A different approach is emerging among organisations dealing with increasing complexity.

So instead of asking “what needs to be fixed next?”, organisations that perform better step back and look at where problems actually accumulate across the packaging system.

They deliberately examine:
– Where costs build up over time, not just at the point of purchase
– Where waste or inefficiencies appear, such as damage, returns, or over-packaging
– Where operational risks sit, including supply disruption, regulatory exposure, or inconsistent performance across markets

This also means looking at how packaging interacts with:
– The product it protects
– The supply chain, including transport, handling, and storage
– Commercial constraints, such as cost-to-serve and supplier availability
– End-of-life systems, including collection, sorting, and processing realities

When these connections are made visible early, trade-offs can be considered deliberately rather than discovered later.
We need packaging to shift from a recurring operational problem to a strategic lever for resilience and long-term competitiveness.

That is why we need multi-criteria tools to analyse packaging choices – which enable analysing complex trade-offs and whole-of-supply chain effects?

What do you expect these tools to have?

Let us know what you think and watch the space…