During your move or relocation, it is essential to pack your items properly to ensure that they arrive intact at your new home. These supplies can be obtained at mail service stores, office supply outlets, or local moving companies. Choosing the right packaging supplies is also an area where you can cut costs if needed, so it is important to thoroughly consider what items you need before you start the packing process.

Boxes

Boxes for packaging are a necessary staple for relocation. To save money on supplies, boxes can be obtained from grocery stores and other large retailers. Packing and moving kits may also be available, and they can include boxes of a variety of sizes along with specialty box options.

Specialty Boxes

To package your specialty items like artwork, breakables, and electronics, specialty boxes should be obtained. Mirror and artwork boxes are stronger than the typical cardboard box, and many come with frame protectors to prevent damage during transport. Corrugated cardboard can also help to protect fragile or glass surfaces.

Packaging Materials

A variety of packaging materials can be obtained to wrap, cushion, and protect your items.

• Foam, which provides extra protection.
• Peanuts, which are foam pieces that can fill in empty spaces.
• Inflatable bags, which inflate to fill in empty spaces.
• Stretch wrap, which keeps items together and can protect surfaces.
• Brown paper, which can wrap items to keep them clean during transit.

Packaging Labels

Using packing labels is essential in keeping your packing and moving process organized. Three main varieties of labels exist:

• Blank: These labels are the least expensive and most versatile. They come in a variety of sizes and can be customized and printed from your computer.
• Pre-printed: These labels are pre-printed to fulfill the most common packing and moving requirements.
• Custom printed: These labels are printed in order to suit your personal needs, such as “Living Room”, “Fragile”, or “Kitchen”.

Miscellaneous Items

Some other miscellaneous items that may be useful when preparing for a move include the following:

• Markers. These range in price and abilities, and they can be used to write on various surfaces including cardboard, plastic, and glass.
• Mattress covers. These are soft foam covers that are used to protect your mattress from rips, tears, and punctures.
• Box cutters. These are sharp utility blades that can be used to cut open difficult materials when packing and when unpacking at your final destination.

6/19/2013

With yearly turnover of more than $26 billion dollar, corrugated packaging is one of the most important and fastest-growing industries today. According to the industry experts, it is here to stay throughout next century, or perhaps beyond it.

There are plenty of corrugated box manufacturers available out there. And the number is increasing fast. So, if you want to survive in the cut-throat competition, it is inevitable for you, a corrugated containers manufacturer, to deliver high-quality boxes on time at the unbeatable prices. And this is when the real challenge comes into the picture.

Moreover, the rapid advancement in technology has increased the standard of requirements and expectations for manufacturers. Today’s consumers expect 100% defect-free cartons. To help you manufacture such corrugated containers, we have gathered some great tips shared by some of the best packaging product manufacturers in the world:

1. Make it 100% clean
   Well, you might have heard this sentence thousands of times. But, there wouldn’t have been need to say it once again, if you make sure to do it. If you still work with older glue pot and wheels, you better know they usually create a bit glue slinging. This impacts the quality of the boxes, especially at the glue joints; it will create stickers on boxes when they are bundled together.
   
   Old glue pot and wheels also bring adhesive contamination like dust and debris to the boxes. While adhesive applicators are the most feasible option, you must check them at regular intervals to eliminate the chances of applicator clogging or nozzle. Moreover, sometimes the metered amount of adhesive isn’t enough to ensure proper bond.
     
2. Reduce the chances of human error to the possible extent
   It may not seem 100% achievable to you, but it can certainly be done. While working in the corrugated box packaging industry with board panels of different sizes and requirements, you need to continually adjust the length and pattern of the placement of adhesive to ensure top-quality and consistent results.
   
   It is definitely a time-taking job; even a small distraction can result into miss-adjustment, which will ultimately result in product loss. You may also replace your existing adhesive application system with a new gluing station which features automated pattern changes or auto-glue and ensures a proper joint between glue and lap of the box, regardless of panel length.
     
3. Check if the board has been glued, folded and printed perfectly
   This can be easily done by including a quality assurance (QA) system in your corrugated box manufacturing process. QA team will look for any non-conforming product and remove those products from the production line. They will also monitor all operations in the plant so the production reflects the statistics properly. Professional packaging companies also take photographs and catalogs defective containers. So, managers can take corrective actions at the right time.
     
4. Scrap can badly impact on your market reputation
   If you don’t want to negatively impact the credibility of your business in the marketplace, ensure flawless corrugated containers. You may embrace a scrap or tab removal system to avoid drooping scrap which has not been cut properly before getting folded into the container.

So, what are you waiting for? Implement these great tips into your manufacturing process and see how it positively impact upon the quality of your corrugated containers, be it plain RSC boxes or custom designed folding cartons.

Hope this was helpful!

6/13/2013

“Corrugated cardboard“ – more often than not, we use this term for an extensive range of packaging boxes or containers, including single wall shipping boxes, double wall shipping boxes, folding boxes, RSC boxes, POP displays, mail tubes and custom boxes. Corrugated containers form the largest segment of the packaging industry in the USA. There are more than 1500 corrugated box manufacturing plants in North America alone.

Corrugated containers comprise of the fluted inner layer which is intervened between the layers of linerboard. They have high resistance to damage from vibration and drops, and are very light in weight, which makes them ideal for shipment packaging. If you are planning on shipping something heavier, heavy duty shipping boxes made of corrugated cardboard are used to ship heavier goods or products.

Fortunately, corrugated containers are easily recyclable. In fact, they are the most recycled product, by weight, and greatly reduce the amount of waste being dumped every year. Due to the high demand for corrugated packaging products, its recycling rate has more than doubled, and disposal rate has decreased dramatically.
Now, let’s see how the recycling of corrugated boxes works:

OCC Pulp

Paper recyclers acknowledge using corrugated boxes as OCC, old corrugated containers. Recyclers first collect, sort, and bundle used cartons and then ship them to paper mills. The sorted bales are then passed through a repulper, which is filled with water. In the repulper, boxes are churned until they become fiber slurry.

Impurity Removal

A rope or chain kind of part in the repulper attracts contaminants to stick on it. The remaining pulp of boxes is sent into other equipment where impurities like metal are forced to the bottom, and lighter contaminants, like plastic, automatically come to the surface, so it can be easily removed.

Composing Paper

After the removal of contaminants is complete, pure pulp moves into a paper machine, where most of the left water is drained off via a moving screen, and create a fiber mat. The mat goes between two rollers to squeeze out the remaining water. It then moves between heated cylinders to get dry enough to coil on large spindles. Paper rolls are created and sent to manufactures.

Creating New Containers

Manufactures and packaging companies can use recycled paper for the flat liner sheets or fluted medium between these liners, and create new corrugated containers. According to the technical association, the liner paperboard used in corrugated containers can be comprised of 100% recycled content, but most containers have only 35% recycled content.

Some interesting facts and figures of the paper industry:

• 29.7 million tons of corrugated boxes produced every year, out of this, 24.2 million tons boxes go into recycling process marking a recycling rate of 81.2%.
• Corrugated containers are the third largest disposed-of product by weight.
• Impurities in pulp mostly include wax coatings, plastics, chipboard, and mill wrappers.
• OCC production has increased by 305 percent and its market share has increased by 43 percent since 1960.

The recycling process of corrugated boxes is much easier and cheaper compared to other packaging solutions out there, including plastic containers and metal containers. Moreover, corrugated containers are a key promoter of ‘green earth’.

6/12/2013

So, you are done with manufacturing of a product and now you’re looking for the best way to get it to the consumers in the marketplace. Now this is not so easy-go kind of thing as it seems. The market is flooded with billions of products and in such case, you need a packaging solution that not just get your product there in one piece but also make your product stand out on the shelves.

When you visit a mall or a supermarket, has this ever happened to you that you are scanning the shelves with your eyes and suddenly a product grabs your attention saying ‘pick me up’, ‘pick me up’? If yes, have you ever wondered why you get easily attracted to that product while there were many others on the same shelf?

The answer to all these questions is the packaging. Today, packaging plays a significant role in enticing consumers and convincing them to buy a product. In fact, there are some people who make their buying decision based on the aesthetic value of its packaging. Considering these points, will you dare to pack your product in a plain RSC box?

If you are still not sure why you need custom packaging for your product, read on…

Here are the top 5 benefits of custom product packaging:

1. Kill Two Birds With One Stone

Custom packaging doesn’t just look appealing, but also works as a silent salesman for your product. Packaging is a great marketing and advertising tool, which, if used right, can bring many rewards for your brand. So, don’t hesitate in spending some more bucks in creating bespoke packaging solution for your product line.

2. Expand Customer Base

As the name suggests, custom packaging is tailor-made to attract your targeted audience. This, in turn, means that you have more chances of getting new customers and expand your client base. Your packaging design should be intriguing enough so that it can stimulate the consumers to buy your product.

3. Tell Your Story

If your packaging is visually appealing, a person may or may not buy your product but they may mention it to their friends or family. This is called ‘word of mouth’ and it is a great advertising tool in your arsenal. Custom packaging gives you an opportunity to share your story, your way, to your customers.

4. Be Unique

Your product packaging features a unique design with your brand logo, certificate, product pictures, etc. And this is what makes you different from many other conventional brands in this crowded marketplace.

5. Cost-effective

Of course, custom printed packaging boxes are costlier than conventional plain packaging boxes. But when you order them in bulk, you are more likely to get good bargains from a packaging company. Folding packaging is one of the latest trends in the packaging world. Looking from another perspective, when you create a best fit packaging for your product, you are likely to require less packaging material and get more customers at the end. Bearing that in mind, custom packaging is truly a cost-effective option for manufactures.

Why resort to an off-the-shelf packaging solution when you can have best of both worlds, form and function, by creating custom packaging solution for your product? Cardboard packaging companies can help you get the best packaging solution at the most competitive price.

5/7/2013

When it comes to getting their products in the marketplace, the manufacturers or companies always look for the best packaging solution that can protect their products during shipping and placement process. However, the role of packaging is far beyond this aspect.
Packaging can be used effectively to enhance visibility, boost potential for profit and become a brand amongst the consumers.

What is secondary packaging?

It is a process of packing retail-ready products for shipping or palletizing them for retail displays. Savvy manufactures harness the benefit of secondary packaging extensively to achieve all three business goals mentioned above.

Secondary Packaging for Shipping

Most of the manufacturers hire professional packaging firms for the packaging of their retail ready products and adapting them for the shipping process. Considering the fact that the cost of fuel and transportation has increased noticeably, it is wise to select your partner packaging company carefully.

Focus on both the safety of products during shipping and the optimization of carrier space, which can be done by removing inessential packaging material from the shipment. In such case, use of folding cartons is recommended. Folding cartons can help you make the most of the carrier’s space and save you a large chunk of money on shipping costs. Finding a good cardboard folding carton manufacturer isn’t a difficult job. After all every smart and savvy manufacturer is aware of the fact that reducing the expense is as valuable as increasing the profit.

Cartons have long been the standard packaging for most of the shipment. Products are bundled, boxed, sealed and then loaded in carriers. This approach ensures good protection to shipment from all possible damages, but increase the cost and weight of the shipment which ultimately led the manufactures to the alternative packaging strategies.

For some products, flat cardboard trays or stabilizers and shrink wrap film offers the essential protection and lessen the overall weight of the shipment at the same time. This method is highly recommended for canned and boxed products. Moreover, it is also suggested for manufacturers who want to create branded display packaging for their targeted audience. Custom printed cardboard trays store the products during shipping and also function as a display on retail shelves, making the products stand out in a busy marketplace.

Secondary Packaging for Retail Marketplace

Secondary packaging for retail marketplace is one of the most widely used packaging services today. From outer pack of pre-wrapped candies to buy-one-get-two kind of multi-packs, secondary packaging has always been a very important element of preparing product for retail sales. When rightly used, it can increase product sales and improve brand recognition. Contemporary business models are promoting this form of packaging on a larger scale these days.

One of the latest trends in retail market secondary packaging is the bulk selling, which is beneficial for both manufacturers and buyers. Manufacturers can bundle their product for a big box style retail sale and this is the time when they can market their products via labeling, cross promotions and boosted visibility on the shelves; at the same time, buyers can save money by purchasing of products in bulk.

Bundled packaging of retail product also provides the manufacturers with an opportunity to drive more sales by offering bonus items to consumers along with bundled products. This tactic is mostly used to launch new product in the market, as it help product owners develop brand loyalty amongst their targeted audience.

Find your contract packaging firm today and leverage the power of secondary product packaging in reinforcing your brand.

5/7/2013

Transferring goods from one place to the other has given birth to a whole new industry. The development of e-commerce and online shopping websites has made it even bigger in the past decade or so. The protection of the goods during the transit is very important. Another thing that holds the equal importance is the packaging of the boxes. Printed Shipping Boxes have become a trend in tangible product transportation. Getting your company’s logo printed on the delivery box takes it to a new level and adds to its visual appeal.

While most of the time traders tend to print the name of their company on the delivery boxes, stickers are also quite popular among the packers. They are easy to use and can be stuck on the packages at the last moment. There are some points that you should take under consideration while negotiating with a packer and mover company. First thing is the quantity, the number of boxes you would like to get your logo or brand’s name printed on? The higher the number of boxes, the lower will be the price of printing per unit.

Second thing is the size and color of the logo. This is very important as it will affect the attractiveness of the package. If your logo is of brown color and is pasted on a brown cardboard, it will make it a little bit difficult for the people to be able to read the message. Similarly, if the logo is very long and contains too many words in a series, some serious adjustments may have to be made with the breadth of the box. If you discuss it with the box designers, they will provide you with a sample makeover look of the box and also different color samples which you may use to make the content written on the box more visible and appealing to the customer.

Printed boxes make a very good impression on the end user. If your company has developed quite an image among the consumers and is looking to create a trademark appearance, then using printed boxes for delivering the products will turn out to be a magnificent idea. There are several misunderstandings or misconceptions among the people regarding the custom made printed boxes. You don’t need to order a gazillion of boxes in order to get the printing work done, you can select as low as 50 boxes for an order as well. If you want your customers to be impressed with your product’s first look, attractive and bold printed boxes are the right thing for you.

Package Labels play a very important role in the shipping industry. When you dispatch a product to the client, the specific details of the transit can be printed on the box or attached as a label. The seller of the products and the customer can easily track the movement of their product. The consumer will not have to keep on emailing the service provider to check on the current location. He can just go to website and track down the current position.

4/30/2013

What Is A Folding Carton?

A Folding Carton is a type of container which is made of paperboard or corrugated material and hence, also known as paperboard folding cartons. Ideally, it is cut, folded, laminated, printed and then directly shipped flat to a manufacture or a packaging company, who has its own machinery to fold the container into its final shape for a product.

Here are the top 6 benefits of choosing paperboard folding cartons as a packaging solution for your products or brand:

1. Creativity That Makes You Stand Out

There are numerous styles and types of paperboard packaging. Packaging designers are highly creative in developing out-of-the-box folding cartons. If you look around, you will find a number of products leveraging the visual aspect of foldable boxes.

Additionally, paperboard material is more adaptive to advanced printing and digital graphics technology. Imprinting attractive graphics design on folding containers is much easier compared to other packaging solutions.

2. Green Branding Solution

Corrugated paperboard material is 100% recyclable, and so are the boxes made out of it. Technology needed to recycle paperboard folding containers is fairly affordable compared to that of other packaging material. It is easy even for consumers to recycle these packaging cartons. Opting for folding cartons for your product is a way to contribute to a greener environment.

Moreover, the scraps generated in the manufacturing of folding cartons can be reused after recycling, which ultimately helps in reducing the cost of these packaging containers in the market.

3. Reduced Transportation Cost

Folding cartons are usually shipped flat, as they can be folded to bring back in shape at the recipient’s end; this save storage space, which in turn helps one reduce transportation cost. Or looking from another standpoint, you can accommodate more products in the shipment.

4.Custom Solutions For All

Folding cartons feature great structure flexibility, meaning you can easily bend, cut, roll or fold them. And hence, they are widely used in automated and manual packaging product lines. Every folding cartons manufacturer in town is offering custom packaging solution these days and folding containers aren’t an exception to this latest packaging trend.

5.Enhanced Brand Visibility

Custom folding packaging containers provide outstanding brand visibility. If done right, it can boost product sales and enhance brand’s impact at the POP (point of purchase). Impressive graphic design on packages can increase the opportunity of repeat business. Remember, product packaging is far off the days when it was merely a means to store or protect product. Today, it is a major part in the marketing arsenal for businesses.

6. Versatility

Paperboard packaging industry is constantly changing and new printing technologies, machinery or equipment, and design ideas surface on almost every day. With today’s paperboard packaging technologies, your imagination is the only limit.

Food and beverages, electronics and other consumer product markets are the top sectors using folding packaging cartons for their products. So, do you agree that product success lies in packaging? If yes, choose the right boxes for packaging your products.

4/10/2013

If this is the first time you are buying shipping boxes, you might have a bunch of questions in your mind, looking for help in choosing the right ones for your needs. There are a lot of things to take into account while purchasing shipping boxes besides the size and cost of the boxes.

Here are the top 5 things you must consider while selecting shipping boxes for your products:

1. Size

The size of a shipping box is determined based on the size of the article that needs to be shipped. While selecting the size of the box, make sure that there should be no space left for the article to move inside the box once packaged. You will easily find corrugated cardboard shipping boxes available in many different sizes in the market. If your products fit perfectly in one of those sizes, you can buy them at a retail price from online stores. Or else, you may have to ask a supplier to create custom size boxes for your products.

2. Weight

The weight of your product is a crucial factor in finding the right shipping boxes. Corrugated shipping boxes are available in different strength versions. If your product is lighter, you may settle for buying single wall shipping boxes. And if your product is heavier, you may better buy double wall shipping boxes.

3. New Or Recycled

These days, packaging product suppliers and manufacturers offer both new and used (recycled) cardboard shipping boxes. The prices of new and recycled shipping boxes may vary considerably, but I would recommend you to purchase new shipping boxes to ensure the boxes are sturdy and durable enough to last all the way to their destination place.

4. Fragility

If your shipping products are so fragile that they can be easily damaged or crushed from vibrations and manhandling during the shipping process, you should buy heavy duty shipping boxes, available in all sizes. You may also use packaging box accessories like foam inserts and corner protectors to protect the products from all possible damages during transport.

5. Cost

Cost of shipping boxes varies considerably from supplier to supplier. Some supplies also price match their competitors, and some will bear their competitor’s price list. Compare the prices of various companies online over the web, and bargain for the lowest price possible. Remember, some product packaging supply companies charge an extra amount as a delivery fee. If you want to trim on delivery fees, find a local supplier of shipping boxes. However, never compromise on quality just to save a few dollars.

These are only a few of the important factors to consider while purchasing shipping boxes. You will find many other factors, tips and information of finding the right shipping boxes on the internet. Many professional companies are offering custom printed shipping boxes in a great variety of colors these days. If you want to create a lasting impression, buying custom printed shipping boxes is indeed a good idea. Hope these tips will help you find the right shipping boxes for your products.

3/29/2013

According to Wikipedia, packaging is an art, science and technology of enclosing and protecting products for storage, distribution, sales and usage. The process of product packaging includes the designing, assessment and production of containers.

Today, product packaging has come out as a separate industry in itself. Package designs are playing crucial role in making and destroying of brands. A sizable consumer products industry relies heavily on packaging designers these days.

Whenever you visit the supermarkets, malls, stores and any other places where products are sold, you will always see that the products are wrapped in a packaging container. Container may vary in size, shape and color, and these are the factors that help you locate your favorite brand or product in a blink of an eye.

If you are looking for a packaging design idea that conveys the right message in the right manner to your targeted audience, check out these 5 can’t-fail tips:

1. Don’t Wait Till The Last Minute

Creative product packaging establishes both physical and psychological bond with the consumers. The design of the packaging speaks about the product inside, the company that owns it, or brand as a whole.

So, if you have the right statement to be conveyed, don’t wait till the end of the product development cycle. Rather, start gathering good design ideas from the very beginning. Conduct a research on your target niche and find out what they want to see or what their requirements are.

2. Less is More

Sometimes, the companies overdesign the packaging in hope for it to stand out on the shelf, which ultimately result in a negative outcome for the brand. If you don’t want your packaging design strategy to back-fire, keep it simple, to-the-point and effective.

3. Be Different

As reported by FMI (Food Marketing Institute), the average supermarket in America has approximately 40,000 items on sale. That shows how tough is the competition for product owners. If you want to outshine your rivals on the shelf, you have to be different. Design a unique packaging that separates your product from its competitors and neighbors.

4. Bring Authenticity

This is what is inevitable in the ideas of great packaging designers and big brands. Your main purpose behind packaging is to grab attention of the customers, but this isn’t the end of the game.

Say, if you have portrayed an image of your product in the packaging carton which is nowhere similar to the original product. The customer won’t pick your product again, even if your packaging idea is the finest. Embrace authenticity in your packaging design; use custom printed package labels or imprint the company address or contact detail, so customers can reach you when needed; don’t over blow the visuals.

5. Add Some Functional Value

This is mainly application to ready-to-eat food products and other consumer products. In this market segment, you will see a number of products whose packaging isn’t just creative, relevant and informative, but it is functional as well.

But how do you do that? Well, you can create an easy-to-open packaging, imprint directions to use your products, and put an additional item or element that make it easier for the customers to use the product.

No matter if you want a design idea for small shipping boxes or consumer product packaging, hiring a professional packaging designer is a must today.

3/22/2013

Big Brands’ packaging are transforming

Pepsi, the king of beverages, modified the look of its can or bottles for only 10 time in the last century. However, this year, this world-famous soft drink brand is planning to launch a new can design almost every week. Kleenex, an international brand of facial tissues, bathroom tissues and many other paper-based products, used square and rectangular packaging boxes for 4 decades, and then moved to oval packaging boxes now.

Coors Light, a light beer product by the world’s seventh largest brewing company -Coors Brewing Company, bottles features packaging labels that become blue when the beverage is cooled at the right temperature. Have you ever used the kid’s special soap bottle by Huggies? It has an LED that is programmed to flash consistently for 20 seconds to help children know how long they need to wash their hands.

Packaging isn’t just to hold or protect your products

Companies selling consumer products are now investing a large chunk of money in marketing and advertising their products. With the fastest trend of the internet and over hundreds of TV channels, the businesses can’t afford to miss on product advertising. Packaging today has become an inevitable part of product branding and advertising.

The companies are using various types of packaging solutions to boost sales by grabbing the customers’ attention, who always take the decision to purchase the product at the last minute while gazing at the shelf in a store or a mall, be it online or offline.

Packaging is a powerful way to convey your message to your targeted audience. Gone are the days when companies can sustain their packaging designs for many years. Today, the marketing professionals give emphasize on a product appeal by launching new packaging style or type at a regular interval. – as said by the CEO of a renowned brand agency.

Consumers’ Demands Drive the Packaging Industry

Consumers have also showcased a major shift in their consumption methods. The smart users are now considering the visual appeal of the products available on the shelves. Advertising companies are using attracting packaging supplies to meet the purpose of their clients, the product owners.

Results of a survey conducted by one of the top ten packaging companies asserted the fact that end users today expect something new every time they enter the store to buy the products. The demand and anticipation of consumers change so fast that the companies need to refresh their packaging almost every year.

However, there are several other reasons why companies are shifting to new packaging solutions; some want to shrink the carton size and shape to best fit the products and save cost on shipping, some want to make the containers more functional to stand out in the market, and some want to contribute in environmental sustainability by using recyclable product packaging.

Using effective packaging products like custom designed packaging boxes, packaging tapes, package labels and POP displays, the companies can talk to their customers in the most affordable way.

The packaging industry is yet to experience a tremendous growth and transformation. You may soon find packaging bags with a nice aroma in it, or may be something else. Corrugated cardboard is one of the most widely used packaging materials.

2/26/2013