AETNA GROUP’S TECHLAB: THE RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR PALLETIZED LOAD OPTIMIZATION THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
The stability and efficiency of palletized loads have become key priorities in ensuring safety, performance, and sustainability across modern supply chains. To address these challenges, Aetna Group has developed a researchoriented approach focused on testing and improving packaging solutions through objective data, advanced analysis, and controlled experimentation.
In the world of modern logistics, the stability of palletized loads represents a strategic element to guarantee safety, efficiency, and sustainability throughout the entire supply chain. From this awareness, TechLab was born: the network of research and testing laboratories developed by Aetna Group, today considered one of the most advanced realities at an international level in the study and optimization of palletized load packaging. TechLab offers companies the opportunity to scientifically verify the effectiveness of their packaging solutions, identifying the best-performing configurations to ensure that the product arrives intact at its destination, while reducing the use of materials and therefore the environmental impact.
Making the project even more prestigious is the choice to be a testing laboratory accredited to ISO 17025:2017 by Accredia, the only Italian certification body, independent and non-profit, which guarantees the validity and reliability of the results obtained during testing activities. A fundamental element when the collected data becomes the basis for industrial investments, process changes, or long-term technological choices. The history of TechLab The origins of the project date back to 2011, when the first laboratory dedicated to the study of load stability was established inside the plant of Robopac, one of Aetna Group’s main brands. The idea took shape from the need to understand and study, through a scientific approach, how to best stabilize pallets in different industrial sectors and in different areas of the world.
From the very first activities, it became clear that the stability of a load does not depend on a single factor, but on the interaction of multiple variables: product type, pallet configuration, stretch film characteristics, wrapping mode, transport and handling conditions. For this reason, samples from Robopac customers began to be collected, with increasingly advanced tests, to track the real behaviour of loads during distribution.
Concrete measurements of results
After 15 years, the project has transformed into a true international network of 6 laboratories distributed across the main geographical areas covered by Aetna Group: Italy, Spain, Germany, United States, Brazil, and China. A global presence with uniform test methodologies and comparable results. The activity carried out in the laboratories has made it possible to accumulate a unique wealth of knowledge in the sector, consisting of 1,000 tests each year, which demonstrate how a scientific approach to packaging optimization can generate tangible benefits.
The analyses conducted highlighted the possibility of obtaining savings of up to 60% in consumable materials, increasing load stability by up to 40%, and reducing product damage during transport by up to 85%. Results that translate into lower operating costs, greater logistical efficiency, and a significant reduction in waste. In fact, load stability affects three fundamental aspects: transport safety, containment of packaging materials, and the reduction of resulting returns. In Europe alone, it is estimated that over 6.5 billion euros are wasted every year due to sub-optimal use of packaging materials and inefficient management of pallet stabilization.
An unstable pallet does not only involve the risk of failed delivery of goods. The consequences include additional transport, recovery activities, complaint management, dedicated staff, and, in many cases, the disposal of the damaged product. For this reason, the laboratories constantly collaborate with leading companies in the food, beverage, dairy, edible oil, home & personal care, tissue, ceramics, lubricants, logistics, and empty packaging sectors, developing comparative studies and research projects aimed at process optimization.
Faithful reproductions of pallet transport conditions
The heart of TechLab’s activity is represented by advanced technologies that allow the reproduction of the real stresses a pallet faces during transport. Among the main tools is the acceleration sled, used to simulate acceleration, braking, and movement variations typical of road, rail, or ship transport. Based on different stress levels, it is possible to evaluate load behavior, identifying strengths and criticalities and quickly comparing different packaging solutions. The vibrating table with an oscillating surface instead allows qualitative tests to be carried out by subjecting the pallet to controlled circular movements. By varying the frequency and intensity of the test, it is possible to identify any weak points in the configuration, following methodologies in compliance with reference standards.
Particularly cutting-edge is the hexapod, a platform capable of reproducing the stresses that occur during transport with six degrees of movement. Through accelerometers installed on the pallets, it is possible to record a real route and subsequently reproduce it in the laboratory, eliminating dead times and keeping only the significant stresses. This allows different solutions to be compared in a scientific, repeatable, and accurate way.
The system is completed by the Robotester, a machine designed for the analysis of the dimensional, physical, and mechanical properties of stretch films. The system allows the execution of numerous experimental tests aimed at characterizing product properties. It also allows the simulation of the behavior of the main wrapping machines on the market.
Who can benefit from TechLab
One of the most innovative aspects of the TechLab model is its open and independent nature. The laboratory’s services are not reserved exclusively for Aetna Group customers: any company can access the facilities and benefit from the research, development, and testing activities. Precisely to guarantee maximum impartiality, Aetna Group has chosen to organize the laboratory as a structure independent of the Group’s commercial activities and to submit it to accreditation by a third-party body. A choice that confirms the desire to offer the market an authoritative reference point, capable of providing objective data and recognized results according to the highest international standards.
The value generated does not exclusively concern operational efficiency, but also involves aspects that are increasingly central to the market, such as the reduction of energy consumption, the decrease in waste, and the improvement of the overall sustainability of processes. The growing attention towards recyclable materials, sustainable packaging, and smart automation makes the availability of places where new solutions can be tested and validated in a rigorous and measurable manner indispensable. From this point of view, TechLab represents a concrete example of how laboratories can evolve from simple testing centers into true innovation accelerators. A model that connects applied research, industrial skills, and certified data to accompany businesses along their transformation paths.
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www.aetnagroup.com
