Did you know we boxed the Olympic torch in 2012?
Compare your business to the goals of an athlete. When it comes to the Olympics, the battle for gold is won by milliseconds, with the relentless pursuit of marginal gains. While beginners might scoff at the idea of a fancy new water bottle adding a single percentage point to their performance, Olympic athletes understand that even the smallest tweaks can be the difference between glory and defeat. Businesses should have a similar mentality about bespoke packaging.
The beauty of working with cardboard box manufacturers like The Box Factory for your business’s large-volume packaging orders means you gain access to endless bespoke options. Businesses are seeing the value and need for made-to-measure packaging both in terms of minimising air gaps and product protection. That’s not to say standard off-the-shelf cardboard packaging doesn’t have its place — it all depends on the product and your needs.
A good starting point is building on standard design, think the FEFCO 0201 for example. This very popular box can be amended however you like. It can be converted into shelf ready packaging (SRP) when paired with cut crease perforations. This allows the separation of the top of the box so that the pack can become a shelf display.
Find out more about FEFCO 0201 SRP here.
As your chosen box design starts to take shape, it’s a good time to choose the board grade that the box will be made from. The cardboard strength and construction directly impact the amount of weight a box can carry and what it's capable of doing. A box too weak might puncture or collapse. On the other hand, an excessive corrugated box means you pay extra for unnecessary strength and add to environmental wastage.
We really learn about your product, business requirements and consider the entire journey a box may go on. For example, if the box needs to go in a fridge for a week, this will affect the material properties. We don’t just guess at what we think is the right material, we use in-house testing software and our real-world experience to determine what is best suited for you..
You could choose to add a locking tab to your box design if the application would benefit from this option. Similarly push lock and crash lock bases can be engineered into the design so that boxes can be made up as quickly as possible with minimal tape. We can add windows into the design so part of your product can be seen without opening, or even incorporate built in fittings or dividers into the box for further protection.
Print can be a very effective way to add value to your boxes, from adding a simple logo to a beautifully designed full coverage print, both inside and out! This is your opportunity to add branding, safety information and product images to the box.
Flexographic printing (flexo) is the most cost-effective way to produce printed cardboard boxes, normally only adding pennies rather than pounds to the box cost. We also offer three other types of printing processes, but flexo proves to be the most common due to its cost effectiveness, as it can be printed direct-to-board at high speeds and has a high quality finish. We can print up to four spot colours in one pass, or 2 colours on the outside and 2 on the inside.
For one of our customers, we produce packaging used for valuable medical devices that need careful consideration during transport — dropping one of these could damage the product significantly. Using a bespoke fitting with a buffer zone means that the high-cost product wouldn’t get damaged if dropped. If you already use existing packaging materials such as polystyrene, we can design with this in mind.
Similarly, our range of fittings and insert options are a great alternative to polystyrene.
All corrugated cardboard is recyclable, so you’re already off to a good start. Check our sustainability page to find out more. Similarly, our inks are water based which are more environmentally friendly than solvent-based inks.
We recognise the carbon cost for every millimetre of board, which is why we optimise our material use to reduce wastage. Through expert design, we optimise the packaging so that you’re not packing and transporting air. Similarly our protective designs often mean bubble wrap isn’t required, saving on additional padding costs and plastic waste.
Subtle changes to your box design can have seriously large returns on investment when done on a large scale and give your business a competitive advantage. You’re in safe hands with The Box Factory. We’d only suggest changes and additions to standard box designs if we felt you’d really benefit from it. Contact us today if you’d like to discuss your options.
