Seven Considerations to Address for an Award Winning Custom Packaging Design

Wondering what will make your thermoformed packaging design stand out? Here, we explain seven considerations that should be assessed to ensure packaging meets and exceeds your specific needs.

Quality Design

The first step to producing quality thermoformed packaging is creating an excellent design. Your design will determine nearly everything else for your packaging, including materials, tooling and more. When you sit down with your packaging design team, explain to them what you had in mind for your project, as well as any specifics about your product they should be aware of. They will then suggest various structures that provide high levels of protection that are still aesthetically appealing.

Material Selection

Next, your team will select the appropriate plastic material. Many companies commonly use PET and PP plastics to create their thermoformed parts. Both are very versatile materials, and both have seen large increases in recyclability, increasing their popularity. Each of these materials is FDA friendly, and great options for your food custom thermoforming projects.

Quality Tooling

Once you and your packaging team determine a design and proper material, your team will then need to proceed to the mold tooling phase of the project. One major benefit working with Plastic Ingenuity is its in-house tooling capabilities. This capability allows for quick adjustments, and reduced cost, and time savings.

Plug Design

To develop your packaging, your team will typically need to develop a plug design. Custom one-of-a-kind plugs will be designed and formed for your unique package, enhancing the package integrity.

Cleanroom Environment

Some packaging designs, especially those in the healthcare industry, must be processed in highly sterile environments where outside contamination must be eliminated. Strict packaging specifications are typically thermoformed in state-of-the-art, ISO Class 8 clean room environments. These facilities are equipped with the necessary components, including a positive pressure HVAC system with HEPA filtration, customized material handling, and proprietary trimming.

Speed to Market

Packaging designs must be produced in an expedited time frame to ensure products can reach their intended markets when needed. Without an efficient timeline in place, the packaging design, creation and revision could take months; in that time, products may lose their relevancy or popularity with consumers. Again, choosing a company that controls all facets of the value chain is beneficial because the entire process is completed in the same facility.

Good Material Distribution

Before full scale production, your thermoforming partner will typically produce prototype samples to test form, fit, and function. This allows for any final minute changes to fine tune material distribution and shape before committing to larger volumes.

To learn more about what makes for a good thermoformed part or to get started on your own project, contact PI today.