A leading end of packaging material is attached to a retainer to hold the leading end of the packaging material as the retainer moves toward the load. Each zone may include an inter-zone server that controls the exchange of information between the zones via communication links. The cable body is extended by pulling two ends of the cable, and restores back to the original spirally wound form once either end of the cable is released. In some embodiments, the reducing process is electrochemical process. The invention further relates to compositions prepared in accordance with the methods of the present invention. The suite of tools includes asynchronous techniques for solving optimization problems, visualisation tools for providing an audit trail of users’ work, and a low cost grouping technique for efficient processing and displaying of scatter plot and other graphical data.