Quality Management Series Part 1: The Essentials for a Custom Packaging Journey

From household names to private labels, brands that are looking to differentiate themselves are continually turning to custom packaging. But without quality standards in place, the opportunity to impress consumers can be lost due to poor quality or ineffective packaging. Satisfied customers drive repeat purchases and improve brand retention. With custom packaging, it is critical to ensure the distinctive vision brought to life is functional and satisfactory for an optimal consumer experience.

The way to guarantee this is for brands to implement quality management protocol into their custom package design, development, and distribution process.

From Start to Finish, Quality Matters

How many times are brands asked to cut corners to improve lead times? On occasion, brand owners will overlook quality control to save on costs or provide faster shipping turnaround times. This can result in product leaks or damaged packages during shipping and compromise the condition of items set for in-store shelf placement. Therefore, brands must understand all the elements required for effective quality management in their custom packaging container journey.

For example, quality standards vary across industries. The food and beverage, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries tend to have stringent standards as consumers want to know what they are consuming and putting in their bodies. These industries also require sterile packaging practices to protect contents from contamination and ensure the product is safe. In addition, high-end beauty and personal care brands want their packaging to communicate a perception of high quality, so they must implement strict quality control standards to protect their “luxury” image.

To help understand the intricacies mentioned above, TricorBraun's dedicated team of in-house quality control professionals, packaging subject matter experts, designers, and engineers utilize their expertise and resources to support customers looking for custom solutions. The team is involved in every aspect of the analysis and performance testing process to ensure a custom product meets requirements in every area — including manufacturing and filling, distribution, final delivery directly into consumers’ hands or into brick-and-mortar stores, and even product consumption.

Ensuring Custom Packaging Quality Through Investments in Training and Equipment

TricorBraun prioritizes investing in quality management training and innovative equipment to ensure that the custom packaging components we design and develop meet these standards. TricorBraun’s award-winning Design & Engineering team creates a customized design that our quality team runs through a wide range of in-house qualification and functional testing. This includes mold qualification, environmental stress cracking resistance, heat induction seal testing, leak testing, drop testing, color matching, and more. In addition, unlike many other packaging distributors, TricorBraun has an in-house mold development facility, which allows seamless quality control from start to finish and expedites the mold qualification process.

“TricorBraun advocates for our customers and we will do whatever it takes to help drive their success,” said Gregg Aukeman, Director, Design & Engineering Commercialization, TricorBraun. "Whether the customer initiates the quality standards or we need to help them better understand the industry requirements, we're constantly collaborating with the like-minded desire to drive a flawless and successful outcome in the entire packaging journey."

To stay on the cutting edge of quality-driven standards and best practices, TricorBraun’s team members have various certifications from the American Society for Quality (ASQ). In addition, other members have food safety certifications recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative, and TricorBraun’s engineers are certified by the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP), demonstrating significant industry expertise and experience in packaging technology and concepts.

Quality “Delivers” a Positive eCommerce Experience

It’s no surprise that with the prevalence of ecommerce, the most frequently requested quality requirement is testing products for shipping and handling. Brands must implement quality control practices to ensure the customer experience is smooth from purchase to front-door delivery. Regardless of if it’s packaged in a plastic bottle or a glass jar, when a damaged product is delivered to a person’s home, you’ll have a dissatisfied customer who may not give your brand a second chance.

One of the most important considerations when developing packaging for ecommerce is testing for product leakage. TricorBraun can test for leakage by simulating air and cargo shipments utilizing our in-house capabilities. Drop and vibration equipment allows us to put packages through a representative transit environment. Vacuum testing mimics pressure the package would experience through shipment at various altitudes. Our experienced quality team utilizes these capabilities to evaluate packages for ecommerce viability.

Your Commitment to Quality Management Starts Here

When you choose TricorBraun, you’re partnering with a team of quality experts committed to preventing issues for any of your packaging needs. We realize that custom packaging may not be the right solution for every brand and rest assured, our quality management standards also span across our network of 1,000+ vendors and their stock offerings. Click here to speak with a packaging consultant and learn more about our available resources.