Project News

Unsophisticated packaging designs and high cost of procurement of packaging materials have been posing a significant challenge to the aloe processing industry in Pontianak City for a long time. Viable solutions to these issues, however, have not been worked out to date. Under these circumstances, six small and medium industries (SMIs) from the aloe processing companies' association in Pontianak and five members from the Local Working Group (LWG) participated in a comparative study tour of Jakarta and Bandung for packaging improvement from 3 to 5 November 2015. The objective was to seek possibility of establishing linkage with packaging companies/association (the Federation of Indonesian Packaging Industries), to learn packaging quality and designs conforming to market requirements, and to obtain information about support measures for packaging improvement.

The participants visited a middle-scale beverage manufacturer and four packaging companies, while having a discussion meeting with the Federation and Packaging Clinic of the Ministry of Industry. These packaging companies offer services tailored for SMIs, such as acceptance of small orders, supply of inexpensive packaging materials, and suggestion of packaging materials/designs according to product contents and market requirements. The participants were encouraged to actively consider the establishment of business relationships with them. Meanwhile, the Federation provided contact information of various packaging companies offering services suited to the situation faced by the industry, while the Clinic outlined support measures available for packaging improvement.

Each participant will utilize the information and experience obtained from the study tour to establish beneficial linkage with suitable packaging companies/organizations, while such information and experience will be shared with other members of the association. Further, the association has set follow-up action to develop new packaging prototypes in collaboration with LWG and packaging companies/support institutions with which the linkage will be developed.

Discussion meeting with a packaging company