Globalization pressures have now caused significant changes in the way industrial enterprises are organized and how products are developed, manufactured and brought to market. In global enterprises, the handling, transportation and storage of parts, sub-assemblies and final products demand for an efficient and effective development of the product-package-system (PPS). The objective set in this paper is to present the development of a generic package development process that facilitates the establishment of integrated product and package development and also provides a more proactive and holistic approach to the development of new and innovative packages for the global market. In an extensive review of the package development literature and through five multiple case studies within the package manufacturing industry, results on the package development process are generated and, in this paper, presented and synthesized into an updated version of the package development process. The process consists of the phases package planning, package system development, package concept design, package design, production ramp-up, package system integration and package system production ramp-up. The package development model proposed here takes its starting point in the development of the package system, thus providing the holistic perspective needed for being truly generic. Being generic in the given context assures or at least facilitates the possibility to support the development of the new and innovative package systems and package designs needed in the product manufacturing industry to enhance competitiveness. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
