Investigations and Technical Solutions

Many clients utilise Pira's packaging expertise to provide expert insight and analysis on complex technical issues. Pira's knowledge and experience of packaging processes and specifications, combined with knowledge of experimental design and laboratory evaluation, provides thousands of clients with tangible and commercially minded recommendations on packaging performance troubleshooting and pack/process improvement.

Commonly projects centre around one of the following themes:

• Determining why packs fail
• Resolving sub-standard packaging line performance
• Reasons for poor quality print in packaging
• Packaging materials analysis and benchmarking
• Label and decoration issues
• Reducing packaging costs
• Improving the effectiveness of packaging
• Specification development.

Projects include developing a detailed technical understanding of the factors affecting performance through pre-lab analysis, which might include line trials, desk based research, interview with customers and suppliers, all leading to an experimental evaluation.

Where suitable test methods and laboratory or line equipment exists then standard methods and equipment/techniques can be used in the investigation. However, often standards do not provide sufficient flexibility for investigatory work, so Pira has developed experience in test rig/equipment design and development, with objective to generate specific data that goes well beyond that of conventional testing. In many cases it is only with this highly critical and technical based approach that a meaningful solution can be identified.