WHAT DOES THE MODERN WORLD LOOK FOR IN PACKAGING?

The world is changing and the most successful companies will be those that best understand the new conditions for business. Partnership will become essential practice as organisations pool specialised skills and knowledge to gain a competitive advantage.

This is something the corrugated packaging industry has long realised. It offers complete packaging solutions based on new and innovative products and processes, and companies are entering joint partnership arrangements to build specialised packaging plant.

Major investment in new technology and manufacturing plant is achieving new operating economies, which the industry passes on to its customers. Technology advances are complemented by 100 years’ experience of solving problems. A vast programme of research and development is leading to more economic products and more responsive customer service.

Above all the industry listens. Whether you need to improve food preservation, protect electronic devices, or find more economic ways to distribute and store products, the corrugated packaging industry continues to discover new and surprising answers.

These are the key reasons why corrugated packaging is so popular. Wherever it can be used, it usually is. More that two thirds of the world's retailed commodities are packed and transported in it - more than all other types of packaging put together.

Corrugated packaging is one of the most environmentally sound materials. It is made from paper-based corrugated board and is unsurpassed in terms of economic and environmental performance. It is non-toxic, easily recyclable and produced only from sustainable sustainable forestry resources. (Tropical rainforest hardwoods are unsuitable for corrugated packaging and are not used). Corrugated packaging is versatile, offers superb exceptional strength-to-weight characteristics and is one of the most hygienic option available. It also offers a superb surface for printing - adding impact to your packaging. These qualities, which have already made corrugated the world's first choice in packaging, also make it the ideal material for the future.

DISTRIBUTING THE BENEFITS OF CORRUGATED PACKAGING

In recent times, capabilities throughout the distribution chain have changed almost beyond recognition. At one end, high-street multiples offer customers a level of service and choice undreamed of twenty years ago. Fitted-furniture retailers, DIY superstores and garden centres deliver bulk products direct to consumers. Computer-controlled logistics has revolutionised the home delivery business of mail order companies. At the other end of the distribution chain, corrugated packaging now handles heavy industrial products or wet substances more effectively thanks to advances in engineering design and surface treatments that prevent saturation or leaching.

The packaging industry is focused on the distribution issues of the future, such as the development of intelligent packaging that is instantly identifiable, along with agreed standards for the sizes of boxes, trays and other packaging to make products easy to stack, store and unpack. It is also introducing customer-led services supported by Just-In- Time and Efficient Consumer Response systems.

Corrugated packaging is a recognised hygienic solution but the industry continues to improve these standards through hygiene accreditation that meets the requirements of the food industry.

Everyone involved in the distribution of products looks for more cost-effective advantages. Corrugated packaging is delivering these in terms of tougher, lighter, single piece packaging that eliminates secondary materials. This reduces storage space, material costs and ensures simpler recycling and disposal. The unique characteristics of corrugated packaging also enable ingenious, floor-standing point of sale displays to be erected by unskilled staff.

Logistics managers want more depot-friendly solutions. The industry is exploring these too with new advances in interlocking cases for delivering mixed loads to individual outlets.

More innovative systems have emerged for fast shelf-filling. The substitution of cartonboard using the new microflutes provides protection during transit with high quality printing for shelf display - eliminating additional transit packaging. More efficient methods of collection and recycling are being examined. All are designed to minimise disruption, improve distribution and lower costs at every point in the retail chain.

From cases for the global trans-shipment of car components weighing hundreds of kilograms to boxes for take-way food – corrugated packaging is showing why it is the world’s most versatile packaging material.

THE CASE FOR CORRUGATED PACKAGING

Corrugated packaging solves four hundred thousand packaging problems every year. It is 35 per cent more cost effective that ten years ago and 20 per cent lighter with no reduction in its structural properties.

It is also the most versatile packaging. It can be printed or plain, have a smooth white outer surface for high quality graphic images and brown inside for improved economics. Manufacturers produce about 60,000 different print styles every month, offering customers maximum scope for creative marketing. Corrugated packaging can be produced as slotted cases, glued or stitched, self locking or die cut.

It has a remarkable capacity for inspiring precision-engineered, custom-built constructions that maximise product protection during transit, storage and point-of-sale. No other packaging gets new products to market faster. Advanced design technology enables customised packaging to be developed and delivered in days minimising both costs and time.

Corrugated packaging is also the most space efficient form of transportation packaging and is easily flat packed before and after use. A typical corrugated packaging box with a packed volume of 63,000 cm3 will fold flat to about 8,000 cm3 - making a space saving of over 85 per cent.

Corrugated packaging is economic and dependable. It helps reduce damage to less than 0.001 per cent of all manufactured output whereas in countries where it has limited use up to 50 per cent of fresh produce perishes.

Not surprisingly, corrugated packaging remains the only economically dependable solution that produces cost savings at every stage of the distribution chain.

THE STRENGTHS OF CORRUGATED PACKAGING

Simplicity and integrity are the real strengths of corrugated packaging. Fluting, fixed between the inner and outer liner, gives unique cushioning characteristics and also achieves excellent rigidity and structural strength.

Over the decades, successive generations of improvement have established a range of products for different applications. Standard and non-standard categories of corrugated packaging are based on the type of flute, whether coarse, fine or extra fine and the number of fluted tiers, whether single, double or triple tiers.

The standard range includes the coarse ‘A’ and ‘C’ flute, fine ‘B’ and extra fine ‘E’ and ‘F’flutes. The 'B' flute is the most widely used. It combines superb robustness (difficult to crush), with good compression strength. It is also compact, so less space is required during transit or storage. The 'C' flute is larger with greater compression strength but offers less crush resistance and requires more space.

The latest construction is the 'N' flute which is 48 per cent thinner than E fluting and 20 per cent thinner than the F flute. The new ‘N’ flute looks set to open up a large potential market for more sophisticated packaging. The non-standard range includes mini and micro ‘F’ flutes.

Flutes come in different combinations. Single face web, single-wall board with single or dual-arch fluting and double and triple walls. Double wall packaging combines B and C flutes, for applications where compression strength is more important than storage space. More recent innovations have combined E and F flutes. Triple wall is a more rigid board that provides excellent stacking strength with good shock and puncture resistance.

Just as there are different types of construction, there are many types of paper used in the components of corrugated packaging. The outer surface can be made from virgin ‘Kraft’ or more usually ‘test liner’ which is composed entirely of recycled fibres. It can be brown or bleached white for printing, or use white (outside) and brown (inside) for improved economics, or be made from a mixture of recycled waste and pure wood pulp.

Fluting is made from two processes, which use different formulations of chemicals, recycled paper and starch to produce different grades of flutability.

AN INDUSTRY ON THE MOVE

Corrugated packaging has always offered protection without loss of flexibility, and the industry has responded to the needs of new, more efficient distribution systems.

In the future, the innovative use of materials and combinations of components will ensure corrugated packaging remains the most economic and hygienic packaging solution.

At the cutting edge of R&D, the industry is already exploring ways to make this vision a reality by effectively integrating smart chips into corrugated packaging. The goal is to create packages that are so easily identifiable and secure, they will make barcodes look primitive.

Technical advances during the last decade have produced weight savings of 20 per cent without impairing protective or structural qualities. And the drive for improved weight reductions continues. Advances in material science are leading to new types of structural products such as corrugated pallets that offer huge economic and other advantages.

Protection helps to reduce product damage to 0.001 per cent of all manufacturers output. The industry is seeking to surpass even this record.

To increase efficiency, manufacturers are looking to further improve the versatility of corrugated packaging in transit all the way to point-of-sale.

Corrugated board has already evolved to answer more user needs than any other type of packaging. This preoccupation with innovation extends to improving the ways in which the industry relates to customers - to provide new commercial opportunities.

With so much thought going into corrugated packaging, there are some great benefits in store.