Glossary of Reusable Packaging and Technology Terms
Industry
Product
Technology
- Asset: A reusable packaging product such as a pallet, bin or container that is owned or rented for the transport of goods and maintains its intended purpose and value over time.
- Asset Management: The systematic processes in which a reusable packaging asset is known and accounted for during its uses over a lifetime through operational functions including storage, packing, shipment, handling, recovery, maintenance and disposal.
- Cycle (also Loop): The movement of a reusable packaging asset from a starting point of distribution through all intended user functions and locations and returning to an ending point of distribution where the asset is conditioned for reuse. In many cases with a cycle the starting and ending points are the same location.
- Logistics: The detailed coordination of managing the movement and exchange of possession of a reusable packaging asset through a cycle, involving the effective transfer through several different touch points and handling environments.
- Logistics – Forward: The coordination of moving an asset from starting point in the cycle to the completion of its intended packaging use. Forward logistics activities often include the movement of packed or filled assets to warehouse and point-of-sale or use environments.
- Logistics – Reverse: The coordination of moving an asset from the completion of its intended packaging use in the cycle to the location for its conditioning and repositioning for reuse. Reverse logistics activities often include the movement of empty assets through consolidation, sortation and return processes.
- Loop – Closed: A well-defined and closely-managed cycle that is characterized by minimum shipping and delivery points where ownership or accountability of the asset is always maintained by the receiving party. Closed loops often involve streamlined operations and the transfer of assets between two points or locations, such as from A to B and back to A movements.
- Loop – Open: A complex cycle that is characterized by multiple shipping and delivery points where at least one receiving party does not have ownership or full liability of the asset. Open loops often involve rented or pooled assets that are owned by a third-party who does not perform the packing or use activities. The transfer of assets will likely occur between A to B to C and back to A movements, and third-party consolidation, sortation and maintenance services may apply.
- Pool (also Float or Fleet): The aggregation of reusable packaging assets that have the same intended purpose or use and contain common characteristics in design and specifications.
- Reuse (Reusable): The act of extending the utility and value of an asset following a use, often a repeat of the cycle for its intended purpose. Packaging is deemed to be reusable when both the design and manufacture achieve durability for multiple uses and a defined and managed system is in place to recover the empty asset for reuse.
- Transport Packaging: Packaging for the movement of raw materials, commodities or finished goods from point of production or processing to point of use in a manufacturing or commercial setting involving a business-to-business item transfer or a business-to-consumer item delivery. Most transport packaging is categorized as tertiary in the distribution of bulk items but may also be considered secondary or to a lesser extent primary packaging depending on other product packaging used.
- Trip: The issuance of a reusable packaging asset for the purpose of completing a single cycle.
- Turn: The completion of a trip in which the asset is ready for reuse. The term is used most often to calculate the number of trips that can be completed over a specified period of time, known as a “Turn Rate.” Also referred to as the number of times an asset is used and reused over a specified number of days.
- Bin: A large packaging unit designed to distribute bulk or heavy products, often ranging in size matching full or half pallet dimensions with varying heights. This general definition pertains to a transport packaging asset and does not relate to smaller “shelf bins” used for storage on racks.
- Box: A generic term used to define single-use packaging products that are typically handheld sized units, include six sides that enclose by a sealable or taped lid, and are made from corrugated fiberboard or other non-plastic material for one-time use (i.e. cardboard box).
- Container (also Crate, Tote): A generic term used to define reusable packaging products that are typically handheld sized units, may have open tops/no lids, and are made from plastic or other durable material for its reuse (i.e. milk crate).
- Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC): Reusable, multi-use industrial-grade containers, predominantly mounted on a pallet or designed for one-piece forklift use for the mass handling, transport and storage of liquids, bulk solids and powders.
- Pallet: A portable, horizontal, rigid, composite platform used as a base for assembling, storing, stacking, handling and transporting goods as a unit load. (MH1-2016 standard). See “What Is a Pallet?” by Packaging Revolution.
- Rack: A vertical structure that consists of several layers in the form of shelving for holding multiple items for moving and transport, often designed with wheels for unit mobility.
- Reusable Plastic Container (RPC): A container that is specifically designed and used for the packing and transport of perishable food items from farm or food processing facilities to retail or food service establishments.
- Roll-Out Cart: A large mobile bin for trash or residential solid waste collection and removal ranging from 16 to 91 gallons in capacity.
- Shelf Bin: Packaging product that may hold items on shelves or racks as part of transport and display within the same facility.
- Tank: A large packaging unit, often made from steel, for the holding and transport of liquids, solids or powders in bulk that typically involve specialized fill and discharge technologies.
- Tray: A handheld packaging unit for lightweight items or small unit quantities that typically has a lower profile and an open top and side for access in a stacked arrangement (i.e. bread tray).
- Barcode: An optical, machine-readable representation of data in the form of numbers and a pattern of parallel lines of varying widths; when scanned, the pattern relays information about a product.
- Blockchain: A shared, digitized and public ledger in which transactions between users belonging to the same network are stored in a secure, verifiable and permanent way that cannot be changed once a transaction has been recorded and verified.
- Bluetooth, BLE: Short-range wireless technology that is typically used to connect devices to each other, for example, connecting a smartphone to a Bluetooth headset or speaker and for connecting sensors to a gateway or cellular communication device.
- Cellular Communication Device: A piece of hardware that contains a cellular radio to communicate with the cellular network to pass IoT data from an asset to the cloud. This device can be powered by battery or by a more permanent power source.
- Cellular Location Tracking: Cellular-based location tracking which provides the latitude and longitude of an asset’s location. A device must have a cellular radio in it and uses its location with respect to the closest cellular towers. This technology tends to be less accurate innately than GPS but is more useful when assets will be located inside a warehouse, a truck trailer, or a train car.
- GPS Location Tracking: Satellite-based location tracking which provides the latitude and longitude of an asset’s location. A device must have a GPS radio in it and must have line-of-sight to one or several satellites in orbit around the earth.
- Heat Transfer Labels: A multicolor, preprinted graphic image applied to a film/carrier designed to be applied utilizing the “hot stamp” method of decoration.
- Hot-Stamping: A dry product marking method applied directly to assets post-molding utilizing pressure and temperature to release foil pigments or pre-printed labels (Heat Transfer or Polyfuze Labels) from a film/carrier to a part creating a permanent graphic image or decoration.
- In-Mold Labeling (IML): A process of decorating or labeling injection molded plastic parts or components during the plastic injection molding cycle.
- Internet of Things (IoT): A network of physical objects like reusable packaging assets each equipped with a unique identifier and internet connectivity that allows for the communication and transfer of data between objects and other internet-enabled devices.
- Labeling: Printed information that is produced during the manufacturing process or temporarily affixed to an asset through adhesive backing or other physical containment means.
- Mobile Application: An application on a smartphone or tablet that has been specifically developed in order to view and analyze IoT data collected by sensors on a particular asset. Mobile applications can be used instead of or in conjunction with a Portal. Mobile applications are highly customized and can provide a better customer experience than a Portal when someone needs IoT data while working in the field.
- Network – 5G: The fifth generation of cellular mobile communications succeeding today’s 4G LTE mobile networks and enabling higher speed and responsiveness of wireless communications.
- Network – NB-IoT: Also known as “Narrowband IoT;” A Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) radio technology standard developed to enable a wide range of cellular devices and services focusing on indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and high connection density.
- Network – LTE-M: Also known as “Long Term Evolution for Machines;” A Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) supporting IoT through lower device complexity and extended coverage.
- Portal: A desktop/tablet/smartphone internet site where customers can see the location and other IoT information about their assets which was collected by the sensors and devices on those assets. Portals can also be used to communicate with devices to make changes in how often they collect data and report it back to the cloud.
- Reporting Frequency: With IoT, since a cellular device can communicate constantly with the network, a period of time needs to be defined for sensors and devices to report data to the cloud that makes the most sense for each particular use case. Devices can gather data from sensors at one time interval and store it until the next scheduled time to transmit that data to the cloud. Reporting frequency can have an impact on battery life, amount of data usage, and ultimately cost, so tradeoffs for more vs less frequent reporting need to be considered based on the valuable actions that can be taken based on the data for that particular use case.
- RFID (Radio Frequency Identification): A form of wireless communication that incorporates the use of electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically-stored information.
- RFID Active: A RFID tag having an internal power source such as a battery and a transmitter to send signals of data to a base reader.
- RFID Passive: A RFID tag without its own power source or battery that draws power from the reader, which sends out electromagnetic waves that induce a current in the tag's antenna.
- Sensors: An electronic component that detects information about its environment, such as temperature, humidity, movement, etc. Sensors can be integrated into the Communication Device or can be separate from it but connected to it by a wireless technology such as Bluetooth or by a wired connection.
- Wi-Fi: A local area wireless technology that can be valuable as an addition to cellular communication. Wi-Fi can be free from a monthly data usage perspective but requires resources and capital to manage the network and security on an ongoing basis. Wi-Fi in a Communication Device can contribute an additional level of location accuracy by taking advantage of wireless signals inside of buildings.