regarding the distribution of perishable goods where supply is prone to some degree of unexpected variation where distribution frequencies have a tendency to increase in the downstream part of the supply chain. First, in Chapter 6 through 8, a more detailed analysis of the provision, transformation, and use of information related to the package is given and is followed by a concluding discussion in Chapter 9.
• Chapter 6: Focuses on the interplay between goods, packages, and information. This analyses the provision side of the package as an information resource.
• Chapter 7: Concerns how the package plays an interconnecting role between the transformation of goods and the transformation of information.
• Chapter 8: Is about the use side of the role of the package as an information resource involving the adaptation of information to different user needs.
• Chapter 9: Consists of a concluding discussion regarding three key overall aspects of the role of the package as an information resource that have emerged through the course of this study. The chapter also suggests some paths for further research related to this issue.
6. Using the Package to Provide Information
This chapter discusses, based on the empirical part, how a package, together with other resources, is used in combination to create information about goods. This combining of resources through the package involves highlighting how the two communicative functions of the package as an information carrier and information source together contribute to the provision of information to various actors in the supply chain. The chapter is divided into four sections, starting with Section 6.1 discussing how the package interplays with goods, while Section 6.2 concerns how the package interacts with information about combinations of packages and goods. In 6.3, a discussion is provided of how the package is used to describe goods and identify goods. This involves how the two communicative functions of the package as an information carrier and information source are interrelated.
The discussion in this chapter is based on an understanding that has evolved through this study, that the package is an intermediary resource that links goods with information. When focusing on the use of the package as an information resource, the interplay between packages and goods functions to characterise goods while the interplay between the package and information is used to identify and register logistics units. This view of the package as an information resource is shown in the figure 6.1 below:
Fig. 6.1 The intermediary role of a package as an information resource
Characterising goods involves not only describing the form features of goods, but also includes describing features of packages used to contain goods. The identified package entity is a logistics unit. This is the outer layer of packaging discussed in Section 2.3 that is visible to personnel and used together with goods identification devices. This interplay between goods and the package is the basis for characterising features of goods through the
Characterise goods
Identify and register logistics
units
interplay Package Information
Goods interplay
logistics unit and involves the communicative function of the package as an information source. The other interplay in figure 6.1 between packages and information involves identifying and registering goods into an information system, an activity often involving the use of labels or tags, and is therefore related mainly to the communicative function of the package as an information carrier.
6.1 Goods and Packages
This section places focus on how goods and packages are combined. The influence of specific features of goods discussed in Section 2.3, and how they are contained in packages are analysed. The reason to account for this aspect of goods in a supply is that this involves analysing more specifically how product features may influence the use of the package to carry goods, which later again may influence how goods are informed about. This informational aspect of how packages carry goods is considered in the following section 6.2.
First, the physical features of goods regarding the degree of technicality, bulk, perishability, and how goods are combined with other types of goods are discussed. These features were discussed in section 2.3.2, as influential in relation to packages. Then, after this analysis, the use of the logistics unit to combine goods and packages at different packaging levels is analysed.
This involves discussing how the interplay between packages and goods relates to the issue of characterising goods. The physical features of the package, combined with features of goods, are viewed as influencing the provision of information in a supply chain.
6.1.1 Technicality of Goods
Technicality is about features of the technological complexity of the product (Stock and Lambert 2001). The studied fresh food products are organic products whose aim is usually to have their natural form features preserved when taken out of their original environment. Production influences the degree of technicality of goods since this activity transforms features of materials. In many cases, production also involves the packing of goods.
Goods’ features primarily influence how products are packed in consumer packages, the packaging level generally used to contain the material features of the goods. TINE Lettmelk and Marian fish filet are two products that have undergone production that transformed mainly their form features. Dole bananas undergo production in the ripening facility that physically does not intervene with the materials contained in the banana boxes. In the case of
Corona strawberries, harvesting and packing the goods are the only form of production activity that is accounted for. The studied goods are, with the exception of DOLE bananas, packed in consumer-level packages more directly adapted to the technicality of the goods than other packaging levels.
All the studied products are highly vulnerable to quality deterioration through environmental influences; this may be regarded as one aspect of the technicality of these goods. The Marian fish filet case shows how a technically advanced form of consumer packaging plays a vital role in protecting a technically less complex material. Therefore, consumer-level packages play an important role in protecting the types of goods that have undergone production. When the technicality of foods is increased by production, it may change the vulnerability features of goods to environmental influences and increase the importance of the role of packaging to protect these goods.
The borderline between consumer packages and goods is vague in the three cases where this form of package is used. Consumer packages may in many cases be regarded as part of the product itself. It is the use of the plastic basket to contain Corona strawberries that transforms this raw material into goods that may be distributed and a product that may be marketed to an end-user. The combined technicality of goods and consumer packages influence how goods are contained in distribution- and transport-level packages.
Consumer-level packages may, accordingly, be regarded as playing a
“buffer” role between the material aspects of goods and the outer levels of packages and goods containment facilities.
The two mainly physical functions of packaging, protection, and utility, influence how distribution and transport packages are used to contain consumer packages. Bananas demand specially adapted banana boxes since they are not contained in consumer packages, while the other goods may rely on more generic forms of outer-level packaging. In the case of roll-rack containers having a standardised shape that efficiently contain cartons of TINE Lettmelk, this is adapted to fit in a range of different goods containment facilities and be wheeled manually from facility to facility. 12 baskets of Corona strawberries fit perfectly into the applied size of the IFCO crate, and these crates are in size and weight designed to accommodate manual stacking. The stacks of IFCO crates are combined with a perfectly fitted EURO pallet to create a logistics unit. The pallet, in turn, is modified to fit into a certain size containment facility and adapted for use by forklift equipment. The containment of goods in consumer packages, therefore, also facilitates the protection of goods in distribution and transport-level packages. Hence, consumer level packages are viewed as buffers between
goods and outer layer packages, influencing the suitability of combining different types of packages.
Technological complexity of goods includes both the technical aspects of the physical features of goods and packages used to contain goods since the borderline between goods and packages is regarded as unclear. Technicality is closely interrelated with the different physical functions of the package, primarily the protection function. Protection is provided through the basic packaging of the goods, and how they are contained also influences their technical complexity. In addition, through their technicality packages influence utility by how they are combined with each other and with features of different logistics facilities.
6.1.2 Bulk of Goods
“Bulk” is used here in accordance with Stock and Lambert’s (2001:83-84) classification of product characteristics to describe the size and shape of goods, including value features. The degree of bulk shows how much space a logistics unit demands in a containment facility measured in relation to its value. TINE Lettmelk is a low-value, heavy liquid material that must be contained in some form of package. Marian fish filet and Corona strawberries are lightweight materials and relatively high value goods, considering they are food products. Dole bananas is a premium grade product, but bananas are generally of a relatively low value. They are moderately heavy, demanding much space compared with other goods, as they are a high volume BAMA product . Also, consumer-level packages apportion products influencing how packages are used to divide the goods into logistics units employing distribution- and transport-level packages.
This is most apparent in the case of TINE Lettmelk, which is offered in a range of different sizes adapted to customer needs. The bulk of goods are influenced by a combination of goods and package form and value features, since the degree of bulk at the consumer-level is, in part, a result of the size of the packages and smaller package sizes usually are higher priced than the larger ones.
Since the shape of packages, together with form features and the value of materials contained in packages, distinguish the bulk of goods, bulk influences the use of logistics facilities such as storage compartments, forklift trucks, conveyor belts, and temperature-regulating machinery. There is a need to economise the handling of goods since all the studied fresh food products are high volume, low value products. Distribution-level packages containing goods must have shape, size, and weight features adapted to manual handling. Corona strawberries are manually harvested, placed into