Refill packaging
How essential is testing in
Packaging?
Packaging plays an essential role in protecting, transporting, preserving, and promoting of products which we use in our regular life. It is important for brands to select right packaging material & design for the packaging of their product based on its requirement and transit journey.
Testing the packaging design and materials will help in preventing damage to products, provide qualitative as well as quantitative data to improve the quality of packaging materials and protect the brand's reputation. Failure in complying with regulations for packaging can lead to monetary loss due to legal fines, losing trust of customers/stakeholders, tainted reputation and irreparable damage to market value which has not spared even the most reputed brands across industries. Testing of packaging material, checking the product packaging compatibility, evaluating migration study and transit simulation of packaging before launching in market therefore helps in innumerable ways. It also gives confidence to brands before launching any product in the market.
Testing Provides tangible benefits such as
Choosing the right testing method should be priority
The rapid growth in the field of packaging has resulted in an ever-increasing number and variety of new materials. These bring in their wake, new formulations and designs leading to multiplicity in areas of application. Dependable methods for evaluation, therefore, have high relevance not only for the manufacturer to maintain quality and consistency but also to protect the user industry and the consumers. In this context, the need for identifying proper tests demands little emphasis. Every test is designed to re-produce or indicate or give an idea of suitability and performance of material in given application. Thus, it is utmost importance to select the right testing method and suitable standard for product packaging application before going for any test.
Get proper guidance by consulting with Packaging Experts or Testing Labs
Based on the product nature, packaging condition like filling & sealing temperature, machine speed, package storage condition, mode of transportation - all these need to be considered while selecting any specific test method. In many cases, people do tests without considering all of the above factors. As many testing standards are developed considering the general criteria which is not applicable in all the cases. For e.g., If you are not doing an automatic packing then the COF data is not relevant for you like that if you are doing a parcel delivery of your pack in that case the IS 7028 Transport Worthiness test standard will not be applicable to you. Thus, it is always good to consult with packaging experts or a testing lab before going for any transit and material testing
Ensure test method standards for accurate results
Many parameters must be specified and controlled if the results are to be comparable. We may know the qualitative effects of changes in temperature on the test piece thickness etc. but our knowledge is certainly not sufficient to enable us to reduce data to a common and comparable norm - not even sufficient to reduce one variable. It is, hence, necessary, and convenient for all workers to measure each property in exactly the same way and the prime mechanism to achieve this is to use test method standards. Test method standards aim to specify all apparatus parameters, the test piece details, the steps in the procedure and the presentations of the results, which are important and hence allow any two laboratories to achieve comparable data. In this way. everybody can speak the same language. BIS, ISO, TAPPI, ASTM, DIN, ISTA etc. are the bodies who develop this test standard based on research & actual simulation study. Thus, before comprising two test result data, please make sure that the tests conducted are as per the same standard.
At last, significance of test results depends upon how preventive is the sample for the lot quality and how close the test approaches the real conditions of the service/use/production.
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