Written by Brian Nissen, CPP
Shelf boxes are an integral and functional component of Medical Device Packaging. It is very important to consider the protection they provide, the ease of use as well as the esthetic appearance of the product.
There are many techniques on how to best protect your device and its packaging while maintaining a clean and professional outward appearance. Each form of device packaging comes with unique specifications, and therefore unique practices in order to maintain their integrity, appearance, and functionality. Here are three tips on making your shelf boxes stand out among the rest.
1. Consider where your artwork lands in relation to the die cut and folds of the box.
If you decide to create artwork that extends all the way to the edges of your folded box, be sure to take into account that the manufacturer of the box performs the printing, die cutting and folding in separate steps. If your artwork is created to extend all the way to each fold, it can be difficult to line up perfectly in the manufacturing process. This can lead to easily seen imperfections where your artwork is not properly aligned with the edge of the box.
Consider leaving empty space around your artwork. This will make it more tolerant to alignment variations that inevitably happen during production.
2. When using wrap-around artwork, choose colors that work well with your substrate.
When creating your wrap-around artwork, be sure to take into consideration the substrate color versus the color of your artwork. If you print dark artwork on a white box, any dings or scrapes that may happen during shipping or distribution might be more obvious due to the contrast. Instead, choose colors that compliment your substrate color and that would not make imperfections stand out.
3. Be mindful of where you place your tuck.
When you fold many common box styles, you create a tuck (the folded flaps of the box). This creates an edge on the inside of the package, which can catch objects when loading your devices or trays.
There are multiple ways to avoid your object catching on the package:
- If you are loading a tray and find that the lid keeps catching on your box tuck, consider flipping the tray over to position the tuck near the bottom side of the tray.
- If you are including an instruction manual, wrap the folded manual around the front edge of your object. This will help protect any corners from catching on the tuck and possibly receiving damage.
- Choose straight-tuck boxes where the tuck folds in on the same side for each end of the box.