Product Packaging 101 - Guide to Major Retail Success

One of the most important things to do to promote your product is to spend extra time and effort on your packaging. Packaging can make or break a buyer's decision as to whether they buy your product or not. There are many product concepts that do not get realized by Major Retailers because of packaging.

If you consider it from a Buyer's point of view, packaging is what a customer notices first when entering into their store. If the packaging isn't attractive or clear, customers won't buy. It's a simple equation. Thus, spending plenty of time on packaging is essential to Major Retail success.

But how do you know if you are on the right track?

These are three great questions to think about when preparing your product's packaging for Major Retail success:

1. Does your packaging convey a clear message of what the product is or does?

If you can't pick up your product in its current packaging and know immediately what it is, then you know you have a problem. There should always be a clear message imparted by your packaging - what it is, what it does, and why it's awesome. It needs to be readable quickly, because customers usually decide within a few seconds as to whether they want to buy your product or not. It's imperative that you create a clear visual experience for the customer as to what the product is and how it can help them.

2. Is the packaging attractive? Does it make the consumer want to buy now?

Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - you may love that kiwifruit green but to someone else it looks like cabbage! If no one else agrees on the attractiveness of your packaging, then you know you have a problem. It needs to be attractive, concise and enticing. How do you know that you are getting it right? By asking people, of course! Ask your friends, family, colleagues, people on the street...ask anyone who will give you an honest answer. Ask them for the truth, not what they think you want to hear. You'll soon appreciate how very honest people can be!

3. Is the package size consistent with its competition?

If your competitors packaging is 3X smaller than your packaging, then you know you have a problem. You've got make sure your product is compatible with how much space a Buyer has to work with. Buyers need to specially layout their space in a store because they are allotted a very limited amount of space for their category. So be sensible, and consider how much room a buyer has to work with before you go for the foot long box.

Even if none of this applies to you, if you are not 100% convinced that you are on the right track with packaging, it's always worth getting some expert advice. Find a company or packaging expert that can advise you specifically about product packaging for your product type. Working with an experience packaging expert can save you many a headache down the road and really help you nail the sales.

www.made-from-india.com maintains a database for manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers and suppliers of Packaging & Paper Products including hologram, label & tag, packaging materials, paper & pulp, & other HDPE sacks etc.

Paper Food Containers to Serve Food Items

With the rapid development of food service technology, convenient food packaging and serving containers have become widely available in the market. Paper containers are one such option. Popular in restaurants, foodservice products made from paper include bowls, plates, cups, trays and much more.

Paper Food Containers in Various Shapes

To cater the varied packaging and serving needs of foodservice stations, paper food containers come in various dimensions, shapes, attractive colors and designs. These foodservice containers are the perfect solution for keeping foodstuff fresh. The easy-to-use containers can be used to serve both cold and hot foodstuff, including popcorn, chicken, French fries and much more. Moreover, with the help of carry-out containers, foodstuff can be easily and conveniently transported.

Non-toxic and Highly Impermeable

The major advantage of paper containers is that they are non-toxic. So food can be stored safely in them for a long time. Another benefit is most models are impermeable, highly resistant to oil, and maintain the freshness of the stored food. Moreover, these food containers are highly resistant to denting.

Most models of these serving containers have convenient vented or hinged lids and tuck top locks. Some are provided with poly lining on the inside so as to prevent the stored food from getting soggy. Further, most of them are microwave and freezer safe. Southern Champion, Stalk Market, Solo Cup are well-known manufacturers of quality paper food containers that efficiently meet all the foodservice applications of restaurants.

Established Distributors for Quality Products

When planning to buy paper containers to serve food items, approach established distributors of restaurant supplies. Online shops are the best option to make purchase as you can access their inventory and select branded products to meet your food serving and take-out requirements. Reputable dealers offer attractive discounts on all bulk purchases and free shipment options for purchases made above a certain amount.

www.made-from-india.com maintains a database for manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers and suppliers of Packaging & Paper Products including hologram, label & tag, packaging materials, paper & pulp, & other HDPE sacks etc.

Paper Making Process

Almost all of us use paper for a variety of reasons, from writing to packaging. But how exactly is paper made? Paper making is a complex series of processes, which turns trees into paper. The way paper is made has changed a lot since it was first made and is now a highly industrialised process. Here is a brief description of the whole paper making process today.

Trees are usually grown specifically for paper supplies. Forest are well managed with new trees grown once the previous once have been cut down for paper production. The way they are harvested can be compared to how crops are harvested by farmers. Paper supplies are from parts of the wood that commercial industries do not want, so all parts of trees are being used, and being used for more than once purpose. Forest trimmings and saw mill waste are examples of the parts of trees regularly used for paper.

Once trees have been cut down they are cut into small logs and put through a machine called a debarker. Logs are fed through this barrel-like machine which strips the bark off as it goes through. Another piece of equipment then cuts the wood into very small pieces and selects the best shaped and sized chips. These chips are next pressure cooked with water and chemicals in a digester. This produces pulp. The pulp is washed, refined and cleaned and turned into a slush-like substance. This is done in a large tank called a hydrapulper. At the bottom of the hydrapulper is an agitator which breaks the bales into small pieces. Once this process has been completed the pulp has been turned into a thick substance that is discharged into storage tanks. The next piece of machinery used is a conical. This cuts the cellulose fibres, a process called fibrillation.

The final part of paper making is the paper machine process. The first part of this sees the fibres turn into paper though the wire section. This is a conveyer belt, where water is drained away and captured underneath. Once this has been done it is effectively in a paper-like state. It then travels through a series of rollers where the moisture is squeezed out. The drying cylinders is the next part of the drying process. These are steam heated cylinders. Following this water and starch are added to make printing on the paper possible, so when used ink doesn't just flow off of the page. Next is a final drying section before polish of glaze are added. The paper is then flattened and straightened out. Finally, it is put into a large reel, after which is can be cut into sheets or put onto smaller reels ready for distribution.

www.made-from-india.com maintains a database for manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers and suppliers of Packaging & Paper Products including hologram, label & tag, packaging materials, paper & pulp, & other HDPE sacks etc.

Optimized Manufacturing Includes Packaging Automation Robotics

Packaging automation robotics must be part of the overall optimization of product manufacturing. Even small manufacturers can realize the return-on-investment for capital outlay for packaging automation robotics in a reasonable period of time. It is not unrealistic for such a capital expense to get paid back in as little as 18 months. This, by itself, should warrant a very serious look by all manufacturers who have to package their products before shipping to customers. Technology has moved packaging automation robotics forward in that the equipment that you can purchase now to perform this task can be readily integrated with your existing production line.

The first level or primary packaging usually occurs right after a product has been manufactured. This process amounts to putting the product in its first level of packaging. This can be a plastic closed end wrapping like for a candy bar or a bar of soap. A second level or secondary wrapping most always will occur. This happens when the packaged product is bundled in some way with several other units of the same product or the packaged product is put into a box. This secondary packaging is sometimes added to products because they need security or tamper-resistant packaging. Both these levels of packaging can be administered by packaging automation robotics. Secondary packaging can be warranted by the distribution method of the products. Sometimes products need more protection due to the handling that they may get during distribution.

Using Delta robotics to assist in the first level packaging of products in the production stream makes it easy to integrate packaging into the line using current equipment. There may be slight adjustments that have to be made in current production equipment to optimize the packaging capability into the line. In a lot of cases in food product packaging Delta robotics are the optimum selection for packaging delicate food items into their initial wrapping. The delicate touch of Delta robotics accomplish this task very readily. Usually products are loaded into packaging on the horizontal plane for this first level of wrapping. Adding vision capability to the robotics will allow the products that are to be packaged to enter the packaging work cell in random orientation. This packaging solution should not interrupt, but should help to optimize, the production flow.

Delta robotics can also be implemented as the second level of packaging automation robotics. Top loading is the method that is used in some cases to put products into a second package. This is called top loading because the previously wrapped product is inserted into a carton or other substantial wrapper by being inserted from the top of the wrapper. Sometimes these products that have both first and second level packaging in place are collected into groups of products and inserted into a third level of stretch wrap, tray or carton.

There are different types of patterns of presentation that products with which products can be moved into the packaging area. The type of presentation will depend on how the packaging equipment is best included into the overall flow of the production line. The collation pattern brings the products to the packaging operation in a single stream. Products are grouped or collated into a given count so that this group of products can then be wrapped. This can be eight first or second level packaging. Delta robotics are often used for the "pick and place" of these products for packaging.

Perpendicular presentation occurs when the products are brought to the packaging area at right angle to the packaging process. This method can be effectively used for raw food products that are to be packaged by the first level of packaging. Delta robotics perform this operation very well. The robot can be joined with vision capability to get optimum results. The inline presentation can be used to get products to the packaging area either in multiple or single streams. Often the flow of products to be packaged opposes the flow of packages into which they are placed. This allows the robotics to have a full stream of products to pick from in order to effective packaging.

To get optimum results from packaging automation robotics more than one robotic can be used to increase the speed to a higher production rate. A single controller can be programmed to control more that one robotic to do both first and second level packaging. Programming can be adjusted to fit exactly into the speed required by both upstream and downstream equipment. The speed of the production line is going to be influenced by the delicacy of the products being wrapped. Softer, more pliable products usually require a slower speed when being produced and packaged. The capability of the packaging robotic should, however, be able to handle any product consistency at any speed. It is very easy to alter the programming that controls robotics to get the optimum packaging result that is required.

www.made-from-india.com maintains a database for manufacturers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers and suppliers of Packaging & Paper Products including hologram, label & tag, packaging materials, paper & pulp, & other HDPE sacks etc.

Packaging Supplies Industry is Undergoing a Green Revolution

'Turn Green' is the mantra that seems to be enveloping the world, at present.

This fact is clearly evident by the fact that now even packaging supplies are turning green. A host of various green packaging supplies and environmental friendly products have flooded the markets. Also referred as eco friendly packaging supplies or Eco Products, various packaging application goes into making these successful packaging supplies. Recently many packaging manufacturers have shown great interest in turning the packaging industry green with more environment friendly products. Even the government of countries all over the world are getting pro actively involved to to replace all non ecofriendly options sooner rather than later.

The eco industry is growing rapidly and there is a huge demand to reduce the hazard environmental impact through by providing safe and natural alternatives in order to deliver materials, processes and technology solutions. According to ETAP (Environmental Technologies Action Plan), "The global eco-industry is fore casted to be worth some EUR700 billion by 2010". Following the suit, the packaging industry and manufacturers have come up with various green packaging solutions to reduce environmental jeopardy. Almost everyday, a new idea is created. Some of the recently innovated measures taken for checking harmful packaging supplies, following are some of the green characteristics that are generally adopted by the manufacturers.

• Made from recycled materials (100% or varying lesser percentages)
• Made from annually sustainable materials (ex: bamboo farms, corn, soya, cotton)
• Made from organic farmed materials (ex: organic bamboo, organic corn)
• Biodegradable materials (ex: clam shells, unbleached paper)
• Recyclable material (ex: cardboard papers, corrugated paper, glass)
• Reusable products (ex: glass bottles)
• Energy efficiency, such as achieved by reduction in packaging processes, packaging systems, manufacturing process or distribution savings (ex: using plastic bottles instead of glass bottles because of reduced carbon output in the shipping of a lighter product).

The most efficient markets for the implementation of the green methodology are the cardboard boxes, compostable food containers and biodegradable products like biodegradable bags, biodegradable trash bags, biodegradable garbage bags, biodegradable plastics, biodegradable paper, biodegradable films and biodegradable green materials.

Today, business realize that materials, systems, and processes need to be greener as the choice of caring about the impact for the environment is not only the ethical but also the future of the packaging industry. It is being realized that all the business that do not have any alternatives for greener packaging supplies and also do not incorporate environmental friendly products in their line of manufacturing, tend to lose their market share to environment friendly business that aims to create a new generation of eco friendly alternatives and solutions.

In present scenario, the packaging supplies have been evolved in a manner that can be reused by the consumer rather than just being tossed. Upscale, longer lasting packaging like thick wall boxes, handled containers, rope handle bags, etc. can be used over and over by many consumers thus allowing a longer life span for a brand. These are some of the reasons that have earned huge recognition for greener packaging supplies in the packaging industry.