means that around half may be shipping more around 55 percent empty air, which the retailer, and ultimately the customer pays for. This can be reduced drasticlly by designing the pack to the product being shipped.The fit-to-product concept — creating a box around the shipment, is gaining traction and there are a number of systems becoming available in the market. Fit-to-product sys- tems, such as Box On Demand (BoD) by WestRock, use fanfold corrugated supplied in various widths and grades, which can be custom-printed to suit user requirements at their distribution centre once an order has been received. Initially designed as a manual system, automated ma- chines have now been developed in conjunction with box machine makers, like Panotec. Its EVO machine produces cut and glued boxes ready to form and fill, right-sized to the specified requirement at speeds of up to seven boxes per minute (420 per hour). DS Smith is addressing the same need with its Made2Fit technology. This design platform selects from three board sheet sizes and converts this into one of 33 different box dimensions most appropriate for the product under shipment.The system reduces movement within the box, reducing damage in tran-
sit and the need for protective packaging compo- nents like air pillows. The company reports that in full automation Made2Fit can make up to 1,000 boxes per hour and provide 80 percent of user’s needs up to 600mm x 400mm x 400mm dimensions — achieving a 90.5 percent fill rate for single products and more than 75 percent fill rate for co-mingled pack contents. Die-cut Inserts Another means of reducing contents moving within a box is to employ die-cut inserts patterns.These are growing in popularity as they can also provide an at- tractive way to display the contents on opening. Die cut inserts can be plain brown or white board, the availability of inkjet printers mean short runs of these are increasingly being printed with brand identity or custom-printed with product specific variable informa- tion. Other options including flood coating in a compli- mentary or contrasting color. This can reduce costs while providing vibrant colors and impact on the recipi- ent, especially if an edge-to-edge single color is used. Laser cutters are now making it possible to cut (Cont’d on Page 11)
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