Packaging 101: A Short Glossary of Terms
A
Abrasion
Scuffing or wearing of a part against its package, or scuffing of a package against external surfaces. The damage caused by friction such as rubbing, scuffing, or scratching.
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Adhesive Bleed
Material oozing out of the edges of a label, tape, or closure. It is the result of cold flow, excessive roll winding tension, excessive heat or improper converting procedures.
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A-Flute
A piece of corrugate with a height of 3/16 inch excluding the facing, generally spaced about 33 to 39 flutes per foot.
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Anti-slip Sheet
Paper/corrugated cardboard with a coating designed to prevent palletized product from moving/sliding around during transit or handling.
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AQL: Acceptable quality levels
The maximum percentage or proportion of variant (or defective) units in a lot or batch that, for the purposes of acceptance sampling, can be considered satisfactory as a process average.
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ASTM
Abbreviation for American Society for Testing and Materials.
B
Bag-In-Box
A plastic poly pack inside a corrugate carton, usually used for packaging liquids.
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Banding
A method of unitizing products, cartons, or parts together for handling or shipment. Steel, plastic and cord banding are options, as well as seals and buckle and strapping tools.
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Bent Finish
A finish defect. A finish which has a bent or crooked appearance. Also called "crooked finish".
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Bevel
The sloping edge of a container or part. A bevel adds a short flat span at the junction of two sides of a container.
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B-Flute
A piece of corrugation with a height of 3/32 inch excluding the facing, generally spaced about 47 to 53 flutes per foot.
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Blister Packs
A form of packaging where the parts are sealed into a transparent molded plastic cavity shaped to accommodate the pieces with a foil or cardboard backing. Frequently used for packaging hardware packs and assembly components.
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Blisters
A general defect in the finish of paint or coating that are bubbles or raised paint.
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Box Compression Test
Placing weight onto a carton to see how much weight it can withstand before crushing over 5% of its height.
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Boxes made of Paper
Paperboard, laminated recycled paperboard, folding cartons, as well as partitions and inserts.
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Boxes made of Plastic
Carrying cases, luggage, food storage containers, tote boxes, re-shipper containers, powder boxes, pill boxes, hinged-lid containers, school supply boxes, lunch boxes, cosmetic and jewelry boxes, tool storage boxes, fish boxes and freezer boxes.
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Box Manufacturer’s Certificate (BMC)
A statement printed within a bordered shape on a corrugated or solid fiberboard box that identifies the manufacturer and guarantees that all applicable construction requirements of carrier classifications have been fulfilled.
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Bridge Impact
An upward or downward force in the middle area of a long or tall carton or product.
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Bubble Pack
A type of cushioning material that is made by trapping air between two layers of plastic material and using the "bubbles" to protect products inside their shipping containers.
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Burst Strength
Bursting strength is the amount of pressure or force required for the packaging material to fail by tearing or opening erroneously, inward or outward. It can be seen when cartons cannot bear weight of in a stack, or are too weak to contain their products stored inside them.
C
Caliper
The thickness of packaging material, usually expressed in thousandths of an inch (mils) and written in decimals.
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Cardboard
A flat material consisting mainly of organic fibers which consists of walls, fluting, and adhesive to create a sheet. It is commonly used in manufacturing boxes, partitions, and even furniture.
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Case Sealer
A machine for closing the flaps of a case and sealing them with adhesive, tape, or staples. Case sealers differ in capability of accepting one size or random sizes, and sealing only top flaps, or top and bottom, with or without load.
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C-Flute
A piece of corrugation with a height of 9/64 inch excluding the facing, generally spaced about 39 to 45 flutes per foot.
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Chipboard
A low quality non-test paperboard made of waste paper for use where specified strength or quality is not necessary. May be bending or non-bending, used for corrugated pads or as dividers, or as filler in thicker paperboards. Also used in the manufacture of spiral-wound cans.
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Chipped Finish
A finish defect. A finish from which a small section is broken on the top or side.
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Closure
An area of a shipping container or carton that needs to be of closing a shipping container, usually by tape or glue.
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Compression Creep
Packaging fatigue leading to loss of rigidity or stack strength.
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Compression Molding
A method of forming objects from plastics by placing the material in a confining mold cavity, then applying pressure, and usually heat.
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Corrugated Cardboard
Corrugated cardboard is a packaging material which is composed of one or several flute layers. These flute layers are stuck onto the top and bottom with liner papers.
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Corrugator
Production of corrugated cardboard from paper by reshaping and combining fluted and smooth paper.
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D
Density
Weight of a gas, liquid, or solid substance per unit of volume, expressed in pounds per cubic foot (PCF).
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Desiccant
A drying agent possessing a high affinity for water vapor, it is used to control the humidity level in sealed packages.
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Die
Any tool or arrangement of tools designed to cut, shape, or otherwise form materials to a desired configuration.
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Die-Cut
A box that is stamped out from a steel rule die, as opposed to being produced on a flexo folder gluer. Die-cut boxes provide greater design options and tighter size tolerances.
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Double-Wall
Double-walled corrugated cardboard; produced from a combination of the same or different flute formats. For example, EB-flute or BC-flute.
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Drop Test
Any test method in which the article being tested is dropped in a specified manner for a specified number of times or until the article fails from impact. Normally done in full cases from heights as specified by DOT specifications (10 points), but may be designed to incorporate effects of de-acceleration, pallet loading, temperature, humidity, or other variables that could lead to product damage.
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E
ECT/Edge Crush Test
Test process to determine the edge crush pressure of corrugated board.
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EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
EDI is the transfer of structured data by means of specified electronic messaging standards from one computer application to another with a minimum of manual intervention.
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EPS
Expandable polystyrene. A generic term for polystyrene and styrene co-polymers, supplied as a compound with physical blowing agents and other additives which can be processed into low density foamed articles. A major end-use is cushioned packaging. Low molding pressures and economical tooling make EPS molding an inexpensive method of producing foam shapes.
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Extrusion
A method of shaping a plastic material by forcing it, with the application of heat and pressure, through an orifice in a continuous fashion.
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F
Five Panel Folding Carton
A single cut and scored piece feature a 5th panel used as the closing flap, completely covering a side panel. The closed box has several layers of the combined board on each end, which provides ideal protection and stacking strength.
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Flat-bed die cutter
Processing of corrugated cardboard with a flat cutting die (in contrast to the rotation process).
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Flat die-cut cutter
Corrugated cardboard sheets are locked in the flat-die cutter and punched out by a flat-bed die-cutter in one stroke movement. This results in very precise die-cuts.
The difference to a rotary die cutter are the die-cut movements and the customized tools.
Flexible Packaging
Packaging involving the use of such flexible materials as foils, films, paper, flexible sheeting, etc., to form the container, basically wraps, bags, envelopes and pouches.
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Floor Loading
A technique used for packing a truck in which pallets and stretch film are not used. Hand carrying (conveyors are frequently used) a load on a truck and shipping the load by leaving it on the trailer floor.
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Flute types
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F-flute 0.6 - 0.9 mm
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E-flute 1.0 - 1.8 mm
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T-flute 1.7 mm
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B-flute 2.2 - 3.0 mm
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C-flute 3.1 - 3.9 mm
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A-flute 4.0 - 5.0 mm
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FE-flute 1.6 - 2.7 mm
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EE-flute 2.7 - 3.2 mm
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BE/EB-flute 3.2 - 4.8 mm
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BC-flute 5.3 - 6.9 mm
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CAA-flute 11.1 - 13.9 mm
Fluting
The wave-like ribbing of fibrous material to create strength and crush area.
Folding box/carton
Folding boxes are made from one piece. The factory edge is joined to the connected side using adhesive strips, wire stitching or flap joints. Attached top and bottom flaps enable the subsequent closure of the folding box (folding bottom box).
Folding box gluing machine (Gluer)
A processing machine which uses gluing and carton die-cuts to produce flat-pack cartons from in a further processing step.
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FSC
FSC stands for the “Forest Stewardship Council” certification system. This seal distinguishes wood and paper products which originate from responsibly harvested forestry.
G
Gasket
A liner applied between the sealing surface of container lip and closure to provide the ultimate seal.
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Gloss
Shine or luster of the surface of a material. If a surface clearly and plainly reflects an image of light, it has a high gloss.
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H
Hazardous goods
Products that present specific risks to shippers, handlers, and the environment. Packaging for hazardous materials must be an approved design and subject to special quality requirements in production.
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HDPE: High density polyethylene
A versatile and popular plastic material. This material is rigid, and frequently used for store displays and food packaging materials. It is resistant to cracking, heat, and tearing.
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Honeycomb
A paper based material with two layers of paperboard and an internal web of hexagonal columns. Used for impact protection, blocking, and bracing.
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I
Impact Resistance
Relative susceptibility of plastics to fracture by shock as indicated by the energy expended by a standard pendulum type impact machine. The ability to withstand mechanical abuse in service, as related to dropping and impacts.
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Inside liner
The paper on the inside of the corrugated cardboard.
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Internal measurements
Internal dimensions of a packaging product. Adding the material thicknesses together gives the external dimensions.
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J
Just-in-sequence (JIS)
“Just in sequence” describes a type of delivery in which the goods required are delivered at the right time, in the right quantity and in the right type to the right place and immediately processed there. The crucial difference here to Just-In-Time is that the delivery must be performed in the correct sequence.
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Just-In-Time (JIT)
Production principle in which the delivery of the required materials is aligned to usage or consumption requirements. Therefore the sequences must be finely attuned to each other in order to avoid storage costs.
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K
Kraft liner
Liner paper consisting of coniferous wood sulfate pulp with a maximum recycled fiber content of 20%. Due to its high portion of long fibers kraft liner is the strongest of all corrugated cardboard base papers. Kraft liner is humidity-resistant and is preferred for use in transport packaging.
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L
Labels
Self-sticking, bar code, UPC, IBM, mylar, cloth, color, aluminum, wrap-around, spot, cling, sleeve, pressure sensitive, heat transfer, DOT, in-mold, expanded content, holographic, rotating, inverted vertical hanging, medical, shipping, international wordless, paper, booklet, production, inventory, and shrink labels.
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LDPE: Low density polyethylene
LDPE is similar to HDPE in composition. It is less rigid and generally less chemically resistant than HDPE, but more translucent. Used primarily for squeeze applications.
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Left-opening box
Die-cut where the adhesive flap is located on the left side (external view).
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LTL: Less than truck load
An order which will not fill the minimum standard weight required for truck load freight rate, which usually means that the customer must pay an LTL freight rate.
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M
Multi-wall packaging
This consists of two or more layers of fluted paper (wall) which are glued together by a layer of paper or cardboard (intermediate liner) and where its free external surface is also glued with a layer of paper or card (external and internal liner).
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Mullen Test
A test made to determine the bursting strength of a packaging material.
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N
Nesting
Fitting a product or package inside a copy of itself, or inside a larger variation. For instance, trays can be nested inside one another, with each being slightly smaller than the next.
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O
Overpack
A packaging method adding extra packaging material on the outside of the original packaging to add more protection, without opening the original packaging.
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P
Packaging material
The material out of which the packaging aids and packaging containers are produced.
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Palletizing
Securing and placing containers on pallets into one single load for shipment.
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Paperboard
A flat material consisting mainly of vegetable fibres which is formed by draining a pulp suspension on a sieve. Cardboard has an area-related mass > 225 g/m².
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Partitions
A separation method, usually created with paperboard or cardboard, to create walls between components.
Perforation
Broken cutting line; it is used to prepare bending points and as an opening aid (tear perforation).
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Permeability
(1) The passage/diffusion of a gas, vapor, liquid, or solid through a barrier without physically or chemically affecting it. (2) The rate of such passage.
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Poly bag
A plastic bag, usually clear, ranging from extremely thin (1 mil) to extremely thick (10+ mill).
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Polyethylene
A thermoplastic material composed of polymers of ethylene. It is normally a translucent, tough, waxy solid which is unaffected by water and by a large range of chemicals. There are three general classifications: low density, medium density and high density.
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Pressure-Sensitive Paper
Paper material with self-sticking adhesive covered by a backing sheet.
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Primary packaging
Primary packaging has a direct contact with its contents. It provides most of the strength and the moisture, vapor or grease barrier needed to safeguard a product’s integrity.
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Q
Quality Control
The process of inspecting a certain amount of product to confirm its design, manufacture, and packaging is meeting pre-set standards for raw material use, structural and intended viability, and overall look and feel of the product.
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R
Ready-to-assemble (RTA)
Flat packed product that requires full assembly to be able to use for its intended purpose.
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Regular Slotted Container (RSC)
A box style made from a single sheet of corrugated that has been scored and slotted to allow for folding.
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Retail Ready Packaging (RRP)
Shelf-Ready-Packaging taking into consideration the important requirements along the packaging-relevant commercial value chain from the commercial store to the POS and/or to disposal or product return.
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RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
Technology for the contactless identification of objects. Data is sent using radio waves from an RFID transponder to a recipient and then evaluated. RFID technology offers a useful addition to the bar code and should be used throughout the entire supply chain.
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Right-opening box
Die-cut where the adhesive flap is located on the right side (external view).
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Rotary die cutter
The corrugated cardboard sheets run through the rotary die cutter under a rotating cylinder without locking. The cutting tools fixed to a semi-circular wooden shell are mounted on this.
This procedure is significantly more productive than with the flat-die cutter, but not suitable for all die-cuts. Therefore, the two die-cut procedures differ but essentially through the die-cut movement and the customized tools on it.
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S
Scoring
Making an impression or crease, similar to a perforation, in a box blank to facilitate bending, folding, or tearing. r
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Secondary packaging
Outer packaging or secondary packaging, which contains a certain number of sales units, which are either dispensed together in the sales outlet to the end-user or used individually to populate retail shelving. This packaging can be removed from the goods without it influencing the properties of the goods.
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Single-face corrugated cardboard
Corrugated cardboard with only one cover liner. The face is visible on one side.
Single-wall corrugated cardboard
Single-wall corrugated cardboard consists of one layer of fluted paper (flute), that is stuck between two layers of paper or cardboard (outside & inside cover).
Stack Strength
The ability for a material to bear weight.
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Supply Chain
All activities which are necessary in order to satisfy the demand of a product or a service, starting from the demand for raw materials or data through to the delivery of the finished product to the end user.
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T
Telescope Box
A box in which the sides and ends of the lid are cut the same depth as the sides and ends of the base and the lid fits over the base ("full telescope").
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Tertiary packaging
The priority is to protect goods from transportation damage. The packaging is often designed to comply with HGV and container measurements to achieve optimum capacity utilisation. Transport packaging is made out of a range of materials such as corrugated cardboard, wood or foam plastics, enabling it to be protected from impacts and outside influences.
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Thread
The indented curved formed section of the cap on the skirt that engages and matches the thread of the container for screw fit purposes. The thread may be continuous or interrupted.
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V
Vibration
Forces/oscillations may be repeated and periodic such as the motion of a pendulum or random such as the movement of a tire on a gravel road.
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Vibration Test
A specific test to determine the ability of a container to protect its contents from vibration at varying amplitudes and frequencies.
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