National Packaging Design Day 2024
Explore the significance of tray selection when designing your packaging line, emphasizing the necessity of automation-ready trays for efficiency and reliability. Incorporating sustainability-minded tray options aligns with environmental responsibility and modern consumer demands, which help ensure your long-term success in the food manufacturing industry.
Adapt to change
Choose the Right Trays for Automation
May 7th marks National Packaging Design Day, and as we celebrate this day, it also gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the role packaging plays in the food manufacturing industry. When you are building or optimizing your packaging line, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is selecting the trays or containers to hold your products. But when should this decision come into play, and how important is it to choose trays designed for automation?
First, it’s essential to understand that the choice of trays, containers or paperboards isn’t just about aesthetics or convenience. It’s a strategic decision that can impact the efficiency, reliability, and overall success of your packaging line, as well as its environmental footprint. With sustainability becoming increasingly important today, selecting trays made from eco-friendly materials or designed for recyclability can be a strategic choice to future-proof your operations.
But, when should you consider the type of trays you’ll use? Ideally, the tray selection process should begin early in the planning stages of designing or optimizing your packaging line. As you conceptualize and design your line, you should have the specific requirements of your products and the operational needs of your production in mind. This includes considering the size, shape, material, and design of the trays.
Read also: How Would the Perfect Tray Look?
Automation Is a Bare Necessity
So, what about automation? In today’s fast-paced manufacturing environment, automation is no longer just a luxury; it’s a necessity. As the world’s leading provider of reliable tray denesters, QUPAQ ensures seamless automation even with trays not explicitly designed for it. However, choosing trays specifically designed for automation ensures optimal results, enhancing efficiency and future-proofing your packaging line. This means the trays should be compatible with denesting and loading equipment, have consistent dimensions for reliable handling, and be sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of automated processes.
Automated packaging lines offer increased efficiency and reliability, allowing you to meet the demands of the evolving market more effectively. As technology advances and consumer preferences and demands change, you’ll need a packaging solution that can adapt and grow with your business. By investing in trays designed for automation and reliable technology to increase efficiency, consistency, and throughput, you’re setting yourself up for long-term success and scalability.
Let Us Evaluate Your Trays
QUPAQ have evaluated thousands of trays from all over the world. We keep data on all our tray evaluations to analyze and innovate our technology further.
We offer both food manufacturers and tray manufacturers to send us your trays to evaluate them before making any final decisions on either the design of the packaging line or the tray.
Chances are we already evaluated your trays – if you are curious on the results, please don’t hesitate to fill out our tray evaluation form.
Get Ready for the Future Demands
The world is constantly evolving, and while we believe that trays are here to stay, we can’t say the same for all tray materials. Tray materials seem to be constantly changing due to new standards and requirements for tray manufacturers. Food manufacturers, retailers, and end-customers have a higher demand for more sustainable materials that are easy to recycle while maintaining the core features of keeping food fresh for as long as possible to prevent food waste.
Read also: Push the Limits With 67% Less: Maximize Results While Minimizing Emissions
However, many new tray materials and tray types have not been designed for automatic tray denesting. This means that adapting to these new demands of sustainability could in fact lower your capacity drastically or enforce a higher price to end up on the retail price. This is something we have tried solving at QUPAQ.
The Smart Tool Has Become Even Smarter
So, at this year’s Anuga FoodTec exhibition, we teased the visitors and guests with something fresh out of our R&D Department: The QUPAQ Smart Tool – Flex. The QUPAQ Smart Tool – Flex will fit any INTRAY denester in operation today, but with the ability to denest even the most difficult trays with rigid materials, uneven nests, or trays without the lips/edges traditionally needed for tray sealers. We can’t wait to unveil it properly at Pack Expo in Chicago on November 3-6, 2024.
The QUPAQ Smart Tool – Flex was demonstrated on an INTRAY Smart Buffer at Anuga FoodTec 24. If you notice the cardboard trays on the picture – they have no lips or edges, why a normal screw denester will not work with these trays. With the QUPAQ Smart Tool – Flex, you can use many different tray types on the same line and equipment, with a standard tool changeover.
The QUPAQ Smart Tool – Flex is currently Patent Pending in the final stages before it is released to the market. If you are interested in participating in a field test, please reach out to us.
Also read: ANUGA FoodTec 24: Our Most Flexible Journey Yet
By choosing trays designed for automation and staying ahead of future demands, you’re not just investing in packaging; you’re investing in the future success of your business. And with innovations like the QUPAQ Smart Tool – Flex on the horizon, the possibilities for enhancing efficiency and sustainability in packaging are more promising than ever before.
Happy National Packaging Design Day!
