EXPERT OPINION: Packaging performs both protective and marketing function

Maksym Petlevych, Customer Manager at Printstore Group of Companies:

Any product, whether foodstuff or car spare parts, needs to be packed. Packaging performs both protective and marketing function.

It is a known fact that when shopping in some store, we instinctively stop near the products with a bright, colorful packing. According to the studies, 90% of purchases are made by intuition, meaning that when you come closer to a juice in a beautiful pack, you put it automatically into your shopping basket. Volumes of packaging production keep growing from year to year, and this trend is likely to continue.

Packing falls into the following categories: soft (e.g. packs for tea or medicinal drugs) and hard (e.g. packs for household appliances, refrigerators etc.).

Soft package is made of cardboard with a big content of cellulose or of waste paper. ‎Recycling of waste paper is an ecological and economical approach. As this category of packs is used for foods packaging, it must comply with hygienic standards. Dye and chemical additives need to be non-toxic and non-irritating. As an example, foodstuff is normally kept in a refrigerator, i.e. in a moist environment. To avoid swelling of a packaging, its surface is covered with a water dispersion varnish. Thus, in order to ensure a sophisticated look for the product and prevent any fake packaging, it is coated with various layers (lamination, embossing). Sometimes, relief stamping or even Braille can be used. Volumes of such packing are growing exponentially, and this market is increasing in size.

Production of hard packaging is found even more complicated and expensive. For the production of hard packaging there are required both common boards, processed as given above in order to attract customers, and ‎micro-corrugated boards, that ensure durability. Micro-corrugated board is produced by gluing together some wave-like craft sheets. Afterwards, ‎cardboard and micro-corrugated board are pasted together. This type of packaging is able to carry significant ‎loads.

Often times, a producer requires both types of packaging. The market of packaging production is very fast developing, so it is vital to strive for taking a leading place there. For this particular reason, our Company is active to introduce technologies and install equipment required for the production of packaging