A major
worldwide supplier of thermoplastic elastomer granules
was using a stretched octagonal, but wanted to standardise
on a regular octagonal IBC using the CP8 pallet,
the chemical industry norm.
The ingenious
replacement IBC incorporates the tray within the
sleeve design, so reducing the pack components by
one. The flaps are die-cut and fold to give a crash-lock
closure, which considerably reduces the difficulty
of make-up. During the folding of the flaps external
‘ears’ are formed squaring out the base
of the case. This gives a safer fit to the pallet
and can be used to secure the pack to the pallet.
With
the tray being redundant, and hence no potential
gap around the sleeve, the problem of product seepage,
which was running at 3%, has been fully eliminated.
As a consequence
of ‘pool’ pallets now being used there is less control
over the conditions that they meet, and for instance their relative
dryness. To offset any possibility of water affecting the strength
of the fibreboard pack, an Acrylex coating is applied to the
container to increase its water resistance.
The replacement pack has enhanced
the corporate image whilst proving to be a more user-friendly
packaging system. It has met with all pan European requirements
whilst dramatically reducing packaging make-up time.
