Insulated shipping packaging - The Specifications Document, a guarantee of respected quality

The transport of heat sensitive healthcare products requires the use of insulated shipping packaging that meets the safety, productivity and temperature maintenance requirementsthat are essential to good cold chain management. The ideal insulated packaging solution would meet quality and productivity requirementsin terms of performance, ergonomics and ease of preparation, logistics issuesin terms of weight and volume optimisation, and satisfy budgetary constraints. This is all well and good, but each user has its own vision of the ideal insulated packaging solution. The specifications document’s role is to match the user’s expectations with the supplier’s recommendations.

The specifications, the foundation for the entire project

The specifications document is used to clearly identify the user’s expectations and needs, and to guide the supplier on the path to giving the customer satisfaction. This document then becomes the reference for the entire project.

When a temperature-controlled packaging is specifically developed for a customer, the customer must stipulate what he requires before design work can begin on the product itself. Quite often the requirements are obvious, but unfortunately they may be badly defined.

The existence of a clear and precise set of specificationsestablished by the customer himself has two main advantages:

It demonstrates that the requirements have been defined and clarified internallybefore contacting the supplier. The involvement of different departments (purchasing, logistics, quality, etc.) is strongly encouraged so that all needs can be express and prioritised. It gives the supplier a direction to take. This avoids many questions and delays. The supplier is able to guide the customerin setting out his requirements and can be on the lookout for any specified features that cannot be achieved because they are not technically feasible or because some criteria are not compatible (compliance with quality, cost and deadline).

A poor set of specifications will result in the development of a product that does not entirely meet expectations. Even worse, it may give rise to an increase in the initial deadline and the provisional cost if the requirements are changed during product development.

Impact of badly-defined specifications on quality / cost / deadline

The supplier is the best person to know whether the expected specific criteria are achievable.

The most common causes of problems are:

Technical incompatibility:the desired characteristics lead to a product that cannot be developed as expected Inconsistency between various criteria:wish to have a multi-functional insulated box that is highly effective even under extreme conditions and inexpensive at the same time. Or an innovative packaging that will be available in a very short time. In both cases, there must be an agreement between the supplier and the customer on which criteria are not up for discussion. This puts the supplier on the right track as regards product development and will ensure that he fully understands the client’s requirements.

It often happens that alternative solutions are found to reach as much as possible criteria referring to Quality / Cost / Deadlines.

In fact, these 3 concepts are closely linked: changing the details for one of the criteria implies changing direction on the other two as well. It is quite common for the customer to increase ‘quality’ requirements whilst asking for a reduction in the ‘cost’ and ‘deadline’ criteria.

Even if new designs come from existing products, a development period will still be required in order to adapt them. Tests have to be carried out to check that the insulated packaging solution is reliable, which costs money and involves an additional delay. If a qualification is required before actual use, this same criteria may quickly be increased.

Practical guide to the minimum specifications needed to develop a cooling box

Here is a list of the minimum information to be supplied in order to produce the best cold chain shipping packaging solution from a performance point of view:

Temperature rangeof the products to be transported Unit dimensions and number of productsto be placed inside the box Period of use and temperature profile(s)to which the box will be subjected. For the latter criterion, examples already exist in various guides (ISTA, C3, etc.) or standards (Afnor NF S 99-700). However, validation of the actual box in question is recommended, as the examples do not reflect the actual logistical chain of the customers. This is the minimum information required, but it is not sufficient to guarantee that the optimum packaging solution will be produced. In fact, a supplier can develop several types of cooling box that would meet these 3 criteria.

The most suitable will be the one that best meets the requirements of the following departments:

Quality: need for a solution that is effective under all circumstances. Order preparation: need for box that is ergonomic and easy for employees to prepare. Logistics: need of a box which is characterised by an optimum weight and volume. Purchasing: need of inexpensive box in order to meet the given budget. If the specifications are not clearly defined, the supplier can often find himself having to make a decision: which criteria have to be respected first? His choices no longer reflect the requirements that have been expressed by the customer. There is therefore a risk of offering a non-compliant insulated packaging solution, which, consequently, leads to no longer be on the same wavelength as the customer.

It is common to ask for a single set-up cold chain packaging able to be efficient all year round. This makes it possible to solve the problem of changing the box preparation according to the season. Such a criterion usually comes from the quality or validation department.

However, this option is always more cumbersome to be put into practice from the point of view of the order preparation or logistics departments. It requires careful organisation and involves estimating the set-up costs at an early stage: space required for chilling and freezing equipment, for storing packages, forecasting peak times to ensure continuity of order preparation, etc.

In addition, sending out bigger packaging solutions will involve added cost that needs to be assessed at the start of the project.

A single set-up option is also more expensive from a purchasing point of view, as it involves many more inner elements than a multi set-up option. The purchasing department has to keep to a budget.

Therefore in order to satisfy a given criterion, it is possible that less importance is given to another one. But which one should be preferred and why? The customer is responsible for prioritising.

This is where the initial request, formulated and validated in the form of specification, can be used to re-establish a dialogue between the 2 parties and check that the original objective is being met.