How to choose cardboard boxes for your company’s packaging?

One of the essential elements in any company that sells physical products is the cardboard box. Logically, as an entrepreneur, you want to optimize your shipments, ensuring that they arrive at their destination in good condition. Today we are going to analyze the different elements that you have to take into account when choosing the packaging for your company’s products, focusing mainly on the different formats of cardboard boxes.

Customize the packaging according to the needs

Today, you have a wide variety of solutions on the market to pack your products. From standard formats to custom oil boxes, you can choose a packaging that will meet your needs.

The main criteria to be taken into account are

  • The size of the product.
  • Its way.
  • The weight of the shipment.
  • If it is a fragile or resistant article.
  • Is it a solid or liquid product?
  • Is it stored?
  • other needs
  • Depending on all these factors, you will be able to choose a design for the cardboard boxes.

The size and shape of the product

It is clear that a television, a fishing rod and a mug are three very different items in terms of shape and size, and that they are going to need a different packaging solution. The television will go in a wide but not very wide rectangular box, the cup will probably occupy a small cardboard cube, while the fishing rod will require a long and narrow cardboard case.

Box resistance

In most cases, products placed inside a shipping box are not very heavy, and do not require a particularly strong solution. A simple channel is enough, which is generally 4 millimeters thick, and consists of two sheets of cardboard separated by a corrugated sheet.

When the weight of the item to be transported increases, to prevent the bottom of the box from breaking, you can opt for a double-channel cardboard, which is about 7 millimeters thick. For really heavy objects, there is even the possibility of a triple channel, or even a quad channel, but its use is rare.

 

 

How to protect the shipment?

In the case of fragile products, what is usually used are different protection systems, such as pieces of expanded polystyrene, or different padding designed to cushion the impact of any blow.

Some cartons also include custom compartments to further stabilize and protect the load.

Liquid and solid products

When packing a solid product, there is generally no risk other than what might happen to the item being shipped in the box. But, for liquid products, extra precautions are required. Indeed, if the product is damaged, the liquid could escape from its container, damaging not only the box, but possibly other boxes and other products that are nearby. For this reason, for liquid products, a plastic layer is usually included inside the box.

Will the box and its contents be stored?

Think about the difference between a product that Amazon sends you and one that you buy at Ikea. In the first case, there is usually a lot of free space inside the box, and a weak container is used, since it will only be used during shipping. In the second case, the container is much more compact and the cardboard is usually more resistant. The reason is storage.

The product that Amazon sends you will be for a few hours in a truck or delivery van, mixed with dozens of other packages of all sizes. Normally, your box will not have to support a very high weight.

The furniture you buy in the chain founded by Ingvar Kamprad is stored in the company’s own facilities. When you go to the corresponding aisle to remove it, you realize that most of the boxes are long and relatively resistant. Because they have to support the weight of other heavy products, furniture of the same reference.

I cite the example, because it is clear that the type of boxes you buy to store products is not the same as for a shipment. Generally, you need to optimize the space and ensure resistance, because you are going to stack products.

Other criteria to take into account

I have only listed the most common elements, but there are more. For example, if you have to keep your shipments at a certain temperature and maintain the cold chain, in addition to using refrigerated transport, you will need boxes with an additional inner layer that serves as thermal insulation. Or if you want to transport the contents of the boxes more easily, you will be interested in having handles.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *