Analyzing Impact of Package Design on Supply Chain Costs for Beverages

摘要

Supply chain performance of consumer products impacts lead times, product availability and costs. Although there has been considerable focus on improving operational performance of supply chains using sophisticated planning and inventory management tools, very little has been done to influence product or package design and manufacturing based on supply chain considerations. In this study we look at packaging design and manufacturing, based on supply chain cost considerations. In this study, the effect of changing packaging design on production, transportation and warehousing cost is analyzed. The product that we have considered is a beverage can, which is primarily cylindrical in shape. We have analyzed the consequences of changing the traditional shape of beverage cans to our proposed design and then evaluated and compared costs across different stages of the supply chain.