May 14, 2018

Dear Near East Company,

Hello, we are freshman at Austin High School in Austin, Texas. Our names are Morgan
Simmons, Katherine Jones, Madi Salinas, and Emily Smith. In our geometry class, we have
been assigned with the task of calculating and redesigning a packaging product. We chose to
make some changes to your Near East Quinoa Blend packaging. We chose your product
because we noticed a few aspects in the packaging that we felt could be improved, such as the
amount of unused air space and the overall design. We have a lot of ideas on how to possibly
improve this package and we hope you will take them into consideration.
As a way to determine what can be improved in the Quinoa Blend packaging, we
performed tests and took measurements on the original packaging. The tests were necessary to
determine how we could reduce the amount of wasted material and air space, while still leaving
room for the product. Some of the tests we performed were calculating the volume of the quinoa
blend, the volume of the package, the amount of air space that was not used, and the amount of
material used to manufacture the original and our new packaging. After our tests, we concluded
that the packaging can be improved by reducing the size of the box, so that the amount of
unused airspace and materials is limited. We were able to achieve this by shortening the box
and removing some of the information that was repeated or that we deemed unnecessary.
The changes my group made to the North East Quinoa packaging are extremely
beneficial for the company in the long run. By decreasing the height of the original packaging by
7.9 cm, approximately half of the original height of 16.1cm, we were able to drastically decrease
the amount of unused air space. The original percentage of wasted space was 65.5% of the
entire package, and we were able to reduce this to only 14.29% of unused air space. This helps
minimize the issue of false advertising and thus helps gain the consumers trust in the company.
Our packaging also reduces the amount of cardboard used in the manufacturing process,
changing the surface area from 540.7cm2 to 356.79cm2, about 34% less material. This cuts
production costs for the company, allowing funds to be saved to introduce other improvements
and products. By reducing the amount of cardboard, we also reduce the amount of wasted
material, making the packaging more environmentally friendly. The amount of space on the
packing still leaves enough room for advertising and required information.We appreciate the
time you took to review our ideas, and we hope that you will take them into consideration.

Sincerely,

Morgan Simmons Katherine Jones Madi Salinas Emily Smith

Student Student Student Student
Austin High School Austin High School Austin High School Austin High School