Ask the Expert

January 31, 2019 in Ask the Expert

Commonly Used Plastic Corrugated Container

Question:

What is the most popular or commonly used plastic corrugated container?

Answer:

I am going to assume that you are asking the most popular Style or Design type. There are a few different products that have been sold in the millions over the years.

It would probably be easiest to separate these in to a few categories. (Totes / Boxes / Large Containment)

Plastic Corrugated Totes

One of the most used and popular plastic corrugated items would be the plastic corrugated U.S. Postal Nestable Tote design.

There are several million U.S. Postal Totes that have been purchased and put in to use over the past two decades. Not only has the U.S. Postal Service used these huge quantities but we have sold these same plastic corrugated nestable totes to large variety of industries. They are now in use in industries like Cosmetics, Laboratories, Automotive, Distribution, Warehousing, Farming. As well as Parts Manufacturing, and Clothing Manufacturing just to name a few. We had one customer in the automotive industry that was replacing their heavy double-wall Paper Corrugated totes 4 times a year.

After changing over to our Plastic Corrugated nestable totes they were able to use their new totes for over 10 years! The nestable design allows for the totes to be stacked in to each other to save on storage space when not in use and they are reinforced by a metal wire frame for strength and durability. We even have a special design that allows for both stacking and nesting with the flip of a few wires.

Plastic Corrugated Boxes

Probably the most used box design in plastic corrugated would be the Distribution Style Box.

This is a very popular and versatile box as it has a self-closing and locking bottom and it does not require any taping or closures on the top to hold the top flaps shut thanks to a flap lock design that retains the top flaps after filling the container. Another great feature is it folds flat for storage and can be used repeatedly. We have customers that have used this box for well over 100 uses to their stores and back to their distribution centers for reuse and return. This box is not just used for Distribution as we have customers in a wide variety of industries taking advantage of this design and millions have been sold and are in use.

Plastic Corrugated Large Containment

Our most widely used Large Plastic Corrugated Container is our PPS Pallet-Pak. This is a full-size pallet container that folds down for return shipment and storage saving on warehouse and trailer space. This is also the lightest pallet size container available. It can be customized to many different sizes and can be manufactured with or without drop doors. Our self-locking pallet and cap can allow the customer to ship their product. This is without the use of straps, stretch wrap or belts. These PPS Pallet-Paks are in use protecting fine art at The Smithsonian Museums to Auto Parts shipping and containment. This is another product that has been sold in the millions and is in use in almost every industry imaginable.

January 14, 2019 in Ask the Expert

Polypropylene or Polyethylene Plastic Corrugated?

Question:

 Should I use Polypropylene or Polyethylene plastic corrugated for my container?

Answer:

Polypropylene or Polyethylene are the two different types of resin used when producing plastic corrugated. The most common throughout the plastic corrugated industry is polypropylene when producing products or sheets in profile (I-Beam) structure material. The I-Beam plastic corrugated material can also be produced in polyethylene when required. When producing containers or sheets in plastic corrugated laminated (Wave-Beam) structure it will always be made from polyethylene. Laminated (Wave-Beam) is only available in 4mm thickness.

Polypropylene vs Polyethylene Plastic Corrugated

Depending on the project and design of your product. There may be a reason to use one type of sheet over the other. Just as well their may be a reason to use polyethylene or polypropylene resin over the other because of the application or environment.

If we are just considering the resins one of the key reasons. We would suggest polyethylene is that it is less effected by extreme cold applications. When your container may be exposed to temperatures that reach 50 degrees F or lower polypropylene will begin to have a tendency or at least more likely to fracture or crack when it takes an impact or when flexed or folded in this cold environment. The lower the temperature below 50 degrees the more likely to have these types of issues occurring.

Polyethylene is also softer, so it may be selected or rejected for the project because of this factor. The warmer the environment the softer polyethylene will become.

One simple way to know if your product is made from polyethylene or polypropylene plastic corrugated is to fold the sheet. If it is any color other than white you will see the fold line turn white where it is stretched around the crease or fold. This will not occur when folding polyethylene plastic corrugated. The other comparison when side by side polyethylene plastic corrugated sheet has a “glossier” appearance than polypropylene plastic corrugated sheet.

Both materials have their benefits and some deficits. So each project needs to be evaluated for the application and environment. And it will most commonly be used in.

December 6, 2018 in Ask the Expert

Plastic Corrugated U.S. Postal Tote

Question:

Can you provide us with the plastic corrugated U.S. Postal Tote?

Answer:

Absolutely!

We have the exact tooling that is used for the plastic corrugated U.S. Postal Tote. This is actually the most used product ever made in the history of plastic corrugated. U.S. Postal Service has been using this exact same tote for over 15 years. There are over a million of theses Postal Totes in service with not only the USPS but with manufacturers, distributors and retailers across the U.S. and around the world.

A TRUE SUCCESS STORY

Although there are not exact numbers for the U.S. Postal Service we have a national Automotive Parts Retailer that was using heavy double wall paper corrugated totes in their distribution system that was almost the exact same design and size as the U.S. Postal Tote. They were forced to replace their heavy paper corrugated totes 3 to 4 times a year due to damage occurring while in use. We replaced these paper corrugated totes with the U.S. Postal Tote plastic corrugated design and with absolutely nothing changed in their handling or use of their totes the new plastic corrugated totes averaged more than 9 years of service with many of their totes still in service for more than 12 years. That is more than a 36 to 1 ratio of the usable life between a heavy double wall paper corrugated tote and our plastic corrugated U.S. Postal tote.

The design is the popular “nestable tote” design. This means it nests about 70% inside the next tote when they are stacked together. It also features a steel wire frame welded in to the plastic corrugated around the top portion of the tote. This wire helps hold the rectangular shape as well as reinforcing and strengthening the tote. The Postal Tote is ideal for product handling as well as product storage and when color coded by ordering in multiple colors can be a valuable tool for maintaining your inventory control.

The Postal Tote is part of our standard product offerings in Plastic Packaging Solutions online store. This means you can order in low quantities and there is no tooling costs common with most plastic corrugated manufacturers. https://plasticpkgsolutions.com/product/kp1577-postal-tote/

October 28, 2018 in Ask the Expert

Standard or Custom Containers?

Question:

 What is the difference between ordering standard products from you online store instead of a custom container?

Answer:

Our standard containers products that are offered in the store will not work for everyone, but they are a great way to try a design without the larger investment required for a custom container. If one of the designs offered in our store can accommodate your need it will save you in several ways.

We already have existing tooling that is required to manufacture the items in our store. Almost all containers manufactured in corrugated plastic require tooling. (Also know as cutting dies) Custom containers require larger minimum orders than our store items. Although we do not stock most of our standard items we have much faster lead times and some items are available for our “Quick Ship” program. Standard items will ship in 2-3 weeks. Quick ship items will ship in 5-7 days.

When ordering custom plastic corrugated containers, they require many additional steps well before even the production process can begin. First step would be the design process. If our customer already has a design in mind this step can be shortened, and our design department can take the design and use the size requirements specified by the customer and a sample can be made and sent for approval in as little as a week. In other cases, the customer only has a product or idea of what they are in need of and the container needs to first be designed for both the product as well as the logistics of how the container will be used. This procedure can take from a week or two to as long as several months depending on the complexity of the project.

After the design has been determined and a sample container has been made and sent to the customer for testing and approval the matching production tooling will then be manufactured. At the same time, we would begin the process of scheduling and running the corrugated plastic material to be used to produce the container. This entire process once we have approved sample to finished production normally takes 4-6 weeks.

Things like printing and interior inserts can add some additional time and expenses to the container.

Conclusion:

We can design and manufacture almost anything from corrugated plastic but if one of the standard containers products that are offered in our store can fulfill your requirements it can save you time and lower your investment and development costs.

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