The changing consumer behavior and the increasing popularity of online shopping have necessitated the need for an extensive logistics network. It can be easily witnessed in every industry today- how products travel miles and make rounds from warehouse to warehouse before reaching the end-user.
During transit one of the primary concerns for the logistics team is to ensure safety and retain the originality of the product. And for this reason, a myriad of packaging materials are used. However, to top off every package, a Gaylord box is used usually. It is done to convert the package into a standard size for easy handling and better form-fitting.
But, how do they decide what size of the box should be used?
Deciding the size of the box
It is no rocket science that the primary step for deciding the size of the box is measuring the size of the product. However, it is not the only step and is insufficient alone in the decision-making process. Plus, taking measurements is not as simple as it sounds. Nevertheless, this section shall deal with the process of deciding the right fit of the box that the logistics industry uses.
- For Regular Shapes
The easiest ones to decide are the products that already come in regular shapes. For example, books are usually cuboidal and need no adjustment when being packed. Likewise, there are numerous other products that have regular shapes and can easily be measured.
- For Irregular Shapes
The difficult part is, on the contrary, choosing a box for irregular shapes. For example, a laughing Buddha statue is surely not easy to measure. As the experts at https://thegaylordboxexchange.com/ explain, the logistics team estimates the height, width, and length of such items to approximate values. Usually, these measurements are taken to the maximum possible value including an extra 2-3 mm gap between the packaging and the item.
- For Fragile Products
By far, the most difficult items to pack are the fragile ones. For example, a bowl made out of glass or ceramic could easily break if subjected to a sudden impact. For such products, it is vital that extra cushioning be provided within the package.
Once the measurement is done, the boxes chosen for packing are usually about one-third of an inch larger than the actual size of the product. This is done to ensure that extra wrapping material is inserted into the package. The additional wrapping material provides support as well as acts as protection against moisture and other environmental degradants. Moreover, the packers also ensure that the product is snug-fit into the box to avoid any unnecessary tumbling within the box. And if needed, they add more bubble wraps or foaming peanuts into the package.
In this way, the size of the box to be used for packing any product is decided. However, as already mentioned, this is not the only step to be followed when packing any product. Depending on the weight and size of the product to be packed, and of course, the protection needed, there are different varieties of boxes to choose from.
The types of boxes
It needs no saying that the strength of the material used to make the boxes is of paramount importance. But, what decides this strength needs an in-depth understanding.
- The plies
The simplest and the easiest way to manipulate the strength of these boxes is by changing the number of plies. It simply means that if more number of layers are used to make the boxes, the end result will also be stronger. In other words, the higher the number of plies the stronger the boxes are.
- Corrugations
Another possible way to increase or decrease the strength of a Gaylord box is by changing the corrugation density. The closer the corrugations the higher the strength. It is noteworthy that too high density would rather decrease the strength. It means that changing the corrugation density to increase the strength is sort of a balancing act. The simplest explanation for this behavior lies in the angle of corrugations. The more the angle is close to 45 degrees the higher the strength. On the contrary, the more it deviates from this ideal value the weaker the boxes become.
- Moisture resistance
Lastly, there is the resistance to moisture. Usually, high-strength Gaylord boxes are treated with hydrophobic coatings to repel moisture and damp airs. It is needless to mention that water reduces the strength of cardboard and makes it leafy weak.
It is evident that handling and packaging products in logistics are not as easy as it seems from far away. There’s a lot of science and technology that goes into day-to-day operations at a logistics facility. And choosing the right box for packing our products to be delivered to us safely and efficiently, these people take a lot of pain.
