Packaging Evaluation of Consumer Electronics Products from Economic, Logistical, and Environmental Perspectives

With the growing applications of information technologies, consumer electronics products are being widely used in our daily life and at our workplaces. However, most consumer electronics packaging is one-time consumption and produces tremendous environmental impacts. Different package designs affect not only logistics efficiency, but also environmental performance. Here, various package designs for a consumer electronics product are studied and a packaging evaluation method is proposed. The method evaluates package designs mainly based on package characteristics information to avoid the inclusion of too much subjective human judgment. The criteria of the evaluation consider five aspects: marketing, logistics, cost, user convenience, and environment, including protection and containment, stackability, volume, and weight efficiency, product information, packaging cost, packaging waste, etc. The case of computer mice is used to illustrate the proposed method. The preliminary results show that different package designs of a consumer electronics product have a significant impact on logistical, marketing, economic, and environmental performance. Based on existing data of package designs, the proposed method can provide valuable information for improvements in package design, supply chain efficiency, and environmental impact.

Practical Application of Plan–Do–Check–Act Cycle for Quality Improvement of Sustainable Packaging: A Case Study

The research aims to give practical instructions for applying Plan–Do–Check–Act (PDCA) cycle in a packaging process. Eco-friendly, recycled material and a new packaging method for quality improvement and cost efficiency of heavily fragile product packaging are studied in this paper. A case study was conducted at GPEM laboratory, Vietnamese German University, Vietnam. In this case study, the current packaging style with Styrofoam material was analyzed and replaced by new packaging material and methods after applying the PDCA cycle for continuous quality improvement. Targets of the research were to find the new packaging method using friendly environment materials, to improve the quality, and to reduce the defect ratio due to packaging for fine-stone round surface fountains. Moreover, the extra cost should not be higher than 20% compared with the current packaging cost. The article proposes a simplified way that focuses on the combination of quality tools in the PDCA multiple phases to solve these problems. The quality tools are applied effectively through the PDCA cycle from collecting data, defining, analysis, testing, evaluation, and making decisions. New packaging design was been produced and tested successfully. One hundred percent of new packaging boxes for the mid-weight fountains (under 15 kg) passed the dropping test condition. Nearly 10% of the heavier weight products (above 15 kg) still had some small cracks on their top and bottom due to drop tests. Another PDCA cycle is recommended to continue applying for achieving a thorough solution. The conducted results show that PDCA is an effective method to tackle the damage product issue due to inappropriate packaging material and technique. It also brings good solutions for balancing sustainable packaging improvement and reducing the cost to ensure profit for companies. Besides contributing a guide reference for PDCA deployment, the authors intend to inspire practitioners and researchers to broaden exploration of the PDCA applications for sustainable packaging methodology. The research analysis shows that the PDCA methodology should be applied for defect reduction and quality enhancement in the packaging field. The field currently lacks systematic guidance for continuous improvement.

DAMPAK KEBIJAKAN PEMERINTAH TERHADAP USAHA TANI BERAS ORGANIK DI PROVINSI JAWA BARAT

Salah satu kebijakan Menteri Pertanian berkenaan dengan ekspor dan impor beras adalah peningkatan ekspor jenis beras khusus, seperti beras organik. Permintaan pasar global beras organik semakin meningkat, tetapi Indonesia menghadapi pesaing seperti Thailand dan Vietnam. Meskipun demikian, petani beras organik di Provinsi Jawa Barat menunjukkan kemampuan daya saingnya dengan keberhasilannya melakukan ekspor ke negara Amerika Serikat, Jerman, Malaysia, Singapura, Belanda, Italia, dan Dubai. Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis daya saing beras organik, dan mengidentifikasi dampak kebijakan pemerintah terhadap kegiatan usaha tani beras organik. Metode analisis yang digunakan adalah Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa varietas beras organik memiliki daya saing yang cukup untuk ekspor, terlihat pada keunggulan kompetitif (Private Cost Ratio) dan komparatif (Domestic Resource Cost Ratio). Penerimaan secara finansial maupun sosial dapat memenuhi biaya input domestik. Keunggulan kompetitif dan komparatif melemah akibat dari adanya pengaruh biaya sertifikasi lahan pada biaya domestik dan biaya kemasan, sedangkan dampak kebijakan pemerintah terhadap input dan output menguntungkan petani. Kebijakan bersifat efektif namun belum efisien akibat belum adanya lembaga penyediaan input seperti pupuk dan benih organik. One of the agriculture minister policies related to rice exports and imports is the increased number of certain type of rice export such as organic rice.The global demand of organic rice market has been increasing but Indonesia is facing competitors, such as Thailand and Vietnam. Nevertheless, organic rice farmers in west java province are showing their competitive capability by exporting to a United States, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, The netherlands, Italy, and Dubai. This study aims to analyze the competitiveness of organic rice, and identify the impacts in government policy for the organic rice farming.The result shows that some varieties of organic rice have adequate export competitiveness, seen from the competitive advantage (private cost ratio) and the comparative advantage (domestic cost ratio) which are positive. The analysis method used was Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). The financial and social revenue could cover the input of domestic cost. The competitive and comparative advantages were weakened as a result of the influence of land certification in the domestic and packaging cost, whereas the impact of government policy to input and output is profitable for farmers. The policy is effective but has not been efficient due to lack of input providers such as fertilizer and organic seeds.

The Improvement of Metal Stamping Procurement Process

This research is aimed to improve procurement process in supply chain management with the capability to reduce environmental effect by lean production technique, and 3Rs principle, and to improve supply chain by SCOR model. The research methodology, Value Stream Mapping (VSM)is used to analyze the development of on time delivery of suppliers, and then SCOR model is applied to improve and reduce energy consumption and recycle material in supply chain. The result has been revealed that new development process could be improved on time delivery rate from 38.51% to 93.80%. This procurement process has reduced frequency of supplier's transportation from 40 to 29 times per month so it could reduce fuel consumption on average cost of 45,230.98 Baht per year, packaging cost on average of 158,295.11 Baht per year and reduce total GHG emission about 20.896TCo2e per year. Therefore,the new process can improve supply chain and being environmental friendly or sustainable green supply chain management.

Development of suitable package for transportation of guava (Psidium guajava L.)

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is a perishable and climacteric fruit. The peel surface of guava is soft. During transportation, guava surface is rupture lack of proper packaging. Two types of corrugated fibre board (CFB) cartons of 7 and 5 ply and one type of wooden box were designed and fabricated for transportation of guava in Farm Machinery and Postharvest Process Engineering (FMPE) Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur in 2013. The dimensions of the cartons were 513 x 300 x 240 mm and 400 x 300 x 300 mm. The 7 ply cartons of both the size were found better than those of 5 ply cartons in terms of static load bearing capacity. The carton of 513 x 300 x 240 mm was better than that of second one. The holding capacities of these cartons were about 18-20 kg of guava. The static load bearing capacities of both the cartons of 7 and 5 ply cartons were 90 and 70 kg, respectively. Green matured guava was harvested, sorted and packed in different packages, such as bamboo basket, wooden box, plastic crate, and CFB cartons. They were transported from Sharupkhati of Barisal to Gazipur by a track. Then the guava packages were opened in FMPE Division, BARI, Gazipur and stored at ambient temperature (28.8 ± 2°C) and humidity (87± 2%) for 8 days. The highest shelf-life of guava was found in wooden box without wrapping and the lowest shelf-life was in CFB cartons with polyethylene (0.05 mm) having 2% perforation. Wooden box was found suitable as packaging material for transportation of guava in terms of freshness, shelf-life, and packaging cost. Packaging cost of CFB cartons was higher followed by that of plastic crate, wooden box, and bamboo basket. Packaging costs of plastic crate and wooden box were cheaper than those of CFB cartons and bamboo basket. Plastic crate and wooden box should be used for local market to transport the fruits. CFB carton may be used for export market or supper market. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjar.v39i2.20437 Bangladesh J. Agril. Res. 39(2): 337-350, June 2014

CoC (Chip on Chip) or FtoF (Face to Face) - PossumTM Technology for 3D MEMS and ASIC eliminating the need of TSV or Wire Bonding

This paper describes the ongoing 3 years research and development at Amkor Technology on CoC (Chip on Chip)/FtF (Face to Face) – PossumTM technology. This technology has showed a lot of interests from the microelectronics customers/industries because of its various advantages, which include a) providing smaller form factor (SFF) to the final package, b) more functionalities (dies) can be incorporated/assembled in one package, c) improving the electrical performance - including lower parasitic resistance, lower power, and higher frequency bandwidth, and d) Opportunity for lower cost 3D system integration. Unlike other 3D Packaging technology (e.g. using TSV (Through Silicon Vias)) that requires some works in the front stream (wafer foundry) level, needs new capitals for machines/equipments, and needs modified assembly lines; CoC/FtF technology uses the existing flip Chip Attach (C/A) or TC (Thermal Compression) equipment/machine to perform the assembly joint between the two dies, which are named as the mother (larger) die and the daughter (smaller) die. Furthermore, the cost to assemble CoC/FtF is relatively inexpensive while the applications are very wide and endless, which include the 3D integration of MEMS and ASIC. The current MEMS packaging and test cost contributes about 35 to 45% to the overall MEMS unit cost. WLC (Wafer Level Capping) with wire bonding have been widely used for mass production for accelerometer (e.g. ADI and Motorola), gyroscope (e.g. Bosch and Invensense), and oscillator /timer (e.g. Discera). The WLC produce drawbacks of a large form factor and the increase in the capacitive and electrical resistances. Currently, the industries have been developing a new approach of 3D WLP (Wafer Level Packaging) by using a) TSV MEMS cap with wire bonding (e.g. Discera), b) TSV MAME cap with solder bump (e.g. Samsung, IMEC, and VTI), and c) TSV MEMS wafer/die with cap (e.g. Silex Microsystems). The needs of TSVs in the 3D WLP will add the packaging cost and reduce the design flexibility is pre-TSV wafer is used. “Amkor CoC/FtoF – PossumTM” is an alternative technology for 3D integration of MEMS and ASIC. CoC/FtoF – PossumTM does not require TSV or wire bonding; Miniaturizing form factor of 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm x 0.95 mm (including the package) of MEMS and ASIC can be achieved by using CoC/FtoF – PossumTM while Discera's design of 3D WLP requires substrate size > 2 mm x 2 mm. CoC/FtoF – PossumTM will likely produce packaging cost which is lower than WLC or 3D WLP – TSV at the same time the customer is benefited from smaller FF and reduced electrical/parasitic resistance. CoC/FtoF – PossumTM can be applied to any substrates including FCBGA and laminate. This technology also can be applied to package multiple MEMS microsensors, together with ASIC, microcontroller, and wireless RF to realize the 3D system integration.

Insulating Packaging Solution Based on Cylinder Model

Insulating packaging is used in a variety of applications as a thermal protection for temperature-sensitive products. With computer simulation, one spherical shell model and one cylinder model are identified as suitable result for insulating packaging solution. Based on the cylinder model, the insulating packaging solution is achieved by using “minimum packaging cost” as an optimization target. The comparison of results predicted from the present model with benchmark experimental data shows satisfactory agreement in terms of packaging duration.

Study of Cushioned Package Assessment via Multilevel Grey Evaluation Method

Six steps for cushioned package development based on the fragility theory are limited in the packaging cost and environmental protection. The author considered synthetically various cushioned packaging design relevant factors and built an assessment model of cushioned package based on multilevel grey evaluation method. By using this model, the author quantized the assessment process, and made it easier to be manipulated. The results of the comprehensive evaluation will be objective and scientific. The model can be widely used in cushioned package scheme optimization.