Distribution Environment Data Collection Program

Overview

ISTA's mission to empower the people and organizations affecting packaging to minimize product damage throughout distribution and optimize resource usage through effective package design continues to be greatly influenced by packaged-product performance testing. As part of our strategic plan to deliver on this mission, ISTA developed a Distribution Environment Data Collection Program with the primary goal of expanding our distribution environment data resources. This data will then be leveraged to improve current testing protocols, add new testing protocols, and create a world-class data repository that can be leveraged by ISTA, and its members, to better model distribution locally, nationally, and internationally.

Through both directly-funded research and industry collaboration, we've set a goal to obtain atmospheric, vibration, storage, and handling data that meets our established Data Collection Standards for five prioritized global distribution routes. This data will then be developed and implemented into ISTA test procedures as deemed appropriate by the ISTA Standards Council.

We are also interested in working with members of the community who own data for routes within and outside of these identified target areas and have interest in sharing and building the ISTA data repository. This will ultimately serve to improve testing and package design globally.

We are excited for this opportunity to collaborate with the ISTA community to continue pushing package performance testing and design forward. You can contact ISTA VP of Research, Brian O'Banion directly with any questions or to note interest in participation.

NEW RFPs ISSUED:

The ISTA Research & Standards Councils, through research and correlation efforts, will establish a standard approach to converting field data into draft ISTA test blocks for shock/drop and vibration.    

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Approach

The Distribution Environment Data Collection Project aims to enhance ISTA’s value proposition by ensuring we continue to offer the industry’s most current testing procedures. This data will be leveraged by packaging professionals to design optimized packaging solutions for both domestic and global distribution.

Based on research using trade data from the World Bank and others, ISTA's Global Board decided upon the following overall program approach:

• Gather data for the ocean route of Asia to the EU (Shanghai to Rotterdam). This data can then be adjusted to scale for various ocean transport distances.
• Gather data for two of the top global ports ranging across locations of interest, such as Shanghai and Rotterdam. This data collection effort will determine if there are substantive handling differences at the various ports or if all major ports can reasonably be modeled the same.
• Collect data for the top five regional land routes of interest for which data is currently deemed to be non-representative:
  1. China (within and between Shanghai and Guangzhou)
  2. India (within and between Jawaharlal Nehru port (Mumbai) and New Delhi)
  3. European Union (East/West and North/South routes)
  4. Mexico (within and between Veracruz and Mexico City)
  5. Japan (within and between Tokyo and Osaka)
• As a first phase, we will focus on data collection for the land routes.

This approach will yield data that can then be segmented to model global distribution routes. This program is intended to serve as a starting point and not an end goal. We are also interested in working with members of the community who own data for routes within and outside of these identified target areas and have interest in sharing and building the ISTA data repository. This will ultimately serve to improve testing and package design globally.

How You Can Participate

We intend to collect the data through both directly-funded research, by issuing RFPs and selecting research partners, and via collaboration with industry partners with existing data sources interested in sharing with ISTA. There are multiple ways for your organization to participate in this program:

Data Sharing

Companies with data for these targeted ocean, port or land routes can share their data with ISTA, assuming the data meets ISTAs data collection requirements as defined in the Data Collection Standards. We are also interested in data beyond those targeted areas. If you have data available, please contact ISTA directly to discuss the benefits of data sharing. You can also complete the online submission form(s) below, to the best of your ability, and ISTA will contact you after receiving your submission.

Online submission forms

• Vibration data
• Shock/drop data
• Atmospheric data

Route Access

ISTA members that have commercial partnerships in these targeted ocean, port or land routes can partner with our selected research organization to provide product, shipment logistics (routes and carriers) and access to allow the research partner to collect the desired data. The benefit of this participation is that the member will receive the shipment data for their own use.

Please contact ISTA VP of Research, Brian O'Banion to note your interest in this initiative.

Research

Researchers interested in submitting proposals for Distribution Environment Data Collection Project RFPs should contact ISTA directly to note their interest. All RFPs will be sent directly to any researcher with noted interest at the time of publishing.

Open RFPs

• Process to Create Draft Test Blocks from Field Data – Shock/Drop
• Process to Create Draft Test Blocks from Field Data – Vibration

ISTA is seeking proposals to develop a standardized approach for converting field data into draft ISTA test blocks, as this was identified as a gap when the Research Council handed over the results of the data collection projects to the Standards Council. Different methods for translating field data into test blocks exist, but there has never been a comprehensive study comparing them, leading to ongoing debate within the industry. A standardized approach would improve efficiency and credibility by formalizing the process. As part of this initiative, ISTA will also update its Data Collection Standards and the Data Analysis Guidelines. Separate RFPs have been issued for shock/drop and vibration research, with joint bids and partnerships welcomed.

For more information, please contact ISTA VP of Research, Brian O'Banion

Closed RFPs

The following RFP's include the initial phase of the Distribution Environment Data Collection Project:

For more information, please contact ISTA VP of Research, Brian O'Banion