Corrugated cardboard; the lifeblood here at Design Packaging and Tapes. Corrugated cardboard boxes are also the everyday working materials for those involved in the logistics, delivery and packaging industries, without which many jobs would be impossible to do, and productivity would be impossible to achieve.

But how is corrugated cardboard made? Well, like paper, cardboard is reliant on the pulping of organic raw materials, that being wood. The easiest wood to grow, which has the properties that allows it to be made into high quality paper and corrugated cardboard, is that of pine. Pine is picked and then cut before being sent for processing.

  1. The pine is cut down into small chips before they are ‘boiled’ in a solution of alkaline chemicals that help break down the wood, in a high-pressure tank in which, when pressure is released, separates wood into individual fibres.
  2. The fibres are then meshed and compressed in what is a huge pressing machine, after which it is fed into a rolling machine that further flattens the paper/cardboard and heats it too, ensuring that the fibres bond and that water is removed.
  3. Cardboard destined to be corrugated is sent away to a plant that separates the sheets into that of the liner, and that of the filler. The medium is fed onto a roller with sharp jagged edges, forming the corrugation, while the flat liner is then glued onto both sides of the corrugation in a separate roller. The huge roller machines also allow for varying sizes of corrugation, and they can also be customized to work with varying thicknesses of cardboard.
  4. The corrugated cardboard is then either packaged into rolls, or it is sent to the die-cutter which bends the sheets at various points, allowing the board to be bent so that it can be shaped into a cardboard box.

The rolls or ready-shaped boxes are then sent to suppliers or retail ready to be used for packaging and delivery. For all your corrugated cardboard supplies make sure that you contact Design Packaging and Tapes today!