Jan 01, 2008

ASTM International Committee D10 on Packaging will present a Distribution Packaging Workshop on April 7, 2008, from 10 a.m. to noon. The workshop, which is being organized by the committee’s university liaison subcommittee, will occur during the Committee D10 meeting at the ASTM committee week in Anaheim, Calif. Workshop topics will include the following:

• Single-Parcel Shipping Environment—Discussions will focus on the great increase in the number of direct-to-consumer shipments of products over the last decade and how these packages are routed. In addition, results from numerous studies related to the different shipping environments for DHL, FedEx, UPS and USPS where impacts and drops were measured will be compared and discussed. Findings from research related to the various sizes and weight of product-package systems as well as types of products will also be presented.

• Transportation Vibration Measurement—The rise of free trade agreements throughout the world has allowed for greater global distribution and international marketing of products, which brings greater logistical for packaging and delivery. The discussion will focus on the measurement and analysis of truck and rail distribution among major distribution centers for countries around the world and techniques to develop lab simulated vibration test methods to simulate truck and rail shipments from field observations.

• Dangerous Goods Shipments—The high altitude transportation of goods has created unique problems in maintaining the integrity of packaging. These issues, which include the unreliability of the present testing methodologies, new test protocols that will accurately simulate high altitude hazards, and results from studies conducted on dangerous goods packages, will be examined.

For further technical information, contact Jay Singh, Orfalea College, San Luis Obispo, Calif. (phone: 805/756-2129; jasingh@calpoly.edu); Paul Singh, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. (phone: 517/337-1700; singh@msu.edu). Committee D10 meets April 6-9 at the April committee week in Anaheim, Calif. For membership or meeting information, contact Kevin Shanahan, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9737; kshanaha@astm.org).

Release #7882