Tag: packaging

How to Not Get Burned on Shrink Wrapping Machines 

Shrink wrapping is great for overall protection of businesses and products all around the world.

Some people, however, get rid of their shrink machines that are used for different reasons. 

When you upgrade, you may want to toss it. Sometimes, people don’t have the parts to keep this running. There are people who buy these used and then resell them.  Sometimes, they may also be sold as demo machines too. 

If you’re someone who is trying to get a shrinking machine, you want to make sure that you do these things here, in order to make sure that you’re not burned by the shrink machine purchased. 

Make sure it Works to Start 

Sometimes, you may get a machine that looks promising, but upon using it, it squeaks, breaks down, and whines.  You want to be mindful of this, and if that’s the case, pass on it.

If the machine is perfect and runs like it’s brand new, that’s a promising sign.  You should also look at how easy it is to fix it, in the event that it stops working. 

Make sure you can Find Parts 

Some shrink wrapping machines have strange parts, and if you’re trying to save yourself money, and frustration, make sure that you can get these parts easily. This applies to all used machines, even if they’re working when you buy them. 

This is probably the most vital step to take when you’re buying these.

Many pallet wrappers and heat shrinkers have specific parts that do break down due to the wear and tear. Being able to get these replacement parts is vital, especially for production reasons.  You want to make sure that they still make parts for the model number and make that you want to buy.

You can contact the manufacturer or do a simple search on google if you can’t get the answers.  You want to make sure that the machine is out of production. 

If the machine isn’t being made still, make sure it’s easy to get the parts, without having to shell out a ton of money. If it’s impossible, don’t buy it.

If the parts are available despite the machine not being made anymore, there is a high chance they won’t be making the parts in the distant future.  While this may work if the machine is cheap enough, you should look at this and also how hard it is to get this. 

Some machines that look similar may have parts that work, but a lot don’t have interchangeable parts, so don’t rely on this. 

Read the User Guide 

If you’ve found a good machine that’s used, you should get a user’s manual to save yourself the heartache. 

This is not just good for those who are getting new machines, but it’s also ideal as well as a means to troubleshoot, and also offers different numbers for the replacement parts. 

They also will give you different instructions for troubleshooting any electrical issues.

If you’re unable to find the manual, it will be much harder to diagnose the problems, and if you do this, you need to know proper electrical wiring. 

Make Sure someone knows how to Fix this 

Finally, make sure someone knows how to fix this.

While it’s pretty simple, many times, you need to find the exact issues with your machines. If you’ve got basic knowledge of electronics it should be fine.

While the ordering process is quick and part installation is quick, you should make sure that you know what you’re doing. Failure to do so could end up creating more problems. 

Why care about Lead Times 

If you’re someone who has heard about the problems with the supply chain, you’ve also probably heard of lead times, as this can involve the packaging and material along with machinery times. If you’re looking to make a large machinery or various materials, but don’t want to wait for them for a few months, you can get this now, rather than down the road. It’s important to understand that due to the supply chain issues, it’s important that you place the orders early. You might need six months before it’s received in a timely fashion. 

If you wait to purchase something closer to the date, this can cause problems with it getting there, and tons of headaches. This is something that you should definitely ensure, especially if you want something to arrive as needed. If you’re curious about the materials and equipment, you should make the order well in advance. You may wonder why the lead times are so long though, and we’ll go over the issue with lead times currently, and what you can do. 

Why they’re so long 

This is something that is happening more often because of what’s going on in the world. Lead times of course, are the time it takes for something to arrive after placing orders. They’re essential because if you don’t consider these, it’ll cause the materials and machinery to not be there in time. It’s not super uncommon for buyers to ask about orders, and oftentimes, when you’ve got a lead time for product packaging, you can get this anywhere from a couple of weeks to up to half a year out. 

In most situations, letting the buyers know about this will help, as they can decide whether or not they can purchase something, based on what the lead times say. If you wait a few weeks before getting the items, then they may have to wait even longer. If you don’t do it right away, you may upset the customers too, since they’ll ask just why they can’t get something super quick. 

The extensive amount of lead times are becoming more common, and if you want to make sure that you don’t have that conversation, it’s important to early on. However, if the buyer understands that, they’ll also talk about the frustration of this, and you may want to expedite this, but let’s face it, that’s nearly impossible for most of the people. 

That is why if you don’t want to be in the position where you’ve got angry customers, making purchases a few weeks, or even months beforehand ensures everything arrives in a timely manner. 

The current lead times 

It depends basically on the material, and the current climate. The lead time for instance on packaging may be up to four weeks, but for some machinery and other packaging, it can be up to six months, and this is something that you’ll want to look at based on each case-by-case basis. The elements that impact this are something that you should be mindful of. Black swan events, disruptions to the supply chain, war, material shortage, and health crisis can all affect it. 

It can also be because of force majeure which basically liberates the distributor and the manufacturer in the event a black swan event. In this case, they may not get to customer’s orders until something is over. The best thing to do in that case is order ahead of time, order beforehand, and then stay abreast of the recent changes, especially if you are worried about how lead times will impact repute too. 

The future of Ecommerce 

With a lot of new technologies at the forefront, along with new innovations and further streamlining of processes to manufacture these products in order to craft sustainable, eco-friendly landscapes, ecommerce is changing a whole lot. It’s never been brighter actually, as the internet, along with smartphones are becoming far more available to a broader, bigger audience. 

Your business, however, needs to adopt these innovations in order to be completely successful in a market that’s growing, filled with competition. 

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While there are more opportunities these days to provide this, you’ve got to keep abreast of the trends in order to survive. 

A lot of customers do have a pickiness to them as well, where they decide on whether or not they’ll shop from X or Y based on the eco friendliness of the packaging, its personalization, and the interactive nature of such.

In the realm of ecommerce, your packaging is just as vital as the product itself. 

That’s why, in this, we’ll discuss the future of ecommerce packaging. 

Unboxing is Key 

When you’re building a packaging, you need to make sure you’re building with the intent of unboxing. Unpacking boxes that are boring and bland don’t create that special feeling.  If they’re not marked and just a plain brown box, without the surprises and creativity, people aren’t going to be excited.

A lot of companies are starting to work on ways to build creative means to enhance the boring unboxing experience. Remember, your packaging does need to first and foremost protect the items inside, but keep in mind that doesn’t mean it has to be boring and stoic.  Instead, you want to make sure that it’s fun, exciting, and gets people excited to open it up. 

Make sure Product Safety is Considered 

You want to also make sure that product safety is also considered with ecommerce packaging. 

This is also very important, because you don’t want products that are damaged or broken.  If it’s damaged, people won’t be happy. This is a factor that has yet to change for others. 

A lot of customers hate the second they get a product that’s damaged, so if you’re able to craft a product that’s strong enough to withstand this shipping, then you’ll make people happy.

Remember, a product that’s damaged will hurt your reputation, so you want to make sure that you focus on this point, if only to protect your brand. 

Promote and Attract Attention 

Finally, you want to make sure that it shows the personality of the brand and the images they’re going for, along with the personality. This is what boosts the value perceived of the brand, and it turns many prospective types of customers to you, rather than to the competitors. 

Along with this, you want to also craft some excitement when you create a more customized type of packaging, encouraging a lot of customers to show this to their friends, family, and even others on social media, which boosts your marketing and reach. 

Many influencers will create content for social media, especially when they’re posting unboxing pics and videos. 

You want to make sure if nothing else, you also focus on the branding and experience. 

Remember, over half of customers will repeat purchases of luxury products if it comes in packaging that’s luxury, so always make sure that, at the end of the day, you focus on the product, and the different aspects of it. 

With that as well, you also don’t want to forget sustainability and eco friendliness, so make sure you’ve got all these factors in mind when building the packaging you need. 

Shipping Hot Wheels Cars 

Hot Wheels as many of us know, is a toy car that’s delightful to collectors and consumers. Small but powerful, they’re great gifts for people. With various joy and excitement, this is something that’s globally appreciated, and perfect for all sorts of packaging.  But, how do you ship them? There are a few ways to ship these, as it will enhance this unboxing, and protect the contents inside.   You don’t want a car that’s damaged right? 

Well here, we’ll go over some of the top materials to ship these, and how to do it. 

Use Corrugated Boxes 

Corrugated boxes are strong. They can pretty much withstand all of the impacts during the shipment process.  This also is good for you to use. However, you do need to make sure that the right sized box is chosen. 

If you’re shipping out something robust, double walled is the best for protection. It’ll reach the customer quickly, and with two different layers of walls and fluting, it definitely will protect all model cars from impact too. 

Packing Tape

Packing tape is something that seals the cars better within the boxes. It gives them a chance to ship safely and impress the recipients with good designs and tape. 

Custom tape is displayed in ways that you’ll be able to see. Whether you’re an individual or business that sends the products to collectors and customers, it enhances this experience using different logos.  You can put different logos there, and then they take care of the work. This builds excitement, especially the moment you get the package. 

Void Fill  

Finally, you want some void fill.  You want to make sure that the material fills in the various gaps so that the toy doesn’t move about within there. Proper protection means that it will stay in one place, and the damage will be mitigated. 

There are tons of different void fills to choose from. Whether it’s biodegradable peanuts for packaging, or PKS foam packaging, this is definitely a great option. Biodegradable peanuts for packaging are good too if you want a bunch of collectables.  The foam packaging is good for single scale cars, which need a little bit of extra cushion. 

Things to Keep in mind when shipping. 

Now that you know about this, here are a few things to keep in mind when you ship these. 

First, you need to consider the quantity of the cars you’re shipping. This quantity also determines the number of boxes for you to use, and the packaging necessary to protect model cars. 

If you’re sending two different toys for instance, you’ll want a shipping box that’s around seven inches long, and five inches wide.  You may want to get something smaller if you’re shipping just one car. 

You should make sure that the quantity of these toys are optimal for shipping, and fewer needs for larger void fills. 

Make sure that you use bubble wrapping. Ti’s the best way to prevent the toy from getting jostled. 

Ideally, you may get a small sheet of bubble wrap for you to use. But, if you want to add more bubble wrap, you can. 

Use tape to properly secure this, so it isn’t getting dislodged. 

You may need different bubble wrapping for you to get the most from this. take the time to get familiar with this, in order to ensure faster, and more efficient shipping. 

You should also be mindful of the types of boxes.  If you’re still having trouble, talk to a packaging provider to help you get the right boxes to ship your favorite cars. 

Why you Should Use a book Wrap Mailer 

Book wraps are something that’s new and in. Essentially they’re corrugated wrapping that’s designed specifically for books. They’re basically flat corrugated cardboard pieces with wings that you fold along the item in order to secure this in place effortlessly and quickly to ensure it gets to the destination perfectly. You may wonder how you go about wrapping this mailer, but it’s like how you would with a burrito or a tortilla wrapping. 

Why so Versatile 

The cool thing about these is that the mailer is something that’s referred to by the integrated retention type of flaps. They’re adjustable flaps that essentially give these mailers the versatility that they need. Due to their ability to fit around these items of different heights and depths, it ensures that a snug fit is possible. 

Whether the package contains only one book or multiple types, it doesn’t matter whatsoever. These wings hold contents in a secure manner regardless, creating a crumple-zone that’s built in to offer cushioning without the void fill. 

Once these get sealed, they’re rigid and super strong, so they’ll fight any perils that’ll happen during transit as well. 

What can I Ship? 

Obviously book wraps are for books, but that’s not the only thing. 

They’re good for all sorts of media including video games, DVDs and CDs, along with picture frames, tablets and cases, catalogs, brochures, seeds, and stationery. Essentially, anything that’s similar will fit in there. 

They come in a variety of sizes, which is what makes them really good for jewelry that’s boxed, along with watches, and for bulkier types of electronics and board games. 

If there is a flat, rectangular sort of box shape and one that’s square, this is something that can be sent in, especially if it fits within the book wrapping.

With book wrap mailers, you’ll be able to have a lot of material on there, without compromising the flaps.  Vinyl is good with this too, and our mailers provide some of the best types of packaging out there. 

Why are they popular? 

There are a few reasons why book wraps are incredibly popular to use. 

First, they’re relatively inexpensive to make and they’re easy to produce to the highest standard. There’s nothing super complicated about this. They have strength due to the way that they are made. Their ingenious simplicity of the design itself with the overhanging wings on each end offer the highest protection from damage. 

Another advantage is that once they are put together, you can palletize these, so that they’re stored flat until they are able to be used. 

They’re also great for packing up small orders and lots of stuff real fast. It only takes a few seconds for them to be assembled, and that’s huge considering the volumes of the orders that are there. they’re cost-effective, practical, and save you a boatload of time.  They are super easy for packers to take care of too. 

Finally, they’re ideal for consolidating everything. Since they are good for letterboxes, you can usually ship this at a low cost. However, it’s more than that. let’s say that you’ve got a bunch or orders that are going to the same person and they’re around the same size? Getting a book wrap mailer offers a tried and tested type of choice.  

The money, time, and the resources won’t be wasted on the packaging for this, so you’ll be able to consolidate all of this.

Book wrap mailers are great for many reasons, and a perfect addition for anyone with different kinds of shipping needs. 

All About Indestructo Boxes 

Choosing the ideal box for shipping can pose a challenge, especially for anything that’s smaller. You need something that’ll keep the contents safe while also fitting the budget. This is especially true if you’re shipping out large amounts of items. One way to handle even the smallest of items, is an indestructo box.  They’re a corrugated mailer that offers many different advantages, especially when you look at durability. 

They’re also made to meet designs and requirements that are industry standards. They’re also good for perishable items, protecting items during transit. You may wonder what they are and the advantages they provide for businesses. Well, here we are, and we’ll give you everything you must know. 

Using Indestructo Boxes 

Indestructo boxes are great because they’re essentially a corrugated mailer box that offers a lot of unique advantages for businesses of all kinds, along with those who are looking for reliable, durable packaging solutions. The boxes are designed to offer the best protection for different products, allowing to ensure that they meet the destination, not damaged, and intact. 

From fragile, delicate items to even child-resistant and FDA compliant boxes, they are great for offering security and stability. Below, we’ll highlight a few of the features that indestructo boxes offer. 

They’re Durable 

Many indestructo boxes are stronger than the regular boxes on the market, offering the best protection for the items inside. Made to withstand even the toughest of all conditions, they’re ideal when choosing packaging solutions that need to be reliable. A huge advantage of these indestructo boxes is that they’re strong. 

They’re puncture and crush resistant, offering the ideal layers of protection against handling and transit.  They withstand even the heaviest loads, so that everything’s intact in the supply chain.  

It’s more than protection from pressures though. they’re made to withstand the weather, such as temperature fluctuations and even UV light.  They offer product protection, no matter the situation. They’re also made with raw materials that are made to withstand structural problems, offering the ideal integrity. This little attention point ensures that the boxes meet the loss prevention standards that are out there and ensures that everything reaches the destination in the ideal condition. 

They’re also customized in order to fit the product protection, along with different requirements. With a child-resistant type of container, they’re good for prevention of tampering, and made to fit your needs. 

They’re Versatile 

About as important as the destructibility of this, they’re also versatile, and came in a ton of different types of states, offering the best means for shipping when compared to others. 

Whether you plan to ship heavy items, or even machinery such as car parts and technology that’s sensitive, they’ll ensure that they don’t crush, get punctured, and everything stays in there. But it’s more than just product protection. They’re customized for different requirements. For instance, if you need a container that’s child-resistant or FDA compliant boxes, especially for food and such, they offer the next-level safety. They also can handle extremes in temperature, so that if the product’s in there, it’s safe. 

Eco-friendly 

Finally, they’re eco friendly, since they’re all made from recyclable items. So yes, if you use an indestructo box, you are helping the environment, and are contributing to sustainability for this. eco-friendly packaging preserves natural resources, enhancing one’s brand reputation as being ecofriendly and as responsible for the environment as you can be. It attracts more customers, and making sure that you ensure you hold onto this, you can get more customers, and you’ll have them stick around for longer due to these sustainable practices. 

The foods We’re Concerned About Going off 

We’ve all made the mistake of eating bad food, getting a really bad foodborne illness from this. Whether it’s a confusion due to the sell-by dates, or even eating something that you thought was safe after you freeze it, this can be a bit of a problem.

You might wonder which foods are safe to eat, and which ones aren’t.  you may wonder as well which foods are going to go the quickest. We’re going to go over this here, and also give you more information that you should be mindful of. 

Concern about Going quickly 

First, let’s go; over the foods that we’re most concerned about going quickly. 

At over 22,000 searches, eggs is the highest, followed by chicken, and then milk. Surprisingly after that is wine, then yogurt, bacon, turkey, beef, butter, and lastly almond milk. 

This shouldn’t be surprising, as dairy products and meat are going to dominate this.  This is due to the fact that many animal-based foods are very high in terms of risk for foodborne illnesses. There is salmonella, which is very easily contracted from dairy and eggs because of production infection, contamination from other sources, and bad storing and cooking.  Did you know that one in every 25 of these packages of chicken actually have salmonella.  That means that you need to cook chicken so that it’s cooked thoroughly so that you don’t have to worry about this.

Another thing that’s interesting is that meat and dairy free diets actually also created concerns. This is because of almond milk. While it does last a lot longer than cow’s milk, you should always check for any clumping, bad smells, or texture that’s thicker. 

What we’re worried about going Off Post expiration 

Again, eggs, milk, and yogurt are the three we’re most concerned about when we look at the searches.  Under that is butter, mayonnaise, then mustard, almond milk, bread, tofu, and finally coffee of all things. 

Eggs are obvious, as a lot of times people will see the best by date on these cartons.  However, because they do deteriorate a little bit slower, sometimes you can eat these after the fact. In general, eggs have a five week shelf life.  Refrigeration is best for safety, but don’t do this near the fridge door. This is because the moving can cause the temperatures to speed up the breakdown process. 

Milk is another one that you should definitely look at. But you also should pay more attention to this. Usually you can have milk a day or two after the expiration date. But, if you do notice a poor smell, a thickness to it, or it’s lumpy, then toss it. 

“What we’re Concerned Will Be Bad the Most After the Sell-By Date 

We discovered with this one that eggs are still the ones we’re most concerned about. With almost 15K searches every month, the sell-by date is something people look at. 

Sell-by dates are more for grocery stores telling them to stop putting the product on the shelves. However, you can have eggs up to five weeks after this date. 

If you’re not sure about this, you can actually test eggs. First, fill up a bowl of cold water. Put the egg in there, and then see if the eggs float.  Fresh eggs sink, but floating eggs means that there are bubbles of air inside, and that also indicates rot. If you hear a sloshing sound when you shake the egg, then toss it.  if you can’t determine, just open it and see for yourself the state of it. 

Operational Costs in Packaging 

The cots that are there are important. Obviously, it’s going to take money to make things go around, but knowing these costs will help with reduction of overhead and improving the aspects of such.Here, we’ll go over some of the different ways for you to be proactive in the way that you handle your operational packaging costs, and also to make it simpler for you too. 

What Factors Should Co Packers Be aware of When Purchasing 

Obviously, when you’re purchasing packaging, there are certain factors that play a huge part of this, and when you design a line of packaging, you need to focus on the raw materials, the staffing and automaton, and also the requirements for the flexibility of this line too. 

How to Plan the Line 

When planning the line, you want to make sure you do it in a way that’s efficient.  Maximizing the SKUs that one can run is probably the one of utmost importance. This is because you can choose options that are specific to machines, creating effective and quick forms of changeovers that are repeatable each time. 

You want to also think about the conveyance design.

Quick and accurate, or even reputable types of changeovers are good for conveying a system, allowing for more efficient startups of the next one of the SKUS on the line. 

The process of choosing the correct packaging happens super early, especially when looking at products that customers wish to run and build. You want to look at the different sizes of the bags that they wish to run, along with different operational factors that’ll slow this down. 

Identifying all of these applications and the process of sales ensures that the issues get fully mitigated from the start.

Of course, ensuring that the equipment is capable as well for changeovers that are quick is important too. Packaging equipment manufacturers want to have quick turnovers, but some of them aren’t very good, or they have almost no mechanical aspects. 

Machines are supposed to change over quickly and brilliantly. They are fully automated too in many cases, so you don’t have to have a maintenance guy in there all the time just to adjust something. 

Once the recipe gets programmed, there isn’t much to do in terms of changeover, besides choosing the correct recipe. This automated system handles the changeover aspects for one to use, which is great for the overall success of such. 

What to Consider when Automating Processes 

Obviously, when you use an automaton, it does drive down some of the costs of labor. 

But the reality is that the skills necessary for proper regulation of the facility in order to troubleshoot and maintain this equipment is there instead 

Think about the environment that you’re trying to put together.  This is especially true post-pandemic, with more and more people working away from each other, and less manual types of operations. 

It’s better in the long haul for many, but there are some unique costs associated with that type of automaton that one has to also look at, and factor in as well. 

When you work with co-packers that have been around for a bit, installing new and great software, there are costs for integration and different types of parts. The plant does have to pay for this to upgrade the rest of such.

Putting together the variety of operational costs offers one a better understanding of the types of costs that are there, and furthermore can help those with pants make the correct decisions that’ll ultimately benefit their company by manifold and help them make sound decisions. 

How Packaging is Vital for Startups 

Packaging is a tool that allows you to reach the audience in an effective manner, boost the sales, and introduce not just yourself to distributors, but to customers, even investors too.

The packaging design, especially at early stages, is vital, as this is a huge part of the product. This is also an investment that a lot of larger, and smaller companies must make sure that they have in mind, and make sure that this is afforded at an extra cost. 

However, when you order a small amount of packaging in a prototype that’s high-quality, you may find that it’s not very cheap or easy to do. 

The solution to this is a micro run, and this is a way to figure out the packaging design and see if it works for customers.  They’re cost-saving, and they don’t require a specific order quantity. That means that customers can get the boxes that they need with the smallest investment possible and reduces waste too in a ton of cases. 

Printing services with no minimums is great for a variety of reasons, which we’ll go over here. 

Validates Products 

Launching new and amazing products is a huge challenge for a lot of big and small companies . Before you invest resources and time within this, you must validate all of these ideas by creating impressions of the customers, and also the types of prototypes that are needed for the focus group. You can get some projections that are better here at a much better cost. 

Shapes and Graphics Testing 

Are you someone with different variants of packaging in your head, but you have no idea what to choose? 

In order to decide in a quick manner, reading the error margin, there are a few ways. You can order some copies of this packaging, evaluating the alternatives that are there, especially boxes which get printed in higher qualities too. 

Presenting Professionally 

Want to really win over the new potential customers? Well, you’ve gone to work on the first impression. In order to win over these people, consider adding a professional-level box, since customers will look at this product, the package, and the ways in which they receive it, boosting the sales of such products down the line. 

Good for Small Runs 

For a lot of startups just beginning, you may not have the money for large-scale production volumes, and you’ll end up seeing that you’ve got to buy these boxes from different suppliers that have specific order minimums and quantities, and sometimes with relevant impacts on that do exceed the budget.

You’ll be able to solve this through smaller runs that are there, purchasing only the items that you need. 

Less Inventory 

The best thing about this is that you can order what you need, so you’re not sitting here with tons of extra boxes.  This is great too so that you can print as needed for your needs. 

Adapt to the Marketing That’s Needed 

Finally, it lets you adapt to changes within the market. Changing graphics for sales, discounts and promotions or events is important.  You can order exactly what you need, and then, you’ll be able to adapt and change this, adjusting the box based on the needs.

Overall, packaging is important, and a lot of startups need this to stand out. With the no minimum order packaging, you get this and so much more, allowing you a full-scale means to change and fix not only the packaging that you want to have to boost sales, but also to improve the quality of the packaging too.