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ISTA
Activities in Mexico
ISTA’s Ed Church and Bill Kipp visited Mexico in mid-October
to participate in the opening of the new Logistics Technology Center
at the Technológico de Monterrey (Aguascalientes campus),
and to hold a Certified Packaging Laboratory Workshop there. Both
events were very successful and well-attended.
Technológico
de Monterrey is a prestigious 33-campus private university system
in Mexico. Most of the campuses, in addition to traditional curricula,
have a particular emphasis or specialty – management and finance,
health sciences, information technologies, etc. The Aguascalientes
campus, one of the newer facilities, recently decided to emphasize
logistics and packaging.
The opening ceremony for their Logistics Technology Center was attended
by over 150 people and featured speeches by government officials,
university administrators, and representatives from prominent Mexican
businesses. ISTA was invited to speak; Ed Church introduced our
Association, talked about packaged-product testing, and pledged
support for the new Center.
The CPLP Technician-level Workshop was held on campus, with 27 people
attending. Materials were presented in both English and Spanish,
with ample time allowed for additional discussions as required.
Only a portion of the class is shown here – our apologies
for not having a photo of the entire group. Names of the successful
applicants will be published in the next issue of PreShipment Testing
(ISTA’s printed quarterly newsletter) posted to the CPLP section
of the ISTA website.
An
added bonus for this Workshop was a visit to the nearby testing
laboratory of Flextronics Manufacturing, where equipment and test
practices were demonstrated.
Click
Here for complete information on the CPLP Program.
Many thanks to Benjamin Arellano of Technológico de Monterrey
for making all our visit arrangements, and to Javier Ochoa of Flextronics
for the lab tour and demonstrations.
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Parcel
Forum Pre-Conference Workshop a Success
ISTA,
UPS, and Crate and Barrel collaborated to present a one-day Pre-Conference
Workshop at the recent Parcel Forum in Chicago. A highlight of the
event was a tour of the UPS Chicago Area Consolidation Hub (CACH).
The
Workshop theme was “How to Achieve Parcel Packaging That Works”.
Bill Kipp of ISTA set the stage by discussing the hazards of parcel
distribution, general design approaches, carrier guidelines, and
ISTA Procedure 3A testing. Eric Hiser of UPS followed with a description
of their testing laboratory and capabilities, packaging basics,
and packaging
best practices derived from experience with literally thousands
of packaged-products. Jay Iaco of Crate and Barrel finished the
presentations with specific recommendations, protocol development,
their testing experiences, and several case studies of successes
with difficult-to-package items.
Eric Jay
The
CACH visit was a learning experience for many of the Workshop attendees.
This huge facility processes millions of packages per day, and incorporates
some amazing technology to get the job done. Many thanks to Mike
Jole and Tracy Koblich of UPS for an educational and enjoyable tour.
To learn more about the Parcel Forum, Click
Here.
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Technical
Council Meeting Report
A
meeting of ISTA’s Technical Council was held on October 31,
hosted by UPS Customer Solutions at their Addison, IL facility.
The agenda was packed with Procedure change proposals, technical
discussions, and various suggestions and comments from members.
Meeting
attendees, L-R: "Joe" Zhou-FedEx, Quinto Marini-UPS,
Patrick
McDavid-UPS, Chip Stone-Hershey, Rich Thomas-Smurfit-Stone,
Rick
Roberti-DDL, Colvin Allen-Sealed Air, Meredith Dougherty-ISTA,
Kent
Longardner- APTL, Tim Wittenrood-APTL.
Not
shown-Bill Kipp, ISTA (the photographer).
Items
currently under ballot:
• Changes to the Temperature/Humidity
conditioning table which appears in a number of ISTA
Procedures. Proposed changes
would make the descriptions more generic and add two new
conditions.
• Changes to the Procedure 3A
vibration top-load requirements for unpackaged pails and some
other types of irregular packages.
• Changing the 3A vibration
top-load round-up increment from 25 lbs. (11 kg) to 5 lbs. (2.3
kg).
• Changing the vibration spectrum
used in Procedures 2C, 3E, 3F, and 7C to the 3H
Steel Spring Truck spectrum.
Items which were discussed and require further action from the Council,
Council workgroups, and/or others:
• The possibility of ISTA certifying
just a package, rather than a packaged-product, in
certain specific situations.
• Making the description of
a “#1 mailbag” in Procedure 3A generic, and better representative
of bags the carriers actually
use.
• Consideration of changing
the “Vibration Under Vacuum” spectrum in Procedure 3A
to something more realistic.
• Re-definition of the 3A vibration
top-load apparatus configuration, to make it potentially easier
to fabricate and use.
• Resolving difficulties in
performing rotational drops for tall, small-footprint test specimens.
The Council agreed that some editorial changes to Procedures should
be made in the next revision cycle:
• Improved identification of
Procedure versions, in terms of both technical and editorial revisions.
• All Procedure Test Blocks
numbered for easier navigation.
• Clarification of the vibration
requirements in Procedures 2A and 2B. It is permissible to conduct
two different types of vibration
(fixed displacement and random) for the two vibration tests in
those Procedures.
If you’d like more information about any of these items, or
have comments/suggestions, please contact Meredith
Dougherty or Bill
Kipp.
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Hurry!
Still Time for Lab Listings, Ads in the 2008 Resource Book
The ISTA 2008 Resource Book will be going to the printer soon, but
there’s still time for Certified Testing Laboratories to enhance
their listings and for organizations to order advertising in this
information-packed transport packaging reference.
The
Resource Book includes information on ISTA, all the Test Procedures,
the Guidelines for Selecting & Using ISTA Test Procedures &
Projects, and a complete Directory of ISTA Certified Laboratories.
It is on the desks and in the bookshelves of ISTA members and many
others who work in distribution, package design, testing, and damage
prevention.
All ISTA-Certified labs receive a free listing including contact
information and basic capabilities. Optional listing enhancements
include a background (emphasis) color, a logo in either black &
white or color, a 60- or 120-word laboratory description, and testing
equipment details. Labs: Click
Here to verify your information and/or to order enhancements.
Any organization can place advertising in the Resource Book, to
present their message to the transport packaging community. Ads
may be any size from 1/8 page to full page, black & white or
color. Click
Here for advertising information and rates.
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Two
Upcoming Cold Chain Conferences
Pharma
IQ, a division of International Quality and Productivity Center
(IQPC), is presenting two Cold Chain conferences in early 2008.
Cool Chain Europe will be held January 28-30 in Belgium, and the
Cold Chain Summit will be held February 25-27 in Toronto.
Both conferences focus on the creation and management of temperature-controlled
supply chains for bio-pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products,
including aspects of marketing and market demands, regulatory guidelines,
industry developments, packaging, testing, case studies, and more.
ISTA is supporting both of these events. We are Association Partners
for Cool Chain Europe, and Ed Church (our Executive Director) is
speaking at the Cold Chain Summit.
Click
Here for information on Cool Chain Europe. Click
Here to learn more about the Cold Chain Summit, or Click
Here to directly contact a representative.
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Unit
Load Design Short Course at Virginia Tech
On April 15-17, 2008, this popular short course will again be offered
by the Center for Unit Load Design in Blacksburg, VA. Subtitled
“how to reduce the cost of shipping units”, the course
emphasizes design of the overall “system” rather than
only the individual components.
Taught by Center Director Ralph Rupert, retired Director and now
independent consultant Marshall “Mark” White, and John
Clarke of The Nelson Company, the course will cover:
• Principles of unit load design
• Packaging design
• Pallet design
• Interactions between material
handling equipment, packaging, and pallets
• Diagnosing and solving material
handling problems
Click
Here for complete information.
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In
Memoriam – Caryl Twitchell and Jim Russell
We
are saddened to report the recent passing of two long-time packaging
industry leaders, Caryl E. Twitchell of Robbinsdale, MN and James
A. Russell of Lanham, MD.
Caryl Twitchell was active in ASTM International’s Committee
D10 on Packaging for over 30 years, and had been chair of Subcommittees
D10.14 (Tape and Labels) and D10.93 (Bylaws and Organization). He
received several ASTM awards, most recently a D10 Special Recognition
in 2001. Click
Here and select the “Fall 07” newsletter for an
ASTM D10 tribute to Caryl.
Jim Russell of the U.S. Army – TACOM was a former Executive
Director of the National Institute of Packaging, Handling, and Logistics
Engineers, and most recently served as the organization’s
Comptroller. He was a recipient of NIPHLE’s John C. Wilford
Memorial Award and also a Special Award for superior service. Visit
the NIPHLE website
for information and a tribute to Jim.
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