Ensuring product integrity during transit is critical — even just a single drop during shipping can result in damaged goods, leading to an increase in returns and dissatisfied customers, as well as a significant loss in revenue. In order to mitigate these risks, companies rely on standardized drop testing methods to properly evaluate their packaging’s performance to guarantee products will reach their destination intact.
Why Drop Testing Matters
Drop testing simulates the impacts a product and its packaging may encounter during the journey from manufacturer to end user, including all steps through handling and transportation. Whether a package is manually handled by warehouse workers or transported via conveyor belts and delivery trucks, the potential for drops, tumbles, and impacts is always high.
By conducting these drop tests, companies can identify any weak points in their packaging in advance and reduce costly product damage before ramping up full production. This not only will improve customer satisfaction but will help meet all industry compliance and regulatory standards, too.
In addition to drops, a product’s response to vibration, compression, temperature, humidity, and altitude should be tested to determine its overall ruggedness.
Understanding Key Drop Testing Standards
There are several test standards that address specific impact scenarios, ranging from minor drops to heavy mechanical handling. For example, the impact on an electronic device falling out of your hand will differ greatly from a fragile product experiencing a sudden drop off of a conveyor belt.
There are a variety of drop testing standards to consider, including:
- ASTM D4169, ASTM D7386, ISTA 3A, and ISTA 2A – Widely used drop test standards that simulate free-fall impacts from different heights, orientations, and variables.
- ASTM D4003 – Evaluates horizontal impacts, such as those caused by forklifts or railcars coupling.
- ASTM D5277 – Uses an incline impact test machine to assess damage from railcar switching, pallet marshalling, or mechanical handling.
- ASTM D5265 – Tests how well long, narrow packages withstand objects falling onto them while supported at both ends, simulating a bridge-like scenario.
- ASTM D6344 – Simulates concentrated impacts from external sources like adjacent freight, sorting damage, or conveyor systems.
- ASTM D6055 – Assesses mechanical handling hazards, including forklift impacts.
- ASTM D6179 – Focuses on rotational and flat impacts on mechanically handled containers.
- ASTM D880 – Evaluates horizontal impacts on packaged systems, distinct from ASTM D4003, which applies to products.
Each of these tests helps a company understand how its products and packaging will perform in real-world shipping, handling, and distribution conditions.
Uncovering the Benefit of Efficient Packaging
Every package system will undergo real-world testing as it moves through the distribution environment, but unless damage is observed and analyzed, there are limited opportunities for a manufacturer to assess the effectiveness of their product’s packaging.
Today, many products are over-packaged with excessive materials, which can lead to increased costs for the manufacturer. By optimizing the packaging system and distribution supply chain, there’s a real opportunity to reduce costs while simultaneously improving sustainable packaging.
Best Practices for Effective Drop Testing
There are some important things you can do to maximize the benefits of drop testing from end to end. These include:
Define Real-World Scenarios: Analyze your supply chain to determine the types of drops most likely to occur and then test accordingly. If you don’t have the time or money to do this use one of the consensus standards such as ISTA 3A, 3B, ASTM D4169 and D7386 that have decades of history, bringing the real world distribution environment into the lab.
Test Various Drop Orientations: You will want to thoroughly conduct tests on different edges, corners, and surfaces to evaluate all potential impact points.
Combine Drop Testing with Other Transit Tests: Integrating vibration, compression, temperature, humidity, altitude, and impact testing will offer you a complete picture of your existing packaging performance and identify gaps in coverage.
Review and Improve: Test and repeat testing as necessary to continuously refine your packaging design based on these test results for the best product protection available to you.
Partnering with a Trusted Testing Lab
The optimal package system must strike a careful balance between product ruggedness and minimal packaging for a safe delivery, but achieving this balance requires rigorous product and package testing in a controlled laboratory environment. In the end, these tests provide essential data that helps design teams refine their packaging strategies to improve product protection — and reduce costs along the way.
Choosing an experienced testing partner not only ensures regulatory compliance but also enhances packaging reliability and profitability. At WESTPAK, our ISTA-certified labs provide comprehensive drop testing services to help companies optimize their packaging, reduce costs, and improve product safety. Our expert team can guide you through the testing process, offering insights and recommendations to enhance your packaging resilience.
WESTPAK’s laboratories are also ISO 17025 accredited, ensuring that our testing processes meet the highest industry standards. Our equipment is rigorously maintained and calibrated for precision and reliability. Plus, we tailor our testing solutions to meet your specific product requirements, so all results we uncover are both relevant and actionable.
When you work with WESTPAK, you have a dedicated testing partner who is focused on finding you the right solution, every time. Contact us today to discuss your testing needs and ensure your product and packaging solutions perform as expected.
Remember, your package will be tested by the distribution environment. Do you want your customers to know the results before you do?