Before the Box

Making these decisions—mostly subliminally—consumers don't consider where the carton came from or why it looks the way it does. Yet before it was a box on a shelf, a series of intricate steps turned what was once a sheet or roll of paperboard into a finished product.

The starting line

Like most packaging jobs, creating a folding carton requires strong communication between the equipment supplier and the converter. Ulrich Kretzschmar, a product and business development manager for RotoMetrics, says there needs to be an understanding of exactly what the customer wants to produce. It is vital for both parties to agree on the type of paperboard being used and the project's expected run length, because each impact the life of the die used for the carton. This, says Kretzschmar, helps determine which type of die the customer should use.