Package Design Guide
STEP SEVEN: Monitor Performance
If it works, question it
There are many assumptions that went into your design development,
among them that the drop height likely to be encountered is realistic,
and that the fragility value used is representative of the product actually
being packaged. Even when you are lucky enough to be working with a
fragility value that was obtained by actual testing, in many cases what
was tested was a prototype, and the production units may be more or
less rugged than indicated.
For these reasons, it is a good practice to monitor the performance
of your design in actual use. This will help you to determine if your
design is providing more real-world performance than is actually required,
or not enough. It can also allow you to determine when internal changes
in the design of the packaged product might alter the requirements for
package performance.
Just as no shipper can afford high damage rates, neither can he afford
to overpackage.
Monitoring of packaging performance on an ongoing basis can also help
determine if further economies can be achieved without sacrificing protection.
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