Clam Packaging

Clam Packaging for your Product – Open Up to the Idea

Unless you happen to know an awful lot about the packaging industry, most people will have no idea what clamshell packaging actually is. However, most shoppers who have ever purchased an item off a store shelf has probably handled and opened a clamshell packaged item at one time or other.

Let’s look at how using clam packaging can benefit you and your business and why it makes sense to consider this method of packaging to deliver your goods safely into the hands of your consumers.

Firstly, clam packaging is a 2 piece set that is split into two part and welded to form a tight bond or seal around your product.

There are many obvious advantages to clam packaging, including:

•           The packaging is effective, customisable and durable
•           It protects against poor handling and transportation
•           It make it easy to stack your products onto shelves or in displays
•           Aids in product visibility and presentation
•           It’s strong, durable and versatile
•           Even though they are difficult to open sometimes, clam packaging aids in helping to reduce pilferage.
•           The packaging comes in all shapes and sizes

Increased durability from manufacture to shelf

Without the correct protective packaging for your product, you can put your goods at risk of damage during its logistical movement from your manufacturing plant to its arrival on the retail shelves or during transportation from the store to your customer’s home.

Clam packaging for electronic products

Although most end customers don’t think too deeply about product packaging, a lot of thought and design effort goes into what can seem like such a basic and necessary resource.

Electronic products carry a lot of sensitive or delicate elements and components that need protecting from damage during the shipping process. Also, the electronics manufacturer must think about packaging their products in a secure enough way so that shoplifters cannot easily remove the items from their packaging to make it easier for them to steal.

With electronic packaging, one of the most common designs seen is that of clamshell packaging. The reason why this packaging is so popular for electronic goods is the simplicity of the clamshell design. For example, it is easy to package a number of small items together in one clamshell package, so you could package a personal music player with a set of ear-buds and a charging lead.

The clear clam packaging also enables the electronic device to be extremely visible to the customer rather than hidden away in a cardboard box encased in polystyrene. Having high visibility on the retail shelves can help to boost sales too, so this is why clam packaging has always been a very popular choice for electronics manufacturers.


Quantrelle Clamshell Packaging Services

For retailers and Wholesalers such as Morrisons, Costco, Asda and WHSmith that are looking for tough, transparent and highly effective packaging that helps to reduce the risk of damage and deters theft, especially with small and valuable items such as Inkjet supplies for example.

We can offer our clients a selection of different packaging machines that can easily cope with high volume jobs and varying platform sizes on which we can weld the packs.

If the security of your products is high on your agenda, then we can include security coding on the clam packs if so desired. The very tough, transparent clamshell packaging we produce helps greatly to minimise the risk of damage or theft of your valuable goods.

Why not contact us today to discuss your clam packaging needs. We are happy to answer all of your questions and can advise you on the best type of packaging to suit your individual needs.

Should You Use Security Tags on Your Products?

Shoplifting isn’t a new problem – things have been stolen from stores for as long as there have been stores.  Often shop owners would just take the hit and that would be the end of it. Then developments in security tags offered a new option – tagging products and setting up detectors at store entrances to catch the thieves. So should you be adding security tags to your products?

Types of security tags

There are two main categories of security tags that you will see in use in stores around the UK.  The first is RF or RFID tags which use one of two different radio-frequency systems on a label applied to a product.  This label is ‘deactivated’ by the checkout staff when the item is bought but otherwise will sound an alarm if it passes through the detector at the door while still active.

The other is a hard tag which works in a similar way but is attached to the clam packaging or other type of plastic covering.  It can also be attached to things likebottle tops for wine and alcohol.  These hard tags are removed at thecheckout to stop them signalling the detector when the item leaves the store.

RF tags

 Most of the time, customers don’t realise that RF (radio frequency) and RFID (radio frequency identification)tags are in place.  They can be inside a product, on the back or sometimeseven on the actual packaging such as shrink wrap plastic, clamshell packagingor even blister packs.  These are clever types of anti-shoplifting devicesthat send a signal from the tag to the transmitter placed at the door to let itknow that the tag hasn’t been deactivated and the alarm then sounds.

When an item is paid for correctly, the checkout assistant deactivates the RF tag with a special tool and this allows you to walk past the transmitter without it sounding.  It doesn’t always work – we’ve all had an alarm sound because a tag hasn’t been deactivated properly!  But they are largely accurate and a good way to secure products.

RFID tags

 RFID tags are a little more advanced and can be used for more than just an anti-theft device.  That’s because each tag identifies the individual product – these tags are used for things like self-service checkouts or those machines that let you tag your products as you shop and not put them through the checkout.

RFID tags work over shorter distances than RF tags, usually around 10cm.  Some are passive, responding to radio waves from a scanner or transmitter.  Others are active and contain a tiny battery to send and receive signals.

Hard tags

Hard tags are a more visual deterrent than RF or RFID tags because they are bulky and prominent.  You can see them attached to anything from razor blade clam packaging to bottles of whiskey.

Unlike RF tags, they are removed from the product when it is sold with a special device at the checkout.  If the tag isn’t removed, the alarm will sound when the product passes the detector at the door.  Hard tags use a similar system to RF tags.

Benefits of using security tags

The most obvious benefit for a business to using security tags on their products is that it can help reduce theft.  Some businesses using hard tags have seen as much as a 90% decrease in theft when adding them to clam packaging.

The ease of use is another benefit.  Whichever type of tag you use, they are designed to be easy to add to the product and many packaging companies supply packaging ready made to add these tags.  They can be added at manufacturing point or by staff in the store and are easily deactivated.

Equipment is installed at the checkout to remove or deactivate the tags as well as at the entrances to the shop then the system is ready to go.

Buying in bulk, these tags can be an affordable security measure.  When added benefits such as stock control are added, you can get better analytics on what is happening in the store.  Plus there is a clear benefit in reducing the number of thefts which saves the business a lot of money in lost revenue.

Finally, there is the peace of mind for customers and staff in the use of these systems.  Staff can concentrate on helping customers rather than trying to watch out for thieves.  And genuine customers will be happy to see that steps have been taken to protect merchandise and make for a better experience for shoppers.

Getting the right packaging

One of the key elements in using security tags is ensuring that you have the right packaging on the products to incorporate the tags.  Clam packaging is one example where the product is trapped between moulded plastic sheets, allowing customers to see the items inside but protecting them.  These can have RF tags added to the packaging or hard tags attached to them as required.

Blister packs are another easy to secure packaging option.  These can be used for products such as ink cartridges as well as things like medication and tags can also be added to the outer packaging for these items.

A growing sight

 RFID tags, in particular, are a growing sight in different areas of life.  Uses for them include in libraries, in car windscreens for tolls and even in some contactless credit or debit cards.  So the sight of these tags is something we are more likely to see around life in many different ways.

For more information about our clam packaging options, get in touch. 

Retailers Moving towards Greener Packaging

By Stephanie Clifford,

The Pyranna, the Jokari Deluxe, the Insta Slit, the ZipIt and the OpenIt apply blades and batteries to what should be a simple task: opening a retail package.

But the maddening — and nearly impenetrable — plastic packaging known as clamshells could become a welcome casualty of the difficult economy. High oil prices have manufacturers and big retailers reconsidering the use of so much plastic, and some are aggressively looking for cheaper substitutes.

“With the instability in petroleum-based materials, people said we need an alternative to the clamshell,” said Jeff Kellogg, vice president for consumer electronics and security packaging at the packaging company MeadWestvaco.

Companies are scuttling plastic of all kinds wherever they can.

Target has removed the plastic lids from its Archer Farms yogurts, has redesigned packages for some light bulbs to eliminate plastic, and is selling socks held together by paper bands rather than in plastic bags.

Wal-Mart Stores, which has pledged to reduce its packaging by 5 percent between 2008 and 2013, has pushed suppliers to concentrate laundry detergent so it can be sold in smaller containers, and has made round hydrogen peroxide bottles into square ones to cut down on plastic use.

At Home Depot, Husky tools are going from clamshell to paperboard packaging, and EcoSmart LED bulbs are about to be sold in a corrugated box, rather than a larger plastic case.

“Most of our manufacturers have been working on this,” said Craig Menear, the head of merchandising at Home Depot. “We’ve certainly been encouraging them.”

Shoppers have long complained that clamshells are a literal pain, and environmentalists have denounced them as wasteful. To save money and address complaints, retailers and manufacturers started minimizing packaging in the e-commerce sphere a few years ago. Amazon, for example, introduced a “frustration-free packaging” initiative in 2008 intended to defuse wrap rage and be more eco-friendly. Other retailers have also been looking for ways to improve the customer’s unpacking experience.

“As a guy in packaging, I get all the questions — there’s nothing worse than going to a cocktail party where someone’s asking why they can’t get into their stuff,” said Ronald Sasine, the senior director for packaging procurement at Wal-Mart. “I’ve heard over the years, ‘How come I need a knife to get into my knife?’ ‘How come I need a pair of scissors to get into my kid’s birthday present?’ ”

To see the full article from NYTimes, click here.

Clamshell Packaging

Clamshell Packaging Services

Video coming soon…

Clamshell Packaging Services: We use a Circular motion Rotary System to weld our card clams, blister packs, and clam pack. On certain sizes we can weld up to 650 clams per hour depending on complexity, we choose this particular machine due to low-cost tooling and setup, we apply a High-Frequency weld to the pack in order to seal.