Tag: Personalized 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. 

Brands are Now investing in Personalized Packaging Now More than Ever 

The packaging that’s personalized is a buzzword that’s been making the waves, but it’s something that big brands are actually using.  Crayola, pepperidge Farm, and even Oreo and Coca-Cola are using this, as this is something that a lot of companies are realizing creates superfans. This creates a unique, personalized ownership, and let’s face it, people are looking to pay more for that.

Which companies are doing this? Well, let’s look at some of the leveraging that they use.

The Share a coke Campaign 

This is something that was originally done back in 2012 in Australia, and it’s a phenomenon that we still recognized. This was targeted at those who are younger, and also the older generations. This is because the personalization of their products offered what’s called an emotional connection with the brand, and it helped them buy more, taking sales and driving them to new heights.

This is something that was different from what we’ve seen before. The analog technology wasn’t going to work, so they decided to use digital personalized labels, and created some cost-=effective production, without making the quality or speed go down.

This actually increased the consumption by up to 7%, and the campaign definitely increased the sales by over 2%, which is huge for an already giant company.

Goldfish my Way Campaign 

This was a campaign done by Pepperidge Farm to celebrate the 50th birthday of Goldfish and the face. This allowed customers to create a custom Goldfish box, and also allowed them to write personal messages and photos. 

This was actually advertised directly by the brand as a type of product and gift that’s special, and people could buy this for many events, including a kid’s first day of school.

This was something that really offered a connection, as it created a moment that was super happy in those people who loved these little fish snacks.

Oreo Color filled Campaign 

This was one in November of 2014, and Modolez created an ecommerce store that offered Oreo cookies that were personalized directly before the holiday season.

This was unique, because it let these customers create a fund branding experience, and it also took advantage of another unique trend: the adult coloring book trend. They were given a portal that they could choose illustrations, color this, and then add a message that was personalized to the package.

This actually created a product that was five times the price, but customers loved it, and the interaction of this offered a chance for people to pay more for something that they supposedly increased in their value.

Crayola My Way 

Finally, there was the Crayola My Way Campaign that was a fun one that allowed for consumers to personalize their crayons with a theme, message, and even images.

The coolest thing about this wasn’t the product, but just how it worked.  Crayons are not something that’s consumed super-fast, but they offer entertainment and a lot of fun, and many times, kids would use this for school years, sometimes even longer. It definitely solved a common issue that kids in school do have, the problem of identifying the crayons that were there. This lets them get the crayons that they have fast, and it also was fun.

So as you can see, many major brands still do use personalization, but you can too as a startup. If you’re looking to build your brand and create customer repeats, this is how you do it, and it’s worth checking out, especially for brand impact and the needs of this as well. 

Yummy, Refreshing, Ice Cream Packaging 

Summer is in full swing, and what better way to celebrate is a refreshing, sweet ice cream treat, complete with some fun packaging.

Food industry packaging is a little bit different from others, because with food packaging, you absolutely need quality, and it’s a huge part of it.  you also need to make sure that you also give a product that tastes good, and also looks good.

Ice cream is a product with a lot of different producers, and a ton of them tend to be artisanal, and a lot are also very tasty, and fresh.  The problem with this is the competitiveness of this. How does one convince the customers here to buy the product that you have, rather than a competitor? The answer lies in the packaging, as this is a weapon that’s tasty, and perfect for sales and other phases.

Products, their freshness, and even different flavors, are right near the main heart of these solutions that we see. Whether they’re simplistic boxes for ice cream with different illustrations, or even lettering that’s creative, or just minimalistic, effective packaging, there are a lot of different ways for you to do this. the right type of ice cream packaging is one that sells this, and ideally, is also good for the environment too. 

Some of them are also looking to create paper packaging too. This is because it’s eco friendly, and fun. 

How Can I Design My Ice Cream Packaging? 

Well, it all depends.  If you’re someone who likes to keep things minimal, you can do this. you can have the name of the product, a logo, or even just pictures of ice cream trucks, stands, or the ice cream itself. 

Then, by adding as a final touch, a little pattern and design at the very top to border the image.  Simple, easy, and fun to look at. 

Another thing that a lot of people like to also do is fun graphics and lettering. Some of them like to have it in black and white, with the designs and words all over it in this packaging.  To add to this, the ice creams are packaged individually, creating a fun, unique image, and providing the packaging with the perfect way to stay fresh. 

Yollibox is another one that does give a great packaging idea, especially for their frozen yogurt.  They have a simple white container with a giant piece of fruit, the color of the fruit as the typeface bordered by the white.  This is a good way to make simple, distinct packaging, and with the paper sleeves and the ice cream inside, it provides you with a fun, eco smart container that really stands out. 

Fifty Licks takes things in a different type of way.  They package ice cream in little paper containers that are cubic shaped. On the front is the name of their brand, with a gray background and a variety of colors, each of which correspond to the different flavors of ice cream.  The sides of the box are all in white, with a darker typeface so that people can read this.

Finally, popsicle packaging. These work well with a paper box, individually wrapped in a paper packaging, and then, on the very front, you can design it with a person holding and eating the sweet treat that they enjoy.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of different packaging incentives for a person to have, and a lot that people will benefit from. If you’re looking to get the most out of your ice cream packaging, now’s the time! 

Qualities of Great Packaging 

A good packaging product makes a huge difference in the unboxing of the item, and boosts the experience of the shipping. With so many different factors that go into this, it’s hard for one to determine the ideal packaging solutions for customers and businesses.

If you’re having a hard time figuring out the good criteria for the packaging, then you’re in luck. We have a guide of some of the most important things that go into packaging that’s high quality, in order to make a good decision on the packaging supply, and different options. 

It’s simple to Use 

This is something that’s simple for you to make. Something that’s easy for you to store and flatten is great, since it’ll be good to hold before shipping out. You also want to make it easier for customers, so that when they get the package, they’re not subjected to wrap rage.

Wrap rage is annoying, and it can be something that makes or breaks a purchase. Poly mailers for instance, are good for small, up to medium sized items that are there. You just have to secure these with a strip. 

They’re smaller and they are much easier to utilize than others. 

Branded Packaging 

Another sign of good packaging is that it’s branded. Unbranded boxes are good for starting out, but you want people to remember. If you do take pride in unboxing, this can be incredibly underwhelming for the customers.

But, branded boxes are a prime way to spark some joy in the customers that are there. They are able to eagerly anticipate what’s inside.

You want to try to create a branded packaging, so that when customers do open this, they’re excited. This also ensure s that the branding stabilizes and is the same for a bit longer too.

Better Protection 

Nobody wants a package that’s in pieces. Good packaging needs to look presentable.  This is important, because you want to make sure that nothing gets wrecked. Some suppliers will use bubble mailers.  Some might require more protection. You can find great lists for this type of protection from various places. Compostable or recyclable products are great for keeping everything safe as it goes from point A to point B. 

Good Storage 

This is something that also is important if you’re running a business in a small place, such as a home or even an office. You want packaging that’s simple for you to store and doesn’t take a ton of space. Packaging that’s easier for you to store is a great sign, as it also means that customers can toss this without feeling like they have to break this down. This is also good if you don’t’ want the warehouse costs that get super expensive. Plus, who wants a bunch of bulky boxes just sitting around like that. 

It’s Able to Be sustainable 

Finally, you want something eco friendly. Shipping and packaging does use a lot of single-use plastics, and that’s been their main schtick for a bit of time. This is not good for the environment.  Non-biodegradable choices are also good too, especially if you wish to increase the carbon footprint as a main impact from reducing the use of packaging supplies.

Eco friendly packaging is a new thing, and it’s a hit because it’s also a sign that you’re a quality supplier. 

A lot of eco-friendly packaging does also offer great ways to sustain costs. You can get so many different packaging’s at a variety of different costs that are quite low too, and that is also why people choose to go with this final aspect of good packaging. 

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.