Your guide to must-have industrial packaging materials.
Simply put, industrial packaging keeps products safe on their way from the producer to the next point on the path to a consumer—say, from a ballpoint pen manufacturer to a retail store.
Retail packaging makes the product attractive to the consumer using compelling design and strong messaging. In other words, the primary reason for industrial packaging is to protect. For retail packaging, it’s to sell.
Damaged goods don’t sell, and they cost manufacturers time, money, and goodwill.
So what can be done to protect products once they leave your facility on their journey to the consumer?
Protecting Products:
Once your products leave your plant, they’re out of your control. Or are they? With the right packaging materials, you can do a lot to prevent damage and detect and record mishandling during transit or storage.
Here are some examples:
Shipping Indicators:
- ShockWatch® labels detect and record the impact or mishandling of your shipment with a highly visible “red alert.”
- Tip-N-Tell® indicator alerts package recipients to possible damage from tipping the package.
- Humidity indicators change from blue to pink as relative humidity rises, providing visible proof of humidity levels.
- Drop-N-Tell® detects possible shock damage to packages. The warning labels come in six G-ranges to allow for different impact levels.
- TiltWatch® turns from white to red if a package has been tilted or turned on its side.
Material Handling Devices:
- Tug Tight Pull-Tight Seals are designed for one-time use to prevent tampering. They can be cinched up to accommodate a wide range of size requirements and feature a tamper-resistant acetal locking mechanism. The weather-resistant heavy-duty plastic handles extremes of heat and cold.
Anti-Static Products:
For some products, such as sensitive electronic components, static discharge can be harmful, so it’s important to make sure the packing material is anti-static.
Examples include:
- Anti-Static Air Foam and Air Bubble. Available in rolls, perforated rolls and dispenser packs, these materials provide cushioning and protection against abrasion.
- Anti-Static Foam Shippers prevent products from shifting. Convoluted foam is fixed to the inside of the lid of a corrugated shipper and inserted loose in the bottom.
- Convoluted Anti-Static Foam Sets can be cut to size. The lightweight sheets interlock, providing excellent padding.
- Anti-Static Pick and Pack Foam allows you to create a custom nest for your product by popping out perforated foam squares.
- Anti-Static Cut Foam Pouches are ideal for protecting small parts.
- Minigrip® Anti-Static Reclosable Poly Bags feature a heavy-duty zipper to keep products clean and moisture-free.
- Anti-Static Poly Tubing lets you make custom-sized poly bags by simply cutting the tubing and heat-sealing the ends.
- Anti-Static Self-Seal Bubble Pouches have a tape seal and are made with high slip, 3/16” bubbles.
Protecting Boxes Against Damage:
Packaging corners are particularly vulnerable to damage during shipment and storage. Edge protectors are designed to prevent bumps and jars from causing harm to the product inside the packaging.
They come in light, medium- and heavy-duty configurations and can be labeled to warn against double stacking.
Protecting People:
Keeping products safe is important, but protecting workers is, too. Preventing accidents is not only good practice. It’s also cost-effective.
A few safety-oriented items that will help prevent injury in any packaging area include:
- Safety Grip Utility Knives to reduce hand slippage and possible injury.
- Spring-Back Safety Cutters to remove the hazard of an exposed blade.
- Safety Point® Blade Dispenser to make replacing blades easier and safer.
Have more questions about protective packaging materials? Not sure which packaging or material is right for you? Check out the free Protective Packaging Guide below we've created to help make your next packaging job a breeze:
(Editors Note: This article was originally published in March 2019 and was updated in April 2022 to reflect current information)