The Italian Box Manufacturers Association – CIS Association – presented its new publication ‘Corrugated cardboard packaging. General information and production aspects – Technical and commercial guidelines’. The result of joint work among the association, a pool of experts on the various topics covered and a selection of box factory customers, this manual aims to raise awareness about corrugated cardboard packaging both within the sector and externally.
The manual addresses the most relevant technical aspects relating to corrugated cardboard packaging with the aim of making more efficient the supply relationship of corrugated cardboard packaging and related services; guaranteeing high quality and safety of supplies; allow packaging buyers to make an informed and transparent commercial choice.
Through the manual, therefore, the Italian Box Manufacturers Association wanted to identify sector best practices aimed at everyone in order to ensure high technical and qualitative standards, all in strict compliance with community and national antitrust legislation and with the provisions of Civil Code.
“The Association’s Board of Directors had been thinking about creating a specific manual for the box manufacturing sector for some years. Those in circulation, in addition to being dated, had a strong imbalance towards the logic of corrugators and integrated box factories, with little consideration of the peculiarities of box converters. Thanks to the effort of all the companies that financed this project by virtue of their membership of the association, this manual has finally come to life”, comments Andrea Mecarozzi, president of the Italian Box Manufacturers Association.
The project was developed by the Technical Commission of the Association, made up of box factories located throughout Italy and therefore representative of the different territorial production needs, which in the drafting of some parts of the manual made use of the collaboration of the Paper Quality Center of Lucca, as well as of specialists in the various topics addressed.
Corrugated cardboard packaging is divided into two parts. The first part, General information and production aspects, introduces the world of corrugated cardboard and the main types of packaging, explaining its characteristics and giving a series of useful elements to guide choices towards the most suitable packaging for different needs. The most relevant technical aspects are then covered – wave characteristics, performance, tests laboratory, tolerances – and the main certifications and regulations regarding corrugated cardboard packaging.
The second part, Technical and commercial guidelines, defines the main elements to consider in corrugated cardboard packaging supply contracts, with a specific focus on the characteristics of box converters.
“It is a project dedicated above all to end users to increase the culture around the box product in all its facets through a simple manual, designed mainly for those who know nothing about the box, precisely to increase market awareness, create culture in the sector, facilitate relationships with customers, and possibly contribute to reducing complaints towards suppliers through best practices, that could help the entire market to grow”, concludes Riccardo Cavicchioli, vice-president of the Association, who actively participated in the work of this manual which initially it will be made available to the associated box factories, but subsequently to the whole box factories converters sector.
