By Paul R Salmon FCILT, FSCM
In a military supply chain, too robust might mean:
1.Unnecessary protection levels for the item’s fragility, value, or journey conditions. Excess cost and weight (increasing handling effort, fuel use, or transport volume). More waste — over-engineered packaging that creates disposal/recycling issues in theatre.
2.Gather the Right Data from Returns & Field Feedback
You’ll want both quantitative and qualitative data:
From return data & defect reports:
Damage rate: % of items returned as damaged during transit/storage. Damage type & cause: crushing, water ingress, vibration, handling mishap, environmental exposure. Location & transit route: where damage occurred (domestic base, forward operating base, deployed ship). Return reason codes: are they damage-related or something else entirely (mis-pick, over-ordering)? Environmental conditions: temperature extremes, humidity, sand/dust, shock levels.
From operational reports & troops in theatre:
Was the packaging hard to open or dispose of? Was it too heavy or bulky to move efficiently? Did it require specialist tools to open?
3.Analyse the Patterns
You’re looking for trends like:
Extremely low damage rate (e.g., <0.1% across all movements) → suggests over-specification if environment risk is low. High protection level on low-risk routes (e.g., domestic base-to-base moves with climate control). Mismatch between damage type and packaging design (e.g., using heavy timber crate when water ingress is the real issue). Same damage rates on less robust trials → shows that downgraded packaging works just as well.
4.Calculate the Cost/Benefit of Current Robustness
Direct cost: Packaging unit price, handling cost, and disposal cost. Indirect cost: Added weight/volume in transport → fuel burn & capacity reduction. Risk cost: Expected cost of damage if packaging is downgraded (damage rate × repair/replacement value × operational impact).
If the risk cost is significantly lower than the savings from lighter or simpler packaging, you may be “too robust.”
5.Test & Validate with Controlled Downgrades
Defence tends to be risk-averse — so rather than cutting spec across the board, you can:
Pick low-risk items/routes for downgraded packaging trials. Monitor return/damage data closely over 6–12 months. Compare to control group using current packaging.
6.Decision Framework
I’d recommend a Defence Packaging Robustness Decision Matrix with:
Item value & fragility (low/med/high). Operational consequence of failure (low/med/high). Route/environmental risk (low/med/high). Historical damage rate (low/med/high).
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