19th IAPR! World Conference on Packaging The Design Development of Perforation Rule for Retail Ready Packaging Krit Fuangfu and Varna Sudasna” Thai Containers Group Co, Lid, Thailand “Corresponding author. Email: varnab@seg.co.th Abstract: The implementation of Retail Ready Packaging (RRP) is dramatically increasing in the last decade by the cooperation between retailers, brand owners, suppliers, and packaging companies. There are many studies from retailers, packaging suppliers, and consumer organizations on RRP concepts, implementation, and design that have been published and being used as RRP guidelines. Corrugated box with perforation rule is commonly used for RRP because of its compressive strength and display ability, especially smaller flute such as B flute. In addition, the perforation rule on RRP plays an important role to create not only sufficient box strength during transport but also ease of opening with the clean edge on shelf. ‘Three sets of perforation rule were designed and studied in this research. Each set of perforation has two different rules at the front panel and the flap edge of box. The perforation rules are Set-A Front 8x3(cut x non= cut length) and Flap edge 5x4, Set-B Front 10x4 and Flap edge 6x4, and Set-C Front 10x3 and Flap edge 6x5. ‘The corrugated boards B flute made from white top liner(30% virgin pulp) and brown top liner(100% recycled pulp) were used to manufactured RRP with set of perforation rules for bar soap product, Then, the RRP were ‘measured and evaluated on box compression test, drop resistance, ease of opening, and appearance after opened, ‘The results showed that different perforation rules on the same position had no significantly effect on ‘compressive strength of box. The shorter cut length of perforation, Set-A, performed better drop resistance than ‘others longer cut length, The easy-to-open and display appearance were resulted in the same direction. The Set-B ‘was scored “easy” and “satisfied” in easy-to-open and display appearance criteria, respectively. Paper board ‘combined with virgin fibers performed better drop resistance. In contrast, it performed “difficult” on easy-to-use and scored “not satisfied” on display appearance aspects. Base on the results of this study, recommendation guidelines for perforation rule have been developed. ‘Keywords: retail ready packaging, shelf ready packaging, , perforation rule, packaging design. 1 Introduction ‘The increasing of the population and economic growth in Asian counties are pushing Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) or Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies to expand their production bases to Asian countries. There is a new and growing market with the advantages of lower labor and raw materials cost. ‘Thailand is one of a major production base of many FMCG companies such as Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, etc. Most of manufactured products are consumer goods, for example body care and hair care products. These products will be exported worldwide, especially to those developed countries such as United State, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Recently, the large retailers, such as Walmart, Tesco, Coles, et. have published their packaging requirements and regulations for products that would be soid in their stores. One of their requirements which is currently a packaging trend is Retail Ready Packaging (RRP). For example, Walmart [1] published RRP Guidelines for North America in 2011. These guidelines provided Walmart suppliers to be more understood on Walmart requirements of RRP. It included the concept of five easies of RRP, merchandising rules and requirements, the preference of gluing and taping on corrugated box, and the graphical and visibility on shelf of the RRP. RRP is becoming « mandatory requirement from retailers, especially for households and foods products. Benasch [2] fiom STi Group of packaging company, explained that RRP have been developed to get products from case to shelf. The biggest benefits of RRP are at the retailers on the labor cost saving, However, other business units throughout supply chain also get the advantages from implementing RRP as shown in Figure | ‘ath APR Word Conference on Packaging, Viera Universiy, Melboume, T51 June 2074 Page 360For example, the brand owners with the attractive RRP designs will get the benefit of brand image and increased sales volume. Advantages of Shelf-Ready Packaging ‘wera ~ Meteo — —_7 (a Figure 1: Advantage of Shelf Ready Packaging from STI Group There are many studies and publications from both retailers and packaging suppliers on implementation and design development of RRP. Those studies were included the guidelines that help brand owners and packaging manufacturers to get better understanding and expedite the implementation of RRP. Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Australasia [3] have first published the RRP toolkit in 2007. It indicated the key driver of RRP ‘hich isthe improvement of store efficiency through increased speed of replenishment leading to better on-shelf availability and increase sales. The five eases of RRP (easy to identify, easy to open, easy to shel, easy to shop, and easy to dispose) and prioritization approach of each products were defined as guidelines for retailers, suppliers, wholesalers and packaging companies. The later guidelines from ECR Australasia toolkits [4], [5] determined the implementation process of RRP, types of RRP, and carton design and configuration, Sehriver [6] provided additional evidence thatthe RRP design plays a significant role inthe consumer's purchasing decision. ‘The design elements such as curve, shape, or color of RRP that align with the brand identity could be used as ‘marketing tools to communicate the brand message and distinguish itself from competitor on shelf. On the other hhand, the inappropriate or poor RRP design could decrease the brand image and sales. Roukema [7] cites that creating the RRP is not just adding the perforation on the current packing but there are some conflicting requirements that need to be considered. For example, the box needs to be strong enough not to break during distribution but easy enough to open on shelf at store. Also provided addition consideration elements for RRP on safe and secure through the supply chain, easy and intuitive opening, and optimal appearance. Those including the recommendations of perforation, such as curved perforation are better than straight line in term of load bearing and the difference printing color at the start point of opening can help employee easy to identify and open, etc. Georgia-Pacific Innovation Institute [8] has also developed “Clean and, Easy-Perf"™” which claimed that it would make the package easier to open with a cleaner edge for superior shelf display. Corrugated box is commonly used for RRP because of its compressive strength and display ability, especially smaller flute such as B and E flute. The perforation rule on RRP plays an important role to create not only. sufficient box strength during transport but also ease of opening with the clean edge on shelf. Unfortunately, there is no data available on perforation rule design, especially for RRP. So, it is challenging to fill this knowledge gap in this study. ‘The objectives ofthis research were # To study the effect of perforation rulings of RRP on difference paper profiles based on compressive strength, drop test performance, open ability and display appearance criteria on the case study of bar soap product. ‘© To develop packaging design guidelines of perforation rule on RRP. 2 Materials and Methods 2.1 Test Instrumentation ‘The Box Compression Tester (BCT) model HT-8506 manufactured by Hung Ta Instrument, Taiwan was used t0 ‘measure the BCT of the box in this study. The bottom plate is fixed and the top plate is moving downward to "ath PRI Word Conference on Packaging, Vitoria Univeray, Melbourie, 76-18 June 2014 Page 367compress the box. The compression area is 100emx100em. The maximum compression load is 2,000 kg with the test speed of [3mm/min, 2.2 Test Package ‘Three sets of perforation rules were designed on RRP corrugated box. In each set of perforation rule has two different rules at the front panel and the flap edge of box as shown in Figure 2-4. The first perforation rule is Jocated on the front panel at the starter point for inital opening. The second rule is located on the flap edge of the box as follower lines to fully complete the opening of the box. The three sets of perforation rules are Set-A Front 8x3(cut x non-cut length in millimeter) and Flap edge Sx4, Set-B Front 10x and Flap edge 6x4, Set-C Front 10x3 and Flap edge 6x5. i : Figure 2: Dawing atmo Se- proton ule Fon 83, Fp eg x8) [ee rewen || remo jon rule (Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) PERF Ors PERF OS i Figure 4 : Drawing pattern of Set-C perforation rule (Front 10x3, Flap edge 6x5) ‘ath PRI Word Conference on Packaging, Victoria Universiy, Melboume, 15-78 Jane 2074 Page 32‘The B-flute corrugated boxes with two different liner’s profiles and colors were used in this study. The first board combination as KSI70/CSIIO/KTI25 (white top fest liner, 30%vegin pulp) and the second was KTISO/CS110/KT150 (brown top test liner, 100%recycled pulp). The boxes were manufactured from real production without printing, then dieeut and glued. The 30 bas of 100g bar soap were packed into the box and Sealed by 2° width plastic sealing tape, The total gross weight is 3.20 kg per box. The total six samples were tsed inthis study as shown in Table | ‘Table 1 : The experiment samples inthis stu sample | hte, | inte | Boaxt Combination | Board Weight | inside Dimension (om) (Ca'zNensa) | color (sam) (UxWxd) 1 [Searma.Sa | White | KSITOCSIIORTISB | 468 THEXITEXIGT Z| SeBTTOMGa | Whie | KSMOCSHORTIISB | 468 TSBRITENIOT J [SECTS | Whie | RSMOCSHORTIS | Hes TSBRITENIOT 7 [SHARES | Brown | RTSOCORTISOR | BTS T3BRITEXIGT 3 [SABINA] Brown | RTISUCSTIORTISNS | 4518 TRI TERIGT | SACTIG OS | Brown | RTISUCSHIORTISNS | 4518 TaBxITERIGT ‘The test packages were evaluated the performance and appearance by BCT, drop test, easy-fo-open, and displaying appearance. 2.3 Test Method Box Compression Test (BCT) ‘The samples were evaluated the perforation performance and compression strength of empty box using BCT tester. Thirty boxes of each sample were selected, formed, and sealed with plastic sealing tape for BCT test. ‘Then, the BCT values were averaged and analyzed to determine the compressive resistance and perforation performance, Drop Test ‘The packaged products of each sample were dropped (manually free fall drop) using customer's standard procedure[9] atthe height of 1.5 meters. Two boxes per sample are required for drop test. The identification of the faces ofthe box are shown in Figure 5. The drop sequence and orientation are shown in Table 2. The criteria of drop test evaluation are averaged number of damaged products and overall appearance after dropped. The ‘evaluation were conducted by customer's panellists (3 persons) and determined the satisfaction score, ranking from | to 3 (1 = satisfied, 2= far, 3= not satisfied) Manufacturer’ jont 2 Identify the faces ofthe box "Taih TAPRI World Conference on Packaging, Vitoria Universiy, Melbourne, 16-18 June 2074 Page 365‘Table 2 : Drop sequence and drop orientation Sequence # ] Orientation Specific face T Face | Bottom face (Face 3) Face | Side face, manufacturer's join face (Face 2) Face | Back face (Face 5) Face | Side face (Face 4) Face | Front face (Face 6) Face | Top face (Face 1) Easy-to-Open The packaged product of each sample will be torn from starter point at front panel to fully open of the box. Then, the easy-to-open was evaluated based on these criteria; package can be opened without a tool and box could be ‘opened within 10 seconds. The evaluation were conducted by customer's panel lists (3 persons) and determined the satisfaction score, ranking from 1 to 3 (I = easy to open, 2 = fur, 3 = difficult) Display appearance after opening ‘Afier evaluated the easy-to-open of the perforation rules, the same packaged product were then evaluated for the appearance on shelf (the cleanliness of the tearing at edge and overall appearance). The evaluation were ‘conducted by customer’s panel lists (3 persons) and determined the satisfaction score, ranking from 1 to 3 (1 = satisfied, 2 = fair, 3 = not satisfied) All the test methods are conducted at Thailand’s standard condition at 27C and 65% relative humidity 3 Results and Discussions ‘The Box Compression Test (BCT) values of each sample were averaged and analyzed. For white top liner (KS170/CS110/KT125), the highest BCT is Set-B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) 122.2 kg followed by Set-C(Front 10x3, Flap edge 6x5) 119.9 kg. The lowest BCT is Set-A(Front 8x3, Flap edge 5x4) 75.1 kg. For brown top liner (KTISO/CS110/KT1SO), the highest BCT is Set-C(Front 1033, Flap edge 6x5) 146.3 kg, followed by Set-B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) 133.5 kg, and Sct-A(Front 8x3, Flap edge Sx4) 127.1 ke, respectively. The results showed in Figure 6, Figure 6 : The Box Compression Test (BCT) results. ‘The BCT result showed no significant difference in compressive strength when compared within the same board combination or between board combinations. This is because all samples had the same positions and equal ‘ath IAPRI World Conference on Packaging, Victoria Universiy, Melboume, 1516 June 207%, Page 364lengths of perforation lines. So, those would affect the compressive strength in the same manners, even though the perforation rules are difference. ‘The drop test result showed that Set-A(Front 8x3, Flap edge 5x4) performed the best appearance after dropped for both white and brown top liners as shown in Figure 7. The number of damaged products were found randomly in each sample mostly were minor defects and occurred at the bottom layer of products. ‘The paper breaking after dropped were found at the front panel of Set-B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) and Set- C(Front 10x3, Flap edge 6x). This breaking might be caused from the cut length of perforation rule in Set-B ‘and Set-C are longer than Set-A. So, when boxes were dropped, the perforations were impacted and caused the box to break. The longer cut length of perforation is, the easier the box will be broken when dropped. ‘The appearances after dropped satisfaction scores were then evaluated. The white top liner showed better appearance than brown top liner as shown in Table 3. Because of the 30%virgin fiber in white top liner, it gives the higher bursting strength and endurance when compared to 100% recycled fiber in brown top liner. So, the white top liner which is more endurance can hold and protect product inside without breaking the perforation during drop, Perforation rule se SetB 10x4, 6x4 | SetC: 10%3, OS Top liner color White top - Brown top | Figure 7 Appearance of box aller dropped Table 3 : Summarized the satisfaction scores ‘Average satisfaction score Perforation rule | Top | No.of damaged Sample | Front. Fp | finer | products after | Appearance | Basy-io-open [ Display’ edge) color dropped after dropped ‘score appearance (Cats Non-ut) score seore 1 | SeATRR | White H T Gatisied) [2 Cae) 2 ain 2 ‘Set-B : 10x4, 6x4 | White 1 2 (fair) T (easy) 1 (satisfied) 3 [SCHON oS | White T Zain) 3 (nat stistied) 7 [Sea RSet | Brown T T (atisfied) 2a) 3 T0x4, 6x4 | Brown oe 3 (not satisfied) | (satisfied) 6 2 10x3, 6x3 | Brown T 2 (fair) 2 (fair) ‘The easy-to-open result showed in Table 3. The Set-B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) perforation is the easiest to ‘open on both liners while Set-C scored the difficult to open on white liner. The brown top liner showed the better "ath TAPRI Wri Conference on Packaging, Vicora Universy, Melbourne, 16:18 Jane 2074, Page 385«asj-o-open score than the white top liner. The percentage of Virgin and recycled fibers in paper could affect the open ability and tearing of the box. The paper that consisted of some virgin fibers (long fibers) will has higher tearing resistance than those consisted of short fiber, Caulfield and Gunderson [10], ‘The cut and non-cut length of the perforation also affect the open ability ofthe box. The cut and non-cut length of the perforation at the front panel will have less influence on open ability than the perforation at flap edge. Because tearing at the front panel is the tearing along or parallel to the flute direction of box. This tearing requires lower force than tearing across the flute direction at flap edge. So, the longer non-cut length of perforation is, the more difficult the box to be torn ‘Then, the display appearance and the cleanliness of the tearing were evaluated and the result showed in Table 3 and Figure 8. The result showed the evaluation scores are in the same direction as easy-to-open scores. The Set= B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) perforation received the satisfied scores on both white top and brown top liners. ‘The perforation set that received “easy” score in easy-to-open evaluation, will resulted in “satisfied” seore in cleanliness of tearing and display appearance. Perforation rule seis SecA 83, 3x4 Se-B: 10x4, 6x4 Set-C 7 10x3, 6x5 Top liner color White top Brown top Figure 8 : Appearance of box after tearing and openi 4 Conclusions ‘This study showed that the different perforation rules (cut and non-cut length), but perforate at the same position of the box, would not affect the compressive strength. The different perforation sets showed no significantly difference in BCT. The shorter cut length of perforation, Set-A(Front 8x3, Flap edge Sx4), performed better drop test resistance than longer cut length, Set-B and Set-C. The results on the easy-to-open and display appearance Were resulted in the same direction. The perforation set that was scored “easy” in easy-to-open criteria will be scored “satisfied” in appearance on shelf criteria. The perforation Set-B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) was scored “easy” and “satisfied” in easy-to-open and display appearance criteria, respectively. However, this study found that the real factor that affects the tearing and appearance is non-cut length ofthe perforation. The non-cut length between 3-4 mm will give the best performance in them of contain ability, easy-to-open, and appearance on shelf. The non-cut length that shorter than 3mm will be easy to break during transport while the longer than 4 mm will be difficult to tear and create non smooth edge appearance on shelf, ‘This study also addressed that the paper combination would affect the performance of the box in term of drop resistance and tearing property. The paper combined with virgin fibers performed better drop resistance. In contrast, it performed “difficult” on easy-to-use and scored “not satisfied” on display appearance aspects In this study, the perforation Set-B(Front 10x4, Flap edge 6x4) on white top liner was evaluated to be the best of overall performance and recommend to be used for exported bar soap product inthis project. Base on the results ofthis study, recommendation guidelines for perforation rule have been developed, {Bin IAPRI Word Conference on Packaging, Vitoria Universiy, Melboumme, 1518 June 2074 Page 3855 Guiding for perforation rule 5.1 Perforation ruling for corrugated board, the longer cut length of perforation is, the easier the box to be tom and opened. However, the real factor that affects the opening and appearance on shelf is non-cut length of the perforation. The appropriable non-cut length for corrugated board B flute is 3-4mm. With this non-cut length, it will give the best performance for containing product throughout supply chain and display appearance at shelf, 5.2 Ifthe perforation straight lin. 5.3 For safety concern, the wave knife should be used along the edge of the blank die-cut sheet to prevent the cutting from the shape edge when employee packing the product into the box. was designed to be a comer shape, curved perforation line should be used rather than Acknowledgements We would ike to express my gratitude to Thai Containers Group Co., Ltd. and Graphic and Pre press Center Ms. Juthamart Sayumpol for helping us on preparing samples and testing. We also would like fo gratefully thanks Mr. Pakapol Kittipinyovath for knowledgably supporting this project. Last but not least, special thanks to Packaging Engineer Team from Colgate-Palmolive (Thailand) for supporting us throughout this project. References 1, Walmart, (2011). RRP Guidelines for North Ameriea., Version 1., USA 2, Benasch D. (2013). Shelf-ready Packaging. STI Group, Germany. Retrieved from http:/iwww.sti- ‘group.com/en/de/products/packaging/shelf ready packaging/shelf ready packaging.htm! 3. ECR Australasia, (2006), Retail Ready Packaging : A Focus on Shelf Ready Packaging an Industry Toolkit, ECR Australasia. Australia. 4. ECR Australasia, (2009), Retail Ready Packaging Edition 2, ECR Australasia. Australia, 5. ECR Australasia, (2013), Efficient Consumer Response Australasia Retail Ready Packaging Edition 3, ECR Australasia, Australia 6, Schrijver M., (2013), “Retail Ready Packaging and the Importance of design”, M.S. Thesis, Department of ‘Communication Science, University of Twente, Netherlands, 7. Roukema M. (2013). Designing the optimal perforation. Retrieved from bhtp:/wwww smurfitkappa.com/vHome/com/Newsroom/PressReleases/Pages/Designing-the-optimal- perforation aspx 8. Georgia-Pacific Innovation Institute. (2014). Innovation Products. Retrieved from _tp:/wwww gppackaging.com/InnovationInstitute/Pages/Products.aspx 9. Packaging Test Method, Colgate-Palmolive. 10. DF. Caulfield and D.E. Gunderson, (1988), “Paper Testing and Strength Characteristics”, TAPP proceeding of the 1988 paper preservation symposium, Georgia , USA, TAPPI Press pp. 31-40. {ath PRI World Conference on Packaging, Vitoria Unversly, Melbourne, 1-18 June 2014 Poge 367