The rise in Employer National Insurance in the UK is but one factor set to impact ecommerce packaging. What can be done to alleviate the pain? Jo Bradley (pictured below), Business Development Manager at Sparck Technologies suggests a hi-tech panacea.

If distribution and fulfilment operations ever did benefit from ‘cheap’ labour, a series of recent Government announcements has ensured that era is well and truly over. Controlling labour costs through automation is no longer optional – it’s a question of business survival.

In short order, the UK Government has first raised the minimum wage by significantly more than inflation to £12.21 an hour for workers over the age of 21, Employer National Insurance contributions are rising from 13.8% to 15%, and in a further twist, this will now apply to workers on annualised pay of as little as £5,000 rather than the previous £9,100.

That last provision in particular hits the many fulfilment operations that are heavily dependent on seasonal or casual employees to cope with peak in activity. This patten of employment is about to be even further challenged by the extension of a range of workers’ rights to ‘day one’ of employment. Details are as yet obscure, but they certainly aren’t going to reduce employment costs.

The response must lie with automation, but particularly in the current uncertain economic climate, few businesses can afford the investment or business disruption required to go ‘full Amazon’ across activities such as retrieval, order picking and internal transport. These tend to be heavily interdependent, and ‘step by step’ approaches can be problematic.

One area that for many fulfilment operations can be treated as a standalone project, with the prospect of significant reductions in labour requirement, and thus an attractively quick Return on Investment, is that of packing and labelling goods into cartons for transport. Ecommerce operations, in particular, can stand to reap big rewards in terms of savings in labour and material costs, as well as boosting productivity and performance at peak, if the right approach is taken. Our repeated customer experience is that using ‘fit to size’ automation to fold and build boxes around consignments – even of mixed and varied goods – followed by auto sealing, weighing and labelling, can see one or two operators replacing as many as twenty manual packing benches.

But in selecting automated packaging technology businesses shouldn’t focus on labour costs alone. There are other cost pressures looming, and other benefits to be reaped. On costs, the revised Extended Producer Responsibility regulations are about to come into effect. These are complex, involving fees and credit notes and a significant administrative burden, but at heart they involve a levy on the use of packaging materials. Precise rates are yet to be fixed but the Government’s current mid-point estimates are around £190 per tonne for paper and card, and a deliberatively punitive £425 per tonne on plastic packaging materials.

Jo Bradley

This is intended to encourage firms to reduce the use of packaging materials. Fortunately for ecommerce businesses the right form of packaging automation can also provide a highly effective solution to this issue too. Sparck’s ‘fit-to-size’ automated packaging systems not only minimise the use of card used, by tailor-making a box for each individual order, but can also eliminate the need for void fillers which are often plastic based.

Those savings can go straight to the bottom line. But there are other less easily quantifiable but nonetheless real benefits. Well-fitting boxes reduce the incidence of shock or crush damage in transit. They economise on the use of transport space, which can also yield cost savings, on fuel obviously, but also in warehouse labour as there may be fewer roll cages to push around. And right-sizing removes what research consistently shows to be one of consumers’ biggest gripes about e-commerce and home delivery – oversized boxes!

These factors together make a robust case for automation. But as employment costs bite, the labour-saving arithmetic of fit-to-size automation alone will undoubtedly present a fast and sure Return on Investment for many businesses.

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Trump’s outrageous ’emergency’ execuitve order announcement of import tariffs on goods coming from Canada, Mexico and China – the USA’s three biggest trading partners – was not unexpected but still shocking, repulsive and disastrous. His reckless actions, to commence tomorrow, will cause price rises for American consumers, bottlenecks, disruption, red tape and inventory problems, not to mention the negative impact on business confidence and economic growth for the global economy.

Chris Clowes, executive director at global supply chain and logistics consultancy, SCALA, commented:

“The announcement of the US’s incoming trade tariffs on Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese goods, coupled with Trump’s ongoing rhetoric around trading with the EU, is bold. Waging a trade war with four of its biggest trading partners could have negative ramifications for the US. Nearshoring manufacturing to the US will be hard to justify for some companies, given the higher cost base and the expertise and sheer scale of operations that overseas manufacturing has previously provided. And with business challenges come consumer impacts. Rising costs would likely lead to cost-push inflation – meaning the consumer pays more for the goods and services they seek – and dampened purchasing power. For the rest of the world, however, we could see the likes of China, the EU, Canada, and Mexico form a trade alliance. We could also see potential trading opportunities for places like the UK open as countries look for new places to import.”

Chris Clowes, Scala

ASOS’s US Warehouse Decision

Clowes also commented on ASOS’s recent logistics problems:

“The decision by fashion giant ASOS to mothball a large US warehouse, resulting in a £190 million impairment charge, highlights the risks of undertaking large-scale supply chain transformations without iterative planning. Going forward, US customers will receive orders from its automated UK fulfilment centre in Barnsley and a smaller US site. This costly move reflects a substantial investment in long-term infrastructure, which unfortunately failed to align with slower-than-anticipated regional growth. This has been further impacted by fierce competition from the likes of fast-fashion retailers, Shein and Temu.

“The upsides of consolidating stock in the UK are that ASOS can significantly reduce duplicate inventory, lower space requirements, and streamline manufacturing for better inbound delivery. These changes not only reduce costs but also enable a broader range of products to be offered to US customers, potentially increasing sales. However, it will take time for these benefits to materialise due to the significant upfront costs. Moreover, moving fulfilment back to the UK may not lower logistics costs overall – especially as last-mile delivery often tends to be the most expensive element.

“At SCALA, we typically recommend taking a phased approach to this type of warehousing network shift, reducing risks while enabling businesses to adapt more effectively to market conditions. Undertaking centre-of-gravity studies to support strategic warehousing relocation beforehand can have big business benefits; for example, we’ve helped businesses identify savings of up to 30% in recent European projects.”

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At the international specialist trade fair for intralogistics solutions and process management LogiMAT, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS will present its product portfolio from 11 to 13 March 2025. In Hall
3, Stand 3C41, visitors can find out more about the efficient, reliable and flexible drive solutions from the system supplier’s modular products as well as about further services – while benefitting from the expertise of a drive expert.

Reliable drives with sufficient power are required in intralogistics. The LogiDrive solution space from NORD offers user-friendly and easy-to-integrate drive systems for the post & parcel, airport and warehouse sectors, which are characterised by their low weight and compact installation space. They have all international certifications and can therefore be used worldwide.

LogiDrive variants– Advanced and Basic

LogiDrive Advanced consists of the high-efficiency IE5+ synchronous motor, the NORDAC ON+ and a gear unit from NORD, and was optimised in terms of energy efficiency. The high efficiency over a large speed and load range enables variant reduction for more streamlined processes and reduced administration and warehousing costs, which is particularly of advantage for large systems with numerous drives and which furthermore reduces downtimes.

LogiDrive Basic consists of an IE3 asynchronous motor, the NORDAC ON and a gear unit from NORD. The components are optimally matched and impress with a large adjustment range. This solution mainly focuses on the acquisition costs.

Decentralised drive electronics

The decentralised NORDAC ON/ON+ frequency inverters are characterised by their compact design, full plug-in capability and high reliability. They also offer PLC functionality for drive-related functions (PLC onboard) and an integrated multi-protocol Ethernet interface. PROFINET, EtherCAT and EtherNet/IP can be set via parameters. The inverters are designed for power ranges from 0.37 kW to 3.7 kW. With their plugand-play function, they provide a maintenance-friendly and economical solution for modern production environments. The NORDAC ON is also intended for integration into PROFIsafe and FSoE environments.

The IE5+ synchronous motors with efficiencies of up to 95 % over a wide torque range also provide optimum efficiency in partial load and partial speed ranges. They surpass the highest defined efficiency class and are characterised by their compact, hygienic design in a very small installation space. Available versions are TENV smooth motor, TEFC motor with cooling fins and integrated DuoDrive geared motor with a power range from 0.35 kW to 4 kW. In the second quarter of 2025, NORD will expand its product portfolio with an additional size.

NORD not only supports its customer with energy-efficient and tailor-made drive systems to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) but also with services such as the NORD ECO service to analyse existing systems and reveal potential for saving energy.

Keeping an eye on the drive

In addition, NORD released the third version of its Windows parameterisation software. The software tool is the ideal supplementation to the NORDCON MOBILE-APP for smartphones or tablets.
It offers additional functions for setting up and monitoring drives. A customisable dashboard, a contextsensitive help function and a revised oscilloscope support application-specific control of the drive technology.

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It is the successor to the Concorde, decommissioned since 2003, the new Boom Supersonic XB-1 Overture prototype that broke the sound barrier on Jan. 28 by flying at a top speed of 1305 miles per hour (Mach 1.7) over the skies of California’s Mojave Desert.

Boom XB-1: The Supersonic Private Jet Prototype That Will Revolutionize Air Travel

The future of luxury air travel may be closer than we imagine. Boom Supersonic, a company at the forefront of the aviation industry, has developed the XB-1, a prototype supersonic jet that will serve as the basis for the future Overture, a commercial aircraft designed to fly at incredible speeds and dramatically reduce travel time between major world destinations.

Supersonic Boom XB-1: A Step Forward Toward Overture

The Supersonic Boom XB-1, nicknamed“Baby Boom,” is the first privately developed supersonic jet since the Concorde era. With a length of about 21 meters and an all-carbon-fiber structure, the prototype was designed to test key technologies that will be used in the Overture, the supersonic passenger jet that promises to revolutionize commercial aviation.

The XB-1 is powered by three General Electric J85-15 engines, enabling it to reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.7, or about 2,100 km/h. Although it cannot exceed three times the speed of sound, as erroneously reported by some sources, its ability to fly at supersonic speeds represents a major breakthrough in the realization of the Overture.

Objectives and Technological Innovations

Boom Supersonic designed the XB-1 to test a number of advanced technologies that will be implemented in the Overture. Key innovations include:

• Advanced Composite Materials: Carbon fiber fuselage provides high temperature resistance and light weight, improving aerodynamic efficiency.
• Optimized Aerodynamic Design: The tapered shape of the XB-1 Boom reduces air resistance and minimizes sonic boom, a key aspect of obtaining clearance for commercial supersonic flight.
• Enhanced Propulsion: J85-15 engines have been adapted to maximize efficiency and safety in supersonic flight.
• Cockpit with Cutting-Edge Technology: Equipped with advanced digital displays and fly-by-wire control systems , the XB-1 cockpit represents a milestone in the evolution of supersonic aviation.

Overture: The Supersonic Jet of the Future

The XB-1 is just the first step toward the realization of the Overture, a commercial and private jet that could take to the skies by 2029. With a capacity of about 65-80 passengers and an expected speed of Mach 1.7, the Overture will significantly reduce intercontinental travel times.

Boom Supersonic has already received orders from airlines such as United Airlines and Japan Airlines, a sign that interest in supersonic travel is more alive than ever. In addition, the company has committed to making the Overture a sustainable aircraft, using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and designing an aircraft with reduced carbon emissions.

Il Role of the XB-1 Boom in Private Jet Travel.

The private aviation sector could also benefit from the innovations developed for the Overture. Technologies tested with the XB-1 could be applied to future supersonic private jets, making luxury travel even faster and more efficient.

Today, many businessmen, celebrities and high-profile personalities use private jets to save time and enjoy maximum comfort. With a supersonic jet like the Overture, the very concept of private travel would change dramatically: intercontinental flights in a few hours, exclusive flight experiences, and state-of-the-art technology that would further enhance in-flight luxury.

Flight times cut in half on intercontinental routes

If the Overture actually enters service by 2029, it could become one of the most sought-after aircraft in the private jet industry. Imagine how long it would take to cover some of the most popular routes for luxury travelers:

• New York – London: Currently about 7 hours in a traditional jet, with Overture it would be reduced to 3 hours and 30 minutes.
• Los Angeles – Tokyo: A flight that takes about 11 hours today could be completed in 6 hours.
• Paris – Dubai: From the normal 6 hours and 50 minutes would be reduced to about 3 hours and 45 minutes.
• Milan – Miami: Today it takes about 10 hours, but with Overture the time would be cut in half to 5 hours and 30 minutes.

The Boom Supersonic XB-1 represents a key piece in the renaissance of commercial and private supersonic flight. With its innovative technologies and its role as a testbed for Overture, Boom Supersonic is paving the way for a new era of aviation.

Although the dream of supersonic flights suffered a setback after the retirement of Concorde in 2003, the Boom XB-1 and the forthcoming Overture show that the industry is more alive than ever. Soon, traveling from one part of the world to another in a matter of hours could become a reality accessible not only to commercial airlines, but also to discerning private jet customers.

Also read our article on the fastest Private Jet

IFCO, a supplier of reusable packaging solutions for fresh food, achieved record environmental savings with customers in 2024, a year marked by targeted expansion and a series of customer-centric packaging innovations. 2.4 billion shipments of fruit and vegetables, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, dairy and eggs, baked goods, bananas and other fresh grocery products were delivered in IFCO reusable packaging containers (RPCs) during 2024 globally.

In total, by using the IFCO SmartCycle circular pooling system instead of single-use packaging, customers generated the following environmental savings during 2024:

• 674,333 metric tons of CO2e emissions, equivalent to circling the planet 140,344 times by car
• 54,308 megaliters of water, equivalent to 21,723 Olympic size pools
• 14,854 terajoules of energy, equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 746,668 households
• 1,363,131 metric tons of solid waste, equivalent to the solid waste produced by 2.73 million people in a year
• 66,015 tons of product waste, equivalent to 105 million meals

IFCO uses third-party peer-reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA) studies based on ISO 14040/14044 to scientifically quantify the environmental benefits of the IFCO SmartCycle in reducing CO2e emissions, water consumption, energy use and solid waste, as well as other third-party studies to quantify reductions in food loss and food waste. For the eighth year in a row, IFCO is to award customers with an individual IFCO Sustainability Certificate. These science-backed certificates accurately quantify and recognize each customer’s unique contribution to the significant environmental savings achieved through the efficient and food-safe SmartCycle circular pooling system.

Importantly, these certificates allow producers, growers, distributors and retailers to demonstrate their commitment to improving the environmental performance of their supply chains. Customers increasingly use the certificates to showcase their tangible progress toward their own sustainability goals.

Further reductions to the carbon footprint of sustainable packaging

In 2024, a new critically reviewed LCA study commissioned by IFCO, conducted by Fraunhofer IBP and reviewed by a panel under the direction of DEKRA, updated the environmental impacts of reusable packaging containers and cardboard boxes over their full life cycle. Since 2018, IFCO has cut the average carbon footprint of its RPCs by an additional 10%. In addition, the company’s RPCs now generate up to 62% less CO2e emissions compared to single-use packaging, up from 60% in 2018. Comparative LCAs are essential for IFCO’s ESG Strategy, Thriving in the circular economy and help define the decarbonization levers, activities and milestones that support the goals of becoming a net-zero, zero-waste business by 2040.

Greater impact with innovative packaging, digital services and new regions

2024 also saw the launch of new customer-led innovations, including Dora and Nestor, two lightweight, durable plastic pallets, and the Marina Fish Crate, which also expanded the use of IFCO’s integrated tracking systems and proven digital technologies. In addition, IFCO continued to strengthen its market presence in 2024 through strategic acquisitions. For instance, the company acquired BEPCO in the Baltics, allowing more customers to access sustainable packaging solutions through the SmartCycle. Furthermore, the company opened two new state-of-the-art service centres with advanced automation in the UK as well as a new digital hub in the city of Barcelona to enhance supply chain transparency and efficiency.

“Every reusable packaging innovation, every digital solution and every acquisition expands our reach and allows more customers to benefit from our sustainable circular business model, reducing waste and carbon emissions in the process. Working closely together with our customers – producers, growers, distributors and retailers – we are driving impactful change in the global fresh grocery supply chain,” says Iñigo Canalejo, Vice President ESG & Strategic Marketing, IFCO.

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