Product & Design
Generative design for packaging structure
Use generative design to propose packaging structures that meet protection requirements with less material, evaluating candidate geometries against strength, cube efficiency, and recyclability constraints.
10–20%
reduction in packaging material per unit
Opportunity assessment
Minor improvement. Small efficiency gain with limited effect on overall turnover or bottom line.
Challenging. Significant technical work required. Likely needs an AI engineer or specialist vendor. Not a quick win.
Demanding data requirements. Relies on clean, integrated data across multiple systems. Significant data preparation work typically needed.
Low risk. Limited external exposure. A human reviews output before it reaches anyone outside the team.
Moderate people impact. Part of someone's working day changes. Requires training and some adjustment time, but roles remain broadly the same.
Tooling required
Things to consider
Generative design is proven in industrial and automotive contexts and is genuinely harder in packaging, where cost per unit is pennies and tooling change, not geometry, is the binding constraint.
Material reduction only pays if the new structure runs on existing lines. Bring the packing operation and the converter into the brief from day one or you will design something you cannot make.
Damage rate is the counterweight. A 15% material saving that lifts in-transit damage by two points destroys the case — test to failure before rolling out.
Experiment starter: Take your three highest-volume secondary packaging formats and run a generative study against current strength and cube performance. Prototype the best candidate and drop-test it against the incumbent before committing to tooling.
Go deeper in the playbook
Section — Opportunity Identification, including the AI Opportunity Assessment ScorecardSection — The Experimentation FrameworkFeasibility is limited here — the experimentation framework covers how to run a bounded pilot before committing.More in Product & Design
Concept ideation and moodboard generation
Generate visual concept directions and moodboards from a written brief, trend inputs, and brand references, giving designers a broader starting set to react to at the front of the development process.
Technical pack and specification drafting
Draft technical specification packs from a design brief and a library of prior specs — construction detail, measurements, materials, tolerances, and testing requirements — for a technologist to review.
Colourway and print variant generation
Generate colourway and print scale variants of an approved design, rendered on the product silhouette, so the team can review a wide option set before committing to physical strike-offs.
AI Transformation Playbook
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