DUO PLAST is a leading stretch film manufacturer that offers consulting on packaging for optimum safety and optimal cost efficiency through its state-of-the-art Transport Simulation Center.
The Simulation Center, powered by Safe Load Testing Technologies, allows DUO PLAST to offer their clients packaging tests in their facilities, providing a personalized service to analyze the loads and the distribution process and the stretch film that best suits the needs of each client.
Only expert analysis of all factors in the system enables the development of individual packaging solutions that protect the product and are efficient from a cost and sustainability perspective. Aided by state-of-the-art testing systems, DUO LAB Technology Centre can create and evaluate complete loading and transport securement concepts.
Benefits of Safe Load Testing Technologies´ expert training services
Safe Load Testing Technologies program provides hands-on training to give companies an edge to optimize and validate their packaging solutions. The objective of the training is to provide practical skills to get the most out of Safe Load Testing Technologies test equipment. In Duo PLAST, the training provided by Enrique de La Cruz, gave the team skills to face any testing situation, such as the shock and vibration processing and test design, standard procedures application, or transport characterization in Laboratory conditions..
Furthermore, the training included various theoretical and practical sessions on Safe Load Testing Technologies test equipment installed in their Transport Simulation Center, DUO LAB.
Stefanie Schenider and Ralf Heußner from DUO PLAST with Enrique de la Cruz from Safe Load Testing Technologies.
Since the creation of the Transport Simulation Center, the clients who have trusted DUO PLAST have been growing thanks to the benefits obtained directly from the application of these technologies. Specifically, a 30% reduction in packaging costs and a 20% reduction in product damage costs have been achieved.
DUO LAB Technology Centre
To fulfill the wishes and demands of the market – and the legal requirements for securing packages too – the DUO LAB Technology Centre also provides comprehensive laboratory testing to develop package testing concepts for securing materials.
Their Technology Centre includes up-to-date testing solutions for this purpose, provided by Safe Load Testing Technologies, enabling them to undertake tests on entire unit loads. This unique packaging testing laboratory helps DUO PLAST come up with securement concepts for complete loads and transported products, and to perform testing on them. A system analysis of the predominating transport conditions, and environmental influences provides the basis for developing individually-adapted securement measures – from the primary packaging through to the entire unit load.
Thus, DUO PLAST can validate all the challenges of transport, and develop scientifically based packaging testing, analyses, and optimizations. The German Technology Centre for load and transported product securement is officially accredited for package testing by the German accreditation body, DAkkS. Therefore, the company must comply with national and international testing standards, and they are also authorized to issue recognized certificates on test reports.
Safe Load Testing Technologies equipment accredited according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025:2018
- Horizontal impact tester
- Vertical vibration and pitch and roll module (multiaxis system)
- Environmental conditioning chamber
- Shock and Vibration Field Data Recorder
Horizontal Impact Tester
In real life, horizontal loading often occurs when the cargo impacts exterior walls or other packages due to acceleration or braking, coupling of rail vehicles or material handling in warehouses, distribution centres, airports and ports.
With Safe Load Testing Technologies´Horizontal Impact Tester , DUO PLAST is able to analyse the behaviour of the loads with a targeted evaluation of the testing, using a high-speed camera system, the innRecord.
The results from the simulation and analysis enable them to come up with a concept for securing the unit loads which will help their clients to avoid transport damage due to horizontal forces. This method of securing goods for transport is of course applicable to every type of transport.
Vertical Vibration System
Products are at constant risk of being damaged due to the permanent loading resulting from transport.
Safe Load Testing Technologies vertical vibration table enable DUO PLAST to perform testing with vertical impacts and random vibrations, so companies can be absolutely sure about the robustness of their packaging. The facility allows to investigate in great detail how the package behaves when subjected to loading, for example, the effect of lorry shock absorbers, turbulence during air transport and loads arising from processing the shipment in warehouses.
It is also capable of determining the significance of unbalanced masses in engines, and structural vibrations of vehicles and containers. This equipment also enables DUO PLAST to offer test methods to determine scrap rates for products with electronic components.
This special way of simulating transport conditions ensures that DUO PLAST´s clients can verify that your packaging works, and that it is harmonized with a perfectly-adapted load securement concept.
Pitch & Roll Module
The pitch and roll module was specially developed by Safe Load Testing Technologies to test loads resulting from tipping or tilting movements and rotations. This test method enables us to simulate every curve realistically. These influences arising from transport can significantly impact the stability and safety of your transported materials and unit loads.
Shock and Vibration Field Data Recorder.
Combined with the vertical vibration table, these two subsystems form a testing facility enabling us to carry out detailed experiments on the performance of your primary and secondary packaging. This is a focused way of uncovering any weaknesses in the packages.
It is precisely the functional interaction of the two test systems which enables DUO PLAST to cover highly-relevant requirements for applications, since the simultaneous combination of many different loads permits very realistic test conditions (field-to-laboratory simulation).
Shock & Vibration Field Data Recorder
The demands upon transported products and the quality of their packaging are growing all the time. Increasing awareness of the necessity for individually adapted load securement means that transport conditions have unavoidably become a central consideration. To give certainty in this area too, companies need to know that their packaged goods have been perfectly packaged and loaded, so they have the option of using detailed transport route analyses, using special trip data recording systems that recorders all the events that occur during distribution cycle, to then simulate them in the solutions of the Technology Centre.
Climate Chamber
Flexible packaging materials offer numerous advantages for the distribution process, for example, simple and fast packaging of the products to be transported. Strength and retention forces are enormously affected by the environmental conditions they experience, so the packaging’s load capacity may vary significantly. This must be taken sufficiently into account during the selection and processing of the film. To investigate the significance of these factors for the safety and stability of the unit loads, DUO PLAST offers their client’s test environment which allows them to subject the unit load being tested to vertical tests – directly within a climate-controlled environment
Safe Load Testing Technologies: the ideal partner when creating a transport simulation laboratory.
Nowadays there are only two companies in the world that have the know-how and necessary skills to successfully design and undertake a turnkey Transport Simulation Laboratory project. One of them is in the United States, and the other one is Safe Load TT. The fact of being in Europe and being renowned in the sector led us to be the ideal partner for DUO PLAST in the execution of this project.
Moreover, Safe Load TT has the only existing patent in the world for a vertical vibration + pitch/roll simulation system, which is the one that best replicates real-world conditions that place during the transportation of goods – something that is essential for this type of project.
There is currently a growing demand for this type of solution by major plastic film manufacturing and distribution companies, especially after the enactment of Directive 2014/47/EU in May 2018.
The concept that is being developed is the same one that was applied by DUO PLAST, which is to say, providing a value-added service to attract more customers and gain the loyalty of both existing and new ones. For all of this, Safe Load Testing Technologies is the ideal partner when implementing this type of project since we have the necessary experience and know-how for it to be a complete success. Do you want to set up your transport simulation laboratory? Get in touch with us and we will asist you.
