Packaging Design: General Framework and Research Agenda

Traditionally, packaging design has had a subordinate role with respect to product design and production systems design; however, its impact on supply chain costs and performances can be devastating. Only in the past few years its strategic role has been recognized both in theory and in practice. Although packaging design research attracted considerable attention in the recent past, the purpose of this article is to broaden the field even further in two main directions. First, an attempt is made to review the status of literature on packaging design: a total of 89 articles published between 1990 and 2011 are reviewed and classified by content. In this contest, related International Standards are also presented and discussed, and a conceptual framework for packaging design is presented. Second, an agenda for future research in this area is provided.