How to achieve quality in packaging with perfect creasing

To ensure that the goods arrive at the consumer’s place in good order and condition; high-quality packaging is needed. It should also be pointed out here that packaging made of cardboard and corrugated board can be recycled to a large extent and that paper recycling was already organized in most Countries decades ago, and that it works.

In addition to this, packaging has gained more and more importance as an advertising medium for the products. Here, one can certainly see a relationship with consumers’ buying habits that have changed considerably. Nowadays, a very high percentage of products worldwide are bought in supermarkets and shopping centers on the self-service principle.

Due to this fact, technical consultancy is in many cases are no longer provided. The consumer must therefore make his purchase decision on the basis of outer appearance and fine image. This is the very reason why customers of the packaging-producing companies pay utmost attention to visually appealing design and perfect quality of the packaging. The background is that the consumer subconsciously thinks that if the quality of the packaging is defective the quality of the contents will be so, too.

Mechanical functionality and optical appearance of packaging are to a large extent the result of a perfect creasing quality. Only proper creasing can ensure that a piece of packaging can be directed effectively over modern automatic packaging machinery and packaging trains. In addition to this, the distinct shape of the crease has an influence on the visual appearance of packaging.

When folding a defective creasing, it becomes clearly visible that it is completely deformed. With respect to mechanical functionality, this results in the fact that considerably stronger forces trying to reverse the crease have to be overcome. This implies that a reduction in the production speed of subsequent processing machines, such as folder-gluers or packaging plants is inevitable.

Furthermore, such defective creasing, in most cases, results in optical imperfections of the packaging. As a rule, these become apparent by the so-called “breakage of the creasing”. As a result, the printed surface o the packaging tears and white cracks become visible. Only a perfect creasing can ensure that packages can be further processed without disruptions and that their optical appearance is flawless.

This technical article is courtesy Cito-System. The Germany-based firm is represented by Capital Graphic Supplies in India.