Not only do you need industrial strength scissors to cut through the armour plated plastic, you risk severe lacerations freeing the toy from the endless twist ties securing it like Gulliver to the packaging. Why does toy packaging go to such excesses to protect Barbie and Ken when light moulded plastic with a secure, yet un-sealable adhesive would suffice? Surely the manufacturing costs are more than they need to be, not to mention the cost to the end consumer. And can the right adhesive make a difference? Yes, it definitely can.
Balance bond and breakability
Your adhesive needs to be durable enough to survive storage, shipping and delivery, yet light enough to yield without great difficulty once it reaches the end user. The only way to find the right balance is to test a wide range of adhesive strengths and adhesive patterns and placements until you find one with the right balance. But first you need to nail down exactly what the minimum expectations for your packaging are.
Interrogate your packaging
Before you can define the 'right' adhesive, ask yourself all the important questions. Will your packaging be exposed to any extremes of hot or cold? Do you need a drop test or similar to determine its ability to survive rough handling in the delivery process? What opening preferences is the end user likely to have? How will 'open times' and set times affect your manufacturing line? Are there any tamper-proofing requirements for your packaging? Once you have a clear set of requirements, you can begin testing adhesives to find a suitable match that ticks all the right boxes.
Will the right adhesive lower overall packaging costs?
Yes, if you test and test until you find the precise balance required for your specific needs, the right adhesive can dramatically lower packaging costs. You should also give serious thought to a pattern controller. While there will be extra costs involved getting it installed and running effectively, a pattern controller ensures that the same amount of adhesive will be applied in the same place every time. And that means less wasted adhesive, faster production and an ongoing result you can accurately budget on.
