Wrapping it up

Today, packaging technology is being seen as a powerful tool to leverage business. There is also a huge market for plastics in India. These two fields have carved a niche for themselves as allied industries.

WITH the brand competition as it exists in the market today, the consumers have never had it so good. In their attempt to woo the customers, marketers have flooded the market with a spate of brands to choose from. They strongly believe that packaging plays an important role in getting customers to select their product. A premium is now paid to the package in which a product is delivered. Packaging technology has thus become a thriving field in itself.

Packaging is of two kinds - rigid and flexible - depending on the material of the product, the life span, time spent in transit etc. Paper, plastic, wood, cardboard, thermacol provide the canvas for the packaging technologist to work on.

Today's packaging technologist needs to be creative and should have the required technical knowledge. There are mainly three areas of specialisation - designing, manufacturing and marketing. This includes a study in materials, environment protection and waste disposal, quality control, machinery etc.

Quality

The Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) located at New Delhi, Calcutta and Chennai offers part-time, full-time and correspondence courses in packaging. Those possessing a graduate degree in science, engineering and technology with 50% aggregate are eligible for the 2-year course, for which selection is through an all-India entrance test and interview. IIP also offers a 6-month women's entrepreneurship development programme in packaging. The 2-year distance education programme is open for graduates in any discipline having 2 years experience in packaging technology. Other short-term courses like a three-month certificate course in packaging technology is also available. Specialisations in packaging technology include design and development, marketing and quality assurance.

`The works'

Broadly speaking, a packaging technologist designs the packaging for a product. This is done by taking into consideration the properties of the product, its size, shape etc. Other requirements like product protection, environment friendly packaging, manufacturing of the packaging material and stringent quality control are details that are also looked into. Design technologists are chiefly responsible for making the prototype of the design of the package as per the requirements of the product.

While the manufacturing division deals with the actual production of the material, marketing professionals liaison with the clients and various other departments in order meet the requirements of new business opportunities.

Companies dealing with products that require packaging employ packaging technologists.

Also companies that deal with FMCG and pharmaceutical products have packaging technologists as an integral part of their regular workforce. In short, there is a good demand for persons having the right qualifications. An attractive remuneration is also provided to graduates possessing a post-graduate diploma in packaging technology.

In India ITC's printing and packaging section is the largest converter of paper and paperboard into various kinds of packaging for a variety of products.

MALINI. S and ARCHANA. J