Packaging Information

Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages. Package labelling (BrE) or labeling (AmE) is any written, electronic, or graphic communications on the packaging or on a separate but associated label.

Packaging is heavily integrated into our daily lives, we see it all around us, on everyday items such as chocolate bars and potato chip (crisp) packets- As explained below, the main use for packaging is protection of the goods inside, but packaging also provides us with a recognisable logo, or packaging, we instantly know what the goods are inside.

Founded in 1896, Jiffy was originally a company making excelsior (wood wool) products, but they branched out into padded shipping envelopes in the mid 1960s. These are made of a kraft (paper) outer, a paper inner, and shredded used newsprint padding. The name Jiffy is synonymous with the product, and, like Hoover, is used by some as a generic term. They were the first company to manufacture this type of product, and Sealed Air's use of the novel plastic bubble technology for packaging was largely inspired by the Jiffy product. Sealed Air acquired Jiffy in 1987, from the Manchester based Baldwin Family.

is a pliable transparent plastic material commonly used for packing fragile items. Regularly spaced, protruding air-filled hemispheres ("bubbles") provide cushioning for precious or breakable items. Bubble Wrap was created by two engineers, Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes, in 1957. Like many innovations, it was accidental: The two were trying to create a textured plastic wallpaper with paper backing that could be easily cleaned. The term is a registered trademark of the Sealed Air Corporation (US) which was founded in 1960 by those inventors, and should theoretically only be used for products of that company.

Boxes are highly variable receptacles. When no shape is described, a typical rectangular box may be expected. Nevertheless, a box may have a horizontal cross section that is square, elongated, round or oval; sloped or domed top surfaces, or non-vertical sides. A box normally may be opened by raising, sliding or removing the lid, which may be hinged and/or fastened by a catch, clasp, or lock. Whatever its shape or purpose or the material of which it is fashioned, it is the direct descendant of the chest, one of the most ancient articles of domestic furniture. Its uses are innumerable, and the name, preceded by a qualifying adjective, has been given to many objects of artistic or antiquarian interest. Objects are often placed inside boxes, for a variety of reasons.

An envelope is a packaging product, usually made of flat, planar material such as paper or cardboard, and designed to contain a flat object, which in a postal-service context is usually a letter or card. The traditional type is made from a sheet of paper cut to one of three shapes: the rhombus (also referred to as a lozenge or diamond), the short-arm cross, and the kite. These designs ensure that when the sides of the sheet are folded about a delineated central rectangular area, a rectangular-faced, usually oblong, enclosure is formed with an arrangement of four flaps on the reverse side, which, by virtue of the shapes of sheet traditionally used, is inevitably symmetrical.