Adventures in Packaging
KC Boxbottom, packaging detective, is on the case to solve tough packaging puzzles
The case of the crumpled corners
It was a case packer the party on the other line was calling about and needed me to fix, pronto. When I got there, Tim, the line supervisor, showed me the problem. They were side- loading 12 large cartons into a corrugated case. Cartons were stacked two wide by three high, then pushed into the case. “When we push the cartons, four gates are supposed to guide them in smoothly,” Tim e ...... Read More
Comments (1)The case of the bulgy bottle
The text was from Toni: “Call me ASAP!” I did. She had a question for me: “How can I apply a pressure-sensitive label on a 2D curve?” “I thought you were going to ask me a hard question,” I replied. “You can’t. It is easy to apply a PS label on a flat surface or even simple curve. It’ll wrinkle on a 2D curve.” “I guess I ...... Read More
Comments (0)The case of the gray-market blues
Jim called and told me his troubles. He was losing money. More critically, his brand was losing prestige. He made high-end perfumes. His company sold only to high-end outlets, such as perfume stores and exclusive department stores. “KC, my perfumes are turning up in pharmacies and discount stores,” he confided. “It destroys the image and my customers are losing sales. I need ...... Read More
Comments (1)The case of the lazy day
I was in my comfy chair resting my eyes when my wife came into the office and startled me alert. “KC, whatever are you doing?” she inquired. “If you don’t have anything to do in the office, I can find some chores at home.” “Practicing, Nellie my dear–practicing,” I told her. “Practicing!?! Practicing what, exactly?” “Be ...... Read More
Comments (2)The case of the sticky labels
“KC, I need your help-fast,” said the guy on the phone. I recognized that foghorn voice immediately. “Marmaduke Surfaceblow, my old shipmate!” I said. “Long time no sea” Marmy and I went back a ways. If he needed help, I was only too happy to provide it. “Packaging is a bit out of your normal line, isn’t it?” I asked. “Well, yes ...... Read More
Comments (0)The case of the vanishing vision
“Hey KC!” It was Jorge on the phone, and he sounded like he had a problem. “Hey, yourself! What’s up, Jorge?” “The vision system on our labeler worked fine yesterday. Today, it is rejecting a lot of labels for bad lot/date codes. The problem is that the codes are good. Like I said, it was working fine yesterday, but now it’s not and I don’t k ...... Read More
Comments (0)The case of the unglued case
Ever see someone come unglued? It’s not pretty. Bill’s plant was shut down and he was riled up. “KC,” he said, “you probably won’t believe this, but we have the entire plant shut down because we ran out of hot-melt glue pellets.” “Whoa, Bill–cool your jets,” I calmly advised. “What happened?” “Well, KC, we u ...... Read More
Comments (4)The case of the double changeover
I was writing a report when Jack called me. “KC,” he said, “we just did two changeovers.” “OK…” I replied. “We even did them fairly quickly thanks to your help in the past,” he continued. “”Uh-huh…” I said, wondering where this was headed. “The problem is that we did two changeovers to run one produc ...... Read More
Comments (1)The case of the bobbling bottle
The milkman called–and not about deliveries, either. He had a problem and needed me there yesterday. I grabbed my hat and was out the door. “KC,” Billy told me at the dairy, “we have a random problem with the capper. Everything seems fine, but we get frequent problems with misaligned caps. It happens randomly and we are at wit’s end.” “Fiddlesticks ...... Read More
Comments (4)The case of the crazy case
“KC,” she exclaimed, “my codes are wandering all over my case.” I wrestled myself out of my comfy chair, pulled on my seven league boots and was on my way. When I got there, Sue showed me the problem. She was using an inkjet to print bar codes and other information on the side of a shipper case and the printing wandered forward and backwards. The operators kept fiddling ...... Read More
Comments (3)The case of the sparky conveyor
It was a ho-hum kind of day and I was relaxing with my favorite magazine, Packaging Digest. The phone bleeped and it was Sammy. He was just starting production on a new line. “KC, my inkjet printer keeps crashing! If we don’t get the product to market on time it will cost millions.” I grabbed my hat and was out the door. The printer used H-P inkjet cartridges to print a lot/da ...... Read More
Comments (2)The case of the falling labels
He was sitting in my office when I got back. He was the packaging manager at a medical device company and had a labeling problem. The labels dispensed onto a rubber pad and were held by vacuum. When the carton was in position, an air cylinder would lower the pad and tamp the label onto the carton. Most of the time this worked well. Occasionally the label would wander. We went to his plant and I be ...... Read More
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