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| Polypack’s Kevin Harris holds a shrink-wrapped case of drink boxes with a “corrugated belt” of cardboard for vertical strength when palletized. The concept capitalizes on the flight from cardboard to less expensive shipping materials. |
Whether under the guise of sustainability or simple cost cutting, companies are switching to less expensive materials for secondary packaging. “If a product can stack on a pallet, companies are shrink-wrapping instead of using cardboard boxes,” notes Kevin Harris, distributor sales manager at Polypack Inc., a Pinellas Park, FL maker of shrink-wrap machines.
For primary packages that do not provide adequate vertical stacking strength, the firm has developed “the corrugated belt,” a halfway solution that eliminates a box’s top and bottom flaps. Trials with Unilever and McKee Foods’ Hostess line are underway.
The belt reduces the amount of cardboard typically used to ship finished goods by about 50 percent, Harris estimates.
For more information:
Kevin Harris, Polypack Inc., 727-578-5000,
kharris@polypack.com
The Food Defense Strategy Exchange (FDSE) is a forum for food defense professionals to interact and share their knowledge and experiences. At the most recent FDSE, a poll of attendees revealed that approximately two-thirds were either re-evaluating their existing food defense plan, or implementing new food defense plans. In this podcast, Don Hsieh, Director of Commercial and Industrial Marketing at Tyco Integrated Security, discusses this topic and other findings from the exchange, and offers some best practices to proactively protect a company’s brand from food adulteration.
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