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Graphic Arts Company Gets Creative With New Packaging

Sealed Air Provides Secure Protection for Drafting Table

Alvin & Company, based in Bloomfield, Conn. recently discovered there is an art to packaging. Founded in 1950, Alvin & Company is a well-known importer, manufacturer and distributor of graphic arts, drafting supplies, art supplies, and office products.

Prior to its association with Sealed Air Corporation, Alvin & Company used several sizes of corrugated cartons to package each drafting table and drafting board separately, utilizing paper dunnage for cushioning. Through the years Alvin & Company experienced 5 percent to 8 percent damage rates on shipments of its heavy drafting boards and drafting tables. These high damage rates caused numerous customer complaints and created a high volume of returns.

Philip Cebollero, principal of AmeriPAK LLC, a wholesale distributor of packing and shipping supplies, approached Alvin & Company to investigate new packaging options for the drafting boards and drafting tables. After exploring multiple alternatives, Cebollero contacted Tim Foege, Instapak® sales representative for Sealed Air Corporation, to discuss possible packaging solutions.

"I have worked with Sealed Air in the past, and the company has extensive experience in providing engineered packaging for numerous industries," Cebollero stated. "Tim and I worked to design a packaging method that would more than meet Alvin & Company’s needs and reduce the damage rate, before we presented the packaging option to Alvin & Company."

The final result, which was presented to Andrew Gale, director of operations for Alvin & Company, combined multiple product innovations: Instapak® GFlex® foam cushions produced by the SpeedyPacker® foam-in-bag system and an Instapak® Molding Wheel, and a pre-printed corrugated box - in one easy-to-assemble carton.

The SpeedyPacker® foam-in-bag system dispenses a controlled amount of Instapak® GFlex® foam into a sealed film bag. The system is designed to dispense foam-filled bags in a variety of sizes. Once dispensed from the SpeedyPacker® system, the bag containing the expanding foam is placed into the Instapak® Molding Wheel where it forms to the shape of the image inside. The Instapak® Molding Wheel produces molded cushions of an exact shape and size, offering precise, engineered protection. When the foam finishes expansion within the mold enclosure, the operator removes the finished cushion.

In addition to the molded Instapak® cushions, the new package design includes a corrugated load spreader. This 1 3/4-inch to 1 5/8-inch piece of corrugated board is inserted between the drafting board and each molded Instapak corner cushion. If a drop or impact should occur, the load spreader keeps the thin edge of the drafting table from piercing through the corner cushion and distributes the weight of the table over more of the cushion surface.

Instapak® GFlex® high performance foam is specifically engineered to accommodate heavy products that require multiple impact protection during shipping. The foam’s unique physical characteristics create high-performance cushions using minimal material. Alvin & Company likes the molded Instapak® cushions because, unlike paper dunnage, the solid cushions prevent the drafting tables from shifting during shipment, greatly reducing the risk of damage.

The foam-cushion corners for the Alvin & Company drafting boards and tables are produced at the AmeriPAK LLC facility. Each month, AmeriPAK LLC makes 1,600 to 2,400 Instapak® GFlex® foam cushions using the SpeedyPacker® foam-in-bag system with the Instapak® Molding Wheel and delivers them to Alvin & Company for use at their Connecticut and Texas locations. Since the corners arrive pre-made, Alvin & Company employees spend less time preparing the packaging materials, allowing them to assemble more drafting boards and drafting tables. This helped increase Alvin & Company’s productivity by 15 percent.

Compared to the company’s previous method of using several sizes of corrugated cartons with each item packaged separately, the Instapak® GFlex® foam cushion corners are designed to be used with multiple drafting tables instead of purchasing individual boxes for each drafting table shipped. The more standardized package led to an 8 percent reduction in packaging material costs. Increased product protection using Instapak® foam cushions also enabled Alvin & Company to reduce labor in the returns department to one person and reallocate the other employee to the manufacturing line.

The new packaging concept went through more than five months of testing, including ISTA1-A drop and vibration testing. Sealed Air and AmeriPAK LLC also tested the package designs by sending mock shipments of drafting tables between Alvin & Company’s Connecticut and Texas facilities. Upon inspection, Alvin & Company was pleased to discover no damage to the drafting tables and drafting boards.

After the testing was complete, Sealed Air Corporation and AmeriPAK LLC presented the packaging solution to Alvin & Company. "Despite the challenges of finding a packaging solution to reduce damage rates," Gale stated. "Sealed Air Corporation and AmeriPAK were successful in creating an incredible package that not only reduced damage rates but also decreased our material costs."

"The Instapak® GFlex® foam cushion corners offer the best protection for our drafting tables and boards, and I look forward to finding more applications for Sealed Air’s products," Gale added.

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