Selection of Industrial Packaging System in Closed-loop Automotive Supply Chains

Abstract

The corporate decisions in the field of packaging aim to find and determine the optimal packaging functions and expenses at the same time. One-way packaging is also used in the practice, but returnable packaging is more common in the outbound flow of the automotive engine manufacturer companies. In addition, it can happen that packaging devices originally designed for one way are used multiple times, because the technical condition of the packaging ensures the repeated usage and the other way around. Transport distance is an important aspect while choosing the right packaging system, but according to our investigation the ratio between the purchasing cost of a new device and the cost of backwards transportation should also influence this decision. Therefore, the scope of this paper is to give a model of the cost structure of returnable industrial packaging operating in a closed loop system. The total cost will be especially determined by the return ratio, cost of return transport and planned number of uses.