For years, companies have relied on the commonplace strategies for safe and protective packaging practices, involving an unchanging group of packaging products. The days of shrink-wrap, bubble-wrap and styrofoam peanuts have been around for decades, but new protective packaging products are crossing into the market allowing companies to produce signature packaging to their products.
Protective Packaging Products: New Strategy, Fragile
Fragile, developed by product designer Mireia Gordi Vila, is a flexible and reusable packaging system intended to create a new form of protective packaging.PSFK reported that one new strategy called Fragile, developed by product designer Mireia Gordi Vila, is a flexible and reusable packaging system intended to create a new way to protect fragile items when they're stored or transported from one place to another
Key Characteristics:
- created from a case-like structure: two pieces of framed, flexible membrane
- membrane creates a supportive skin cover around the product
- product is then encased inside the packing system
- supports easy and effective shipping
Mireia Gordi Vila has additionally created secondary options for the packaging to carry bottles and vases, which suspends the items in flexible external layers and places them in a standard poster tube. These two types of packaging are reusable, adaptable and interchangeable.
Protective packaging products seek versatility within varying markets
The system created by Mireia Gordi Vila provides additional adaptability in various forms.
- Capability to fit inside various forms of packaging
- Can be used for almost any type of delivery due to it's flexible membrane design
- Sustainable appeal - reusable packaging
The designer saw the new model as something that may be used by online sellers and shipping companies like Amazon or UPS, presenting companies the ability to ensure the successful transportation of goods shipped from warehouses to customers.
Freeze-drying a main component of new shipping style
Packaging Digest found that another up-and-coming shipping strategy comes from the company Compadre, where freeze-drying becomes a key aspect of the material manufacturing process. The company is working in license with AeroClay, an innovative technology developed in a materials lab at Case Western Reserve University.
Key Characteristics:
- Turns clay and polymer into a versatile material
- End product is sturdy, malleable, heat-resistant, flame-resistant and eco-friendly
- Numerous uses - including as an absorbent, insulator or packing material
How AeroClay is created:
- Made from a freeze-drying process where clay and polymers are turned into an aqueous solution
- The solution is then frozen into a solid of any shape
- The solution is then placed into a freeze-dryer where the ice turns to vapor
When all of the ice is successfully sublimed, the final result is that of a lightweight structural product called AeroClay, which is waste-free as all solids become product and any liquid left behind is recyclable.
Potential applications and uses of AeroClay:
AeroClay samples can be developed in a variety of forms, including pellets, boards and uniquely-designed shapes for tailored solutions. The company is interested primarily in the product being used in some of the various applications:
- protective packaging
- void-fill applications
- electrical conductor
- hazardous materials containment and packaging
- food and medical industries
In addition to the flexibility of the product, the material has been manufactured to offer:
- rigidity
- flexibility - allowing operators to choose and combine polymers and fillers
- energy absorption
- compression strength
When combined with AeroClay's light weight, thermal nature, flame-retardant and chemical absorption properties, this product contains the ability to take on multiple properties and potential packaging uses.
