When products and components need to be shipped, OEMs require the strongest and most durable packaging solutions while maintaining cost-effective manufacturing, and if it’s possible, consistent reusability of the packaging.
Thermoforming operations provide an improvement in protection, efficiency, and reusability for industrial plastic packaging solutions because of what thermoforming as a manufacturing process supports and how products perform.
Allied Plastics highlights the ways thermoforming improves this type of packaging and why OEMs are shifting their operations from traditional manufacturing methods to thermoforming.
Improvement in Protection
Thermoforming operations promote strengthened protection for industrial plastic packaging solutions through design aspects, manufacturability, material choices, and more. In the design aspect, because of ribs, nests, snap features, and divider walls, there’s better migration prevention inside of packaging. Consistency with the packaging’s orientation supports visual and automated inspection, loading, and assembly line replenishment as well.
Since this form of packaging is highly engineered, damage prevention is factored into the equation. Exact fits are designed, engineered, and ultimately manufactured, which provide a more secure fit and outperforms loose packaging.
Lastly, because of material selection and part geometry, industrial plastic packaging created by thermoforming has certain environmental shielding aspects. Protection against dust, moisture, oils, and handling contaminants appear.
Operational Efficiency
When focusing on the manufacturing choice for industrial plastic packaging, thermoforming presents itself as a positive solution for programs that require scalable volumes, cost-effective tooling, and shorter development cycles.
Thermoforming also can match many of the operational features associated with plastic packaging. If teams are searching for faster packing and unpacking solutions, thermoforming can be used to manufacture cavity layouts that give operators an easily repeatable loading and unloading pattern.
Plastic packaging that’s manufactured by thermoforming often sees better logistics vehicle utilization through nesting, stacking, and part density optimization. These packaging products are also favorable for automation as defined part orientation supports automated systems.
Part of the problem with traditional packaging materials and products are how heavy they are, and that added weight adds costs in logistics operations for many OEMs. With thermoformed solutions, packaging products are thin-walled construction, but structurally sound.
Reusability
Thermoforming operations promote reusability in industrial plastic packaging so long as material selection, gauge, part geometry, stacking load, and cleaning methods are designed as one system rather than individual aspects.
When all of those aspects are rolled into one thought-process, plastic packaging solutions are more easily circulated by suppliers, manufacturing facilities, and assembly locations as opposed to being tossed away after a single shipment.
Some best practices to ensure reusability starts off with utilizing a single material selection as much as possible as it makes sorting and recycling easier. Additionally, when material selection is guided by packaging exposure, it allows for packaging solutions to be more durable and extend service life. A design consideration to make that can promote reusability is factoring in washing ease. This can be done by avoiding inaccessible debris traps, using drain or vent details, and validating dimensional retention after washing.
Contact Allied Plastics, Experts in Thermoforming Solutions, for Industrial Plastic Packaging Needs
Allied Plastics are experts in custom thermoforming solutions and for over 30 years, our thermoforming operations have helped manufacturing the parts and products OEMs, supplier programs, and other customer bases have needed.
Located in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, we specialize in vacuum forming, twin sheeting and pressure forming custom parts in sizes up to 9 ft x 14 ft x 60” depth of draw. Starting sheet thicknesses can range from .060” – .550”. Our team has experience in vacuum forming a wide variety of materials, such as HMWPE, HDPE, TPO, ABS, PP, and PS. Committed to every aspect of your project, we offer a variety of custom thermoforming value added services including engineering, plastic sheet extrusion, assembly, product kitting, label application and die cutting.
Additionally, our industrial plastic packaging solutions entail design experts using your specifications to create a prototype that can be tested in your real-world conditions before going into full production.
Contact Allied Plastics today for more information on our industrial plastic packaging solutions powered by thermoforming operations.