Introduction to packaging

Packaging is a coordinated system made up of any materials of any nature, to be used for preparing goods for containment, protection, transport, handling, distribution, delivery and presentation. Several authors and researchers in the packaging field have described and defined them in various ways. Paine, Robertson and Livingstone and Sparks emphasize seven fundamental functions of packaging for the product to be: protection, containment, preservation, apportionment, unitization, convenience and communication of the product. The legal ramifications of the initiatives taken by governments and authorities can impact the way actors relate to the packaging functions. Some copyright, intellectual properties, trademarks and patent laws fall into the category of protecting packaging designs and technologies. Packaging logistics primarily brings together different packaging disciplines with logistics and supply chain management disciplines to complement and support one another. Logistics is an application-oriented management discipline of the “flow of things”.