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When most people think about packaging, they think about shipping products like the free boxes you can get from the post office. What they don't think about is how packaging has become such a huge part of our daily lives. Many take for granted all of the time, money and resources it takes to create much of the packaging we see everyday. Packaging is such a large industry with so many products it would take a series of novels just to cover the majority of it. My point is, when you see the outer wrapper of a cigarette box, the grocery bags you take home with you from the store, or the cup used for the soda you bought from McDonald's, that is all a piece of packaging.
Today we are covering the different products in the packaging industry by category. We will go in depth about each category but will leave the individual products to be discussed in the coming weeks.
CORRUGATED:
Corrugated products are the most popular packaging being used today.
Not only is it versatile but it is also sustainable. It is very cheap in comparison
to other packaging products and can be used as a great marketing tool.
Boxes are one of the main items used in corrugated packaging. There is such
a huge market for boxes that many companies focus primarily on this one item.
When you see displays at your grocery store, that is a corrugated item.
Corrugated comes in sheets or it can come in rolls known as Single-faced
Corrugated.
PLASTICS:
Everyone knows what bubble wrap is from when we were children. It is the
fun sheet of bubbles we jumped on that made a bunch of popping noises. What
we didn't know as children was that the piece of fun is a very important item
used to protect our valuable items in transit. Plastics also include Stretch
Wrap, Heat Shrink, Poly Bags, Zip-lock Bags, Poly Strapping, Food Packaging
and the list goes on. We will cover Plastics extensively in the next coming
weeks.
FOAM:
Foam Packaging has been used for void fill, to keep items stationary in
transit, and for surface protection. It is used as a great shock-absorber inside
boxes and wood crates. There are many different types of foams being used in
the market today but the few that stand out from the pack is Expanded
Polystyrene (EPS), Polyethylene, Polyurethane and Urethane. Foam can come
in rolls, sheets, planks, pouches, tubes or as loose-fill. It can be convoluted,
perforated into small cubes, adhesive, cohesive or antistatic. It can be slit and
perforated to whatever preferred size. It is also highly resistant to tears,
impacts, and punctures.
ADHESIVES:
What is packaging without adhesive materials. We have to close our
packages some how right? Tape has been the most popular way to close
boxes and such. It is cheap and versatile. It can be used as a great
marketing tool. With tape there are so many variations such as Acrylic, Duct,
Masking, Rubber, Paper, etc. Tape is not the only adhesive products on the
market. Labels, Spray Glue and Velcro are popular items as well.
WOOD CRATES:
Wood Crates are very popular products with export and large transit
orders. Wood Crates are the best item to be used for protection if someone
has a very valuable item to be shipped such as a motorcycle, furniture or
machinery. It can be Pre-assembled according to spec or be delivered flat
to be assembled on-site. Wood Crates are made with plywood or lumber.
Most common used lumber is softwood such as pine which is used to make
light duty crates.
There are so many areas and sub-areas of packaging that we just cannot cover all aspects of packaging in one blog. We will be covering everything packaging every Monday so you can be more informed about what is out there in the world of packaging. Next Monday's blog is "Introduction to Packaging: Industry" where we will be discussing the packaging industry and any current issues/news. In the meantime, please stop by www.expresspkginc.com.
