Lighter is Better? Less is More?

 In addition to tighter supply, increasing OCC costs and the lack of virgin fiber inputs other changes in the paper market are making their way into the packaging sector. The decline in demand for other traditional paper markets with advent of digital information has created excess capacity in lightweight paper mills: think newspaper. Couple this development with the increased dependence on short fiber raw stocks and better paper making technology that improves the performance of paper at lower strength/basis weights through the use of fiber alignment technologies and we are seeing an increase in the variety and prevalence of lightweight liners.  

In 1978 six different paper weights comprised 95% of the market for liner board with 50% of that market in 42# liner. In 2011 there are a bewildering number of paper weights, (you can find paper that has a basis weight for every number between 15 and 90) with 42% of that market between sub 26# and 37# liners. This trend is only going to accelerate as new stronger lightweight liners make their way into the market. Many customers and packaging suppliers faced with this level of complexity in the market simply throw up their hands and go for heavier paper or worse simply revert to old and expensive mullen grades.

Knowing how to manufacture packaging in this environment is critical. At Kelly Box and Packaging we have invested heavily in testing equipment and technology to ensure that we can deploy these new materials and still deliver the kind of packaging performance your products, processes and customers demand. We have testing and design capabilities that let us take advantage of these newer paper combinations to create cost effective yet reliable packaging.