IT Has The Right Idea: Why Packaging Sustainability Should Be Agile

Agile thinking encourages collaboration, efficiency, and a host of small, regular, iterative changes, with checks at every step to make sure the developers stay on the right path. ©Parradee – stock.adobe.com

By Rob Quigley, Technology Director at packaging consultancy Aura

For years, corporate projects – most notably in IT – have used the agile methodology to create new solutions and platforms. One of the key reasons why is that it reduces waste, which is a way of thinking that should appeal to those involved in making packaging more sustainable.

It does this by encouraging collaboration, efficiency, and a host of small, regular, iterative changes and updates, with checks at every step to make sure the developers stay on the right path.

By comparison, the ‘classic’ project development format is highly linear, with the end goal (and all the associated milestones) usually predetermined at the start. They can run for years and that means a great deal of potential to go off-track. Does that sound familiar, packaging specialists?

Agile may not be a new concept, but perhaps packaging sustainability initiatives could benefit from the same type of approach.

Incremental Advantage

Of course, small, incremental improvements are easy to achieve in IT, where code is more abstract. Every brand and retailer understands that developing new, more sustainable packaging and getting it to market involves a significant lag time—anywhere from two or three months to over a year, depending on the product. Making iterative changes mid-production can be costly and impractical.

Yet, agile thinking can be applied throughout the packaging redevelopment process. It’s crucial to assess suppliers and closely examine sustainability data. Who are the top performers, and who falls behind? Which suppliers have the most significant impact?

Is there a process for ongoing feedback and a ranking system for suppliers that the brand may need to revisit, especially those providing non-recyclable materials in higher volumes? Packaging designers may not always have visibility into the entire lifecycle of the packaging, but they should always recognize opportunities for improvement.

Focusing on early redevelopment of packaging for products with the greatest impact can yield the best results, even when changes are relatively small. A box made from a material that’s just a few millimeters thinner can make a substantial difference when dealing with hundreds of thousands of units. The ability to scan packaging and track its location enables brands to offer guidance on optimal disposal and recycling methods, without altering the physical packaging.

During redevelopment, technology can further support iterative improvements by enabling virtual modeling to test physical properties which are easy to adjust and change. Augmented reality can be used to ensure that sustainability changes don’t compromise the product’s appeal to consumers.

As the methodology’s name suggests, better and more sustainable packaging is likely to result from a business that is more agile and flexible in its approach. It will be better able to take on board feedback from customers or from other businesses in the supply chain, as well as better able to react to the ever-shifting world of environmental legislation.

With new packaging standards like Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) already in place in several states and countries around the globe, and with more on the horizon, that level of flexibility cannot be underestimated.

All In This Together

Another key element of agile methodology is collaboration. Rather than predicting the project outcome at the start, it’s broken into bitesize chunks (‘sprints’) with smaller tasks and ‘user stories’ and a scrum-master to manage each discrete section.

Agile projects achieve this by being highly collaborative. Team members across every department collaborate before each sprint and do so daily as they write the code. What are the issues and challenges that might block them reaching their goal? How can they be circumvented? How does the team refine the approach?

Moving to this type of collaborative, cross-silo framework can be a huge benefit to sustainability managers trying to get buy-in for packaging. If different departments such as finance, operations and legal can be brought together under the umbrella of sustainability, it improves the chance of developing better, greener and more recyclable packaging.

The key here is access to accurate, real-time data, as all departments will want to see evidence that a more sustainable approach is the better one: how much does it cost? How long will it take to retool machinery and change suppliers? What regions is the product being sold in and what are the different compliance regimes that apply?

In addition, most businesses have stringent sustainability targets they are trying to reach, so the ability to demonstrate effective collaboration for packaging can act as an example of best practice to the rest of the company.

No More Old-School Thinking

Historically, packaging manufacturers have been very old-school in their approach to business and digital transformation. Although fully adopting agile methodologies may not immediately appeal, there is an argument for at least looking to introduce some sort of ‘halfway house’ approach.

It is also worth bearing in mind that even using agile for purely IT projects has its own sustainability benefits, as creating more efficient code means reducing server time and energy consumption, most notably for businesses that have moved their platforms onto the cloud.

If businesses are serious about developing more sustainable and efficient packaging, it makes sense to employ – or at least seriously consider – more sustainable and efficient business processes to help them get there.

About the Author

Robert Quigley is the Technical Director at packaging consultancy Aura. Robert has over 10 years of experience in developing innovative product solutions. His strategies have been used by major retailers across the world. Today, Rob oversees Aura’s software development, IT service management, and IT infrastructure. He utilizes the latest tech advancements to bring efficiency and cost savings to our clients, globally. Learn more at https://aura-consultants.com/