A Fortune 500 company, Sealed Air is engaged in food safety and security, facility hygiene and product protection businesses. Headquartered in New Jersey, USA, the product care division of Sealed Air provides a range of solutions such as high performance award winning protective packaging solutions, waste material efficiency, and renewable and reusable materials for the eCommerce industry. Its global clientele includes Flipkart, Amazon, Dell, Colgate, Philips, Samsung, Bosch, FedEx, Apple, and Walmart. Sealed Air has approximately 24,000 employees in 175 countries.
Ken Chrisman, president, product care, Sealed Air was in India recently and spoke exclusively to Packaging South Asia on topics concerning the Indian market. Chrisman said, “Sealed Air’s Protective Packaging business delivers an extensive portfolio of protective, industrial and display packaging systems to meet diverse application requirements across a broad range of industries. 
We want everybody to have a better way of life by enabling the consumer economy to grow by safely shipping parcels, shelf-life extension and reducing food waste. We focus on damage reduction as well as on cube optimization which basically means using the smallest amount of packaging possible. Fulfilment velocity which means how to process maximum packages in the shortest time possible and in the simplest manner helps in our consumer experience, which means whether the end customer in case of an eCommerce parcel finds the packaging to be the most effective and elegant reflection of the brand that he has purchased. All these very important characteristics make us what we are.”
To sustain these objectives, Sealed Air has several innovations for its Indian customers. One of these is inflatable bubble wraps that can be shipped uninflated to distributors or vendors to save on space as well as help maintain the efficiency of the product. Chrisman says, “These bubble wraps, once they reach the distributors, can be inflated near the customer manufacturing unit or if the customer is well-equipped, at the customer site as well. Just to illustrate this fact in numbers, according to our estimates, one truckload of inflatable bubble wraps is equivalent to 47 truckloads of inflated bubble wraps. That is the saving a customer can achieve using our technology.”
The other technology that Sealed Air is excited about is right size packaging. Chrisman says, “This is a strong initiative from us where we provide our customers with a machine where the customer puts the product in the machine and then the package or the box takes its shape so as to save on space, weight and packaging material. Free flow packaging is also another such initiative from us which is aimed at helping transport delicate and fragile items. All these solutions are largely aimed at eCommerce players in India.”
With the eCommerce industry booming, there is need to have world-class packaging keeping in mind safety and sustainable measures, Chrisman feels. “There is so much excitement and opportunity now in India with industry experts expecting the Indian market to be the fastest growing in the world for at least the next three to four years. With a turnover of US$ 24.6 billion and a growth rate of 13% to 15% annually, the Indian packaging industry is expected to reach US$ 32 billion by 2020. 
All our solutions could be used in a wide range of industries across food and drink, healthcare, cosmetics and other consumer goods as well as a range of industrial sectors since packaging has become an essential everyday item, with its usage growing broadly in line with the global economy.”
Sealed Air’s food care division addresses food waste and safety concerns. “Our food care division, improves access to a safer, higher quality and more sustainable food and beverage supply chain. Businesses rely on our innovative packaging and hygiene solutions to build these brands and improve food safety, shelf-life and operational efficiency. In a country like India, packaging actually plays a very crucial role in protecting products and resources, and helps reduce and prevent waste. 40% of food spoils and a lot of organic materials that get thrown away could be saved through better packaging, without any use of preservatives,”
Chrisman says.
Sealed Air is also at the final stage of deciding on the location of its Packaging Application Center in India. New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru have been shortlisted. Mumbai already has a global Sealed Air R&D facility which works with chemistry solutions for the food, beverage and pharma industries.
