IPMMI Seminar: A scientific way to glue the box
Four heavy weights, Nordson, Welbound Worldwide, Henkel and South India Paper Mills (SIPM), in association with IPMMI (Institute of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers of India) highlighted how a small percentage of shipping cartons are secure sealed in India., Associations
09 May 2016 | 5278 Views | By PrintWeek India
The three hour seminar which was attended by 50 brand managers saw Suprotik Das, the managing director of Nordson say, "change is inevitable." He made an erudite reference to Joseph Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction that is capable of destroying the old ways and incessantly creating new ones. Das message to the brand owners was,"Today's entrepreneurial industry must embrace this concept of creative destruction."
The German-based adhesive behemoth, has ten factories in India. It is building one of it's largest factory in India. "Today's entrepreneurial industry must embrace this concept of creative destruction."
Later Das spoke about "The German Mittelstand being the engine of an economy and it's defining characteristics were: securing long term existence and technology driven." The interesting thing, according to Das was, most of them are industry leaders and eminently successful.
He felt, "Innovation and differentiation gives credence to a successful company. From the upside down bottle of Dove to a keyless Ford."
He cautioned the audience that "Competitors are smart people, too. That's why differentiation decreases and ultimately all of us suffers due to price pressure." That's why Das said, a proven path to success is how to align with the prevailing wisdom. Since it is comfortable and minimising risk. But this, Das felt, "reduces differentiation."
He said, "The time is appropriate for brand owners to look at the carton design and it's construction, the workflow and method of sealing. And find solutions."
Kim Tagesen, the packaging head of Henkel spoke about glue. He said, "It is difficult to change mindset when the first person you talk to, is the procurement manager, who talks only about price. The person doesn't look at competitive advantage nor differentiation."
Today, Henkel, is an 18bn company because of it's mantra: "no me too products". The Swiss-based adhesive behemoth, has ten factories in India. It is building one of it's largest factory in India.
Kim Tagesen, the packaging head of Henkel
Tagesen says gluing boxes is "a pretty sexy business" and it is a pity the box has been commoditised.
He spoke about the Technomelt Supra VP which permits increased quality and reduces temperature at 90 degrees. With full food compliance. Other highlights are: Increased quality, reduced adhesive consumption, increased output, reduced machine downtime, reduced energy consumption, suitability for substrates with high recycled material content.
Tagesen underscored the importance of tape replacement device. He said, "It is a carton closing system that will replace tape and guarantee downtime reduction." He pointed to a survey which talked about product tampering being a huge concern with brand managers. And how they felt, gluing of boxes can prevent it.
He reiterated that "tape replacement with adhesives provide better safety and quality." He said, "it can reduce downtime by 90% by switching to glue." Plus eliminate line stoppages caused by roll changes, wrap-arounds and poor cutting, tension issues, pop opens of cases and palletizer issues as well as cases sticking.
Some of his findings suggested:
- 94% felt a glued box looks more professional than a taped box
- 89% felt a glued box is more sustainable than a taped box
- 79% felt a glued box contains more valuable contents than a taped box
- 82% felt a glued box is more tamper-resistant than a taped box
- 76% felt a glued box is safer to open than a taped box
- 73% felt a glued box is more durable than a taped box
After which, Manish Patel of South India Paper Mills (SIPM) talked about the journey of corrugated boxes in India since 2008. The corrugated box industry in India converts about 4.8 million MT of paper into about 7 to 7.5 billion square meters of corrugated boxes every year.
After the de-reservation the capacity output for a corrugation box plant, more than 375 automatic corrugation lines have been set up in India. And there are more than 12000-14000 semi automatic lines (litho lam type). In terms of output this translates into: the automatic lines contribute to 40% of capacity with a conversion ratio of 2.0 million MT; while the semi automatic lines contribute to 60% with a converting ratio of 2.7 million MT.
Patel stated, "60-65% of demand is from FMCG companies for corrugated boxes. This is growing at 8-10% per year. The trend is: Most FMCG products has shifted from five-ply construction to a three-ply. In most cases, Patel said, the boxes have case sealing using hot-melt gluing systems which tend to increase the overall rigidity of three ply (single wall) boxes and contributes to better in-transit performance.
Manish Patel of South India Paper Mills
Patel stated, "The definition of a good box is changing such that it enables productive packaging - case dispensing, case forming, auto case filling, case closure, batch identification (inkjet or dot matrix printing).
Later Patel walked through the production process at the SPIM factory in Mysore; and spoke about the typical box defects that disrupt smooth operations on an automatic packing line.
He added, "the corrugated box has to not only protect its content but also has to ensure non-stop, snag-free running of the packing line." He said, "Each and every corrugated box is a potential failure point and the tolerance for defects is very low."
Manish Patel of SIPM concluded his talk when he said, "The corrugated box industry has to upgrade its outlook about box making to meet the emerging requirements. For this, boxes that are cost effective and highly reliable are required."
P Sajith of Welbound Worldwide, used a lot of photographs in his presentation and showed how supply chain and logistics are pretty demanding. He cited case studies and real life examples about how brands are faced with challenges of – damage, spoilage and pilferages in transit.
He pointed out how the damaged goods and dented packaging take a toll on the brand image. Across the supply chain, Sajith said, "we can observe tapes coming off, popping off the boxes. In many cases, the brand owners put straps in addition to protect the boxes from
Opening. These straps further destroy the corrugated boxes and add costs to operations."
He said, glue sealing could be an answer to these issues. Because of glue sealing, Sajith said, "the stress bearing capacity of the flaps/face of the boxes are much higher in the case of glued boxes vs taped ones."
He explained, "This is because due to joining together (like in welding), all the flaps provide a much larger surface area on which the load is distributed. This method leads to very low transit damages in the case of glue sealed boxes."
P Sajith of Welbound Worldwide
He pointed out, "The seals are hidden under box flaps and provides clean surface to display the company logos and promote brand
Identification. There are no bulges and it is easy to palletize."
After the four presentations, there was a Q&A and discussion about this new technique which may change the shape of the end of line box-making industry.