OUGD601 - Context of Practice 3: Research (Packaging terms)

Common Terms in the Corrugated and Solid Board Industry

0201	Standard Regular Case with outer flaps meeting both top and bottom for sealing, see FEFCO case codes
Board	Papers of 220 gsm and above are often referred to as board.
Box compression Test	Strength test, the maximum loading before collapse.
Break Pack	Transit Container (e.g. large corrugated case), may also be known as tertiary packaging
Carton Board	A paper product made from one or more layers of fibrous cellulose material.
Corrugated Board	Consists of one or more sheets of fluted paper between outer and inner liners.
Core	A central card tube that is used to wind paper on, allowing reels of paper to be positioned on to the corrugator before being made into board.
Corrugator	A machine that makes corrugated board from fluting and liners.
Crash Lock (glued)	A style that enables the base of the case to be locked together without the use of tape, and can also be adapted by incorporating a glued section that will allow for speedy assembly.
Cutter Guide	A detailed line drawing showing a plan view of design / style of case before erection.
Deckle	The width of the paper or board being run on a Corrugator.
Die-Cutter	Machine for stamping complicated designs from corrugated board.
Double wall board	A combination of two layers of board, made for extra strength. Board therefore comprises liner-fluting-liner-fluting-liner, see Fig. 1
FEFCO	The European Trade Association for Corrugated Board manufacture, www.fefco.org
FEFCO case codes (styles)	A standard set of patterns used within the corrugated industry, usually identified with a four-digit number (e.g. 0201). Details at http://www.fefco.org/index.php?id=65&no_cache=1
Fibreboard	Alternative name for papers used in corrugated board.
Fluting Medium	Paper that can be corrugated with heat and pressure to provide the central layer in corrugated board. It separates the liners and provides the strength and rigidity. There are five common configurations, see Fig. 1
Forme	A cutting / creasing tool used on a die-cutter for complicated designs.
Gluer / Erector	An automated machine for gluing and sealing cases.
Grammage (gsm)	Mass per unit area of a paper, given as grammes per square metre (gsm or g/m2).
Hand Erect	A pack / carton erected / assembled by hand, most commonly used for complex design or small runs. See also machine erect
Inner Liner	Paper material used for the inside of corrugated board. It is less important, in terms of appearance, than the outer liner but will have to conform to regulatory requirements if it is designed for food contact.
Kraft	Originally 100% pure wood pulp now may contain some recycled fibre. It may be white or brown depending on the treatment.
Locking Tabs	A device that is incorporated into the design of a pack to hold it together during construction.
Liner	One of the paper materials from which corrugated board is made, see outer liner and inner liner; kraft & test.
Machine Erect	A pack / carton erected by a fully / partially mechanical machine. See also hand erect
OCC	Old corrugated containers, an important grade of recycled fibre
Outer Liner	Paper material used for the outside of corrugated board, generally high quality as it is printed with graphics
Perforations	Used to help either the folding of a case or the removal of panels for display purposes.
Primary Pack	That which the consumer takes home, consumer unit (e.g. bottle, carton but could be a multi-pack)
Pulp	Pulp is the most common material used to make paper. The timber resources used to make wood pulp are referred to as pulpwood. Wood pulp generally comes from softwood trees such as spruce, pine, fir, larch and hemlock, but also some hardwoods such as eucalyptus and birch.
RRP	Retail Ready Packaging
Secondary Pack	Second level of packaging designed to contain primary pack (e.g. shrink wrapped corrugated tray)
Single face	In the manufacture of Corrugated board, one piece of fluting glued to one liner only, see Fig. 2  (Not to be confused with the same term in relation to presentation of an on-shelf pack)
Single wall	Conventional method of making corrugated board, fluting medium is sandwiched between two liners (liner-fluting-liner).
SRP	Shelf Ready Packaging
Tertiary Pack	Transit Container (e.g. large corrugated case), may also be known as break-pack
Tear Strip	A device that is either made up of plastic tape applied to the inside of the case during manufacture, which enables the finished pack to be opened quickly. The same effect can be achieved using perforations.
Test Liner	Paper made either from a combination of wood pulp and recycled fibre or entirely recycled fibre

Common Fluting Grades

The five configurations of flute in most general use are: 

F FluteA very fine flute, (also known as microflute) which is used for 'corrugated cartons', it gives excellent crush resistance and rigidity    E FluteA fine flute used for 'corrugated cartons'. it gives excellent crush resistance.    B FluteBy far the most widely specified flute profile in Europe thanks to its superb robustness (difficult to crush), good compression strength and compactness which minimises storage space.    C FluteA larger flute than 'B', offering greater compression strength, but it may be crushed more easily. It also takes up more storage strength than 'B' flute.    Double WallA Combination of two flute sizes, usually 'B' and 'C', is specified when compression strength is more important than storage and robustness.

The Structure of Corrugated Board

Corrugated board is created by gluing fluting and liner papers together.

Single-faced corrugated board (corrugated rolls) consists of liner paper and fluting   Single-wall corrugated board is made of an outer liner, the fluting and an inner liner   Double-wall corrugated board is created by gluing two single-faced corrugated webs together and laminating them to a liner web.   Triple-wall corrugated board consists of three single-faced corrugated boards with different types of fluting and an inner liner.

The ‘Closed Loop’ of Corrugated Board Manufacture

Common Terms for Printing

Flexographic printing	Often abbreviated to flexo, is a method of printing most commonly used for packaging.A flexo print is achieved by creating a mirrored master of the required image as a 3D relief in a rubber or polymer material. A measured amount of ink is deposited upon the surface of the printing plate (or printing cylinder) using an anilox roll. The print surface then rotates, contacting the print material which transfers the ink.
Litho Print	High Quality Print ideally suited to full process work on medium / large sized production scale manufacturing runs
Silk Screen	High Quality Print ideally suited for large format packaging (Dump Bins) ideally suited smaller production runs
Pantone	PMS (pantone matching system) allows for a standard range of colour formulations, to ensure consistency of colour matching.
Post-Print	A method of printing after the papers have been made into board, and usually occurs during the conversion process.
Pre-Print	High Quality Print ideally suited for large production runs. Paper is printed before being manufactured into board.
Process Set (CMYK)	(short for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key) is a subtractive colour model used in colour printing.  This colour model is based on mixing pigments of the following colours in order to make other colours: C = Cyan M = Magenta Y = Yellow K = Key (Black).
UV Varnish	A liquid application applied over a print, which results in a high gloss finish.
Machine Varnish	A liquid application applied over print, which produces a matt finish and helps prevent ink rub.

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