The Standards Myth: Why Your Temperature Controlled Packaging Is Failing And What To Do About It

By Jean Bedard, president and Kevin Kohleriter, director of marketing, Infitrak, Inc.

Global regulatory authorities are placing increased scrutiny on documenting control over distribution environments. While there is obviously a link between your shipping conditions and your thermal protection (packages), the challenge is that there is no clear, reliable industry standard temperature profile for the design of insulated packaging systems used for the distribution of products. This is because temperature profiles for packaging design should be rationalized based on not only your product characteristics, but your distribution logistics. This paper examines the lack of consistency in the current methodology for designing temperature profiles, why commonly used standards should not be used on their own, and identifies the needed parameters for consideration.