The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak has caused many people to reevaluate priorities in their lives. One main priority that has arisen is the public’s awareness of their health and importance of protecting themselves and their family. One study found that 62% of families are actively concerned about contracting coronavirus [1].

In these times SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is on the forefront of everyone’s mind. The impacts can be seen in almost every industry, including packaging. COVID-19 is spread through bodily fluids, like respiratory droplets, which can be transferred to surfaces that come in contact with multiple people. It may be possible for COVID-19 to be contracted by touching a surface with the virus living on it and then touching one’s own mouth, nose, or eyes [2,4]. This is particularly a concern for packaging, as products transfer between multiple people and are continually in use. This begs the question: what is the best packaging material to use in the time of COVID-19? While there is no concrete, guaranteed answer, aluminum and tinplate have shown promising qualities in multiple ways. 

Optimizing a supply chain for sustainability is an efficient way for companies to reduce their environmental footprint while increasing long term profits. By 2025 almost two billion people are expected to become global consumers, a 75 percent increase over 2010. This will require increased transport within supply chains, ultimately causing more greenhouse gas production. Sustainable supply chains focus on improving efficiency throughout the entire process, with a strong focus on reducing waste/CO2 production and improving communication. These waste products directly contribute to global warming, which is a worldwide issue leading to a host of further problems. In the metal packaging world a few key components that are focused to improve sustainability are overall production efficiency, location raw materials are sourced from, transportation, and sales. Companies that focus on sustainably optimizing these aspects of their supply chain can expect to see a host of effects relating to their company cost, product cost, and environmental impact.

Sustainable supply-chain optimization is the process of ensuring that all aspects of the supply chain, from manufacturing to sales, are being done in the most optimal and energy efficient way [1]. This is an integral part of any manufacturing company and is especially true in the metal packaging industry. In the past metal packaging has been seen as an energy intensive and non-emissions friendly process, but this is no longer true. With an optimized supply chain and higher rates of recycling metal packaging is actually a more carbon emission friendly process than plastic packaging. A sustainably optimized supply chain produces 1.87 tonnes of CO2-e per tonne of aluminium and 2.2 tonnes of CO2-e per tonne of plastic produced [2,3]. This is an easy way for companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint to make a change. For a supply chain to be sustainably optimized there are a few areas that need to be reviewed: overall production efficiency, the metal packaging supplier, transportation, and sales.

Efficient communication is critical for maintaining an efficient supply chain. By integrating ERP into the supply chain, data exchange is streamlined without having to deal with silos that keep processes separate and prevent the sharing of data. With ERP-integration, data exchange begins the moment the supplier enters sales information into the system. From there, the information is sent through production planning where the necessary materials are ordered, and the new task is schedule on the supplier’s itinerary. This helps ensure that information is quickly exchanged with the individual links of the logistic supply chain.

It can be challenging to create an integrated supply chain with multiple manufacturers and the packaging provider. However, it is not impossible, and the benefits of integration far outweigh the challenge. ERP systems improve information flow between supply chain companies, which is very important for exchanging products, money and information.

Logistics management is a vital part of supply chain management. It involves planning, implementing, organizing, and controlling both the effective and efficient forwarding and reversal flow and storage of goods. Additionally, it gathers and processes important information that starts from the product’s point of origin to its point of consumption to meet the customer’s requirements. All these control functions ensure effective business management in working toward achieving the business’s planned objectives.

To succeed in a competitive and volatile climate, businesses need to comprehend the processes and interactions that occur along their supply chains. This allows businesses to have control of the connection between supply and demand in a way that is integrated, coordinated, and efficient. To accomplish this, today’s automated supply chains rely on enterprise resource planning (ERP), which has greatly improved what traditional supply chains were capable of.

Business relationships are an essential component of an efficient and successful Lean supply chain for cosmetics and food, including those in which Desjardin is a participant. The Lean supply model is special because it provides 12 elements that are designed to improve efficiency in a businesses’ value chain and supply base.