A Guide for safe Packaging in Logistics

Don’t you want that your produced/manufactured goods reach its destination without being damaged?

Ensure, that your products are packed safely for their journey, packaging of the goods play a vital role. In here we are discussing the importance of packaging before it loads in logistics.

1. Products are well Packed Securely
   Products that get damaged while in transportation can create significant difficulties. It may not only cost you the value of the damaged product and shipping cost but, there is also a possibility you also need to send replacements, which gives you an additional cost.
   Damaged goods upset clients, and gives the company a poor name. A good logistics packaging keeps product safe, and ensure that your product arrives at their address in the perfect form and free from any damage.
2. There are various ways by which you can protect your goods
   1. Sealing of goods in a good quality Carton Box. Corrugated boxes play a vital role in packing of goods for logistics. You can check your corrugated boxes by letting them go thru few tests like
      • Bursting Strength Test
      • Edge Crush Test 2 Single
      • Water Resistance of the Gluing
      • Cobb Sizing Tester
      • Paper Grammage and Thickness
      • Puncture Resistance
      • Scuff Resistance Test
      • Box Compression Test
      • Chemical Analysis in Corrugated Box Testing

These tests will make you insure that your products in the carton box are safe. But, not only this, the security and even extra safety is also required i.e. for security, cartons should be sealed by fastening BOPP Tapes for closing the flaps, one can use brown, transparent or can also use your logo printed tapes, which helps in easy recognition and branding also. Not only this try and also apply tapes on the edges of the carton which helps giving an extra protection. The tape can be applied manually if you have small loads or you can use Carton Sealer machines for bulk packaging,

• Apply PP Straps or PET Straps on your shipper, this gives not only extra safety but also unitize your goods together, thus protecting from spilling. PP Straps are used where the weight of the loads is upto 80-90 kgs. There are different strapping machines are available in market to apply these PP Straps. And PET Straps are used where loads goes beyond 100 kgs. It is good replacement to steel straps which are expensive and risky. These PET Straps are applied using specific strapping tools, like battery operated strapping tool and Pneumatic Strapping tool, these are hand held tools and are easy to use.
• The next and most economical way to protect your shipment is by using stretch wrap film, these films helps in again unitizing your goods and above all it gives extra protection from rain, moisture and scratches which occurs by rubbing of goods against wall of containers or transport vehicles. These Stretch films has a characteristic of elongation of upto 300%, once stretched and wrapped, the elastic recovery of film helps to keep the load tight. These films nowadays are applied on products without using any expensive packaging material and still stays safe.
• Use Shrink Packaging to protect your primary packaging. Now a days primary packaging says a lot and speaks to the customer, in other words you can say your primary packaging is a hidden seller of you product. Shrink packaging is thin film which is enveloped around loosely and then heat shrinks (uses Shrink tunnel) the film around the product tightly, thus protecting your branding from getting damaged from water, scratches, dust etc. A product wrapped in shrink film also gives a kind of corporate look and your branding is also clearly visible. Different sizes and thickness of Shrink films are available in the market and with different packing machines from semi automatic to fully automatic shrink packaging machine to apply shrink films.

• Clearly display vital information about the product
  A handler/transporter needs vital information about the product. Simple things, like
  • Temperature Sensitive– The goods are not able to handle too high or low temperatures.
  • Keep Dry– The goods should not be wet as it might affect its quality.
  • Fragile- If not handled with care, the goods may be broken. Commonly used for glass, ceramic or other easily breakable type of materials.
  • This Way Up– The direction of the arrows indicate how the box should be open so as to remove the goods in a safe manner.
  • Center of Gravity– These are the goods that need to be carried in such a way so as to avoid dropping or toppling it over.
  • No Hooks– The box must not be in contact with hooks that could penetrate it at all times.
  • No Stacking Please – This is an obvious one- Do not stack the boxes one above the other.
  • Photography material– This box contains photographic type of items like films and equipment.
  • Lift Box Here-If the boxes need to be lifted, look out for this sign as it shows the direction it should be lifted.
  • Handle With Care– Boxes with such pictorial signs should be handled with care or else it may get damaged.
  • Protect from Heat– Always keep such boxes in cool conditions as leaving them in the heat may damage the goods inside.
  • Food– Boxes with symbols like this indicate that there are food and beverages inside

3. A good packaging makes storage easy.
A suitable packaging allows to store products easily. It really does not matter what the size of the product, or how delicate a product is if the right packaging is done.

4. Product packaging can even help you in increasing your sales figures
If the packaging of your product is retail ready, your goods can be displayed on the counters in their custom display. By selecting packaging that highlights brand colors, product information, and other information which is required to know by a customer, the chances of sales goes up are quite bright.