Folding Carton Structures
CartonCraft: Unboxed Potential
These versatile boxes go beyond just holding your products – they come in various shapes, sizes, and designs to protect, promote, and enhance your brand. From the simple tuck-top box to the more intricate lock-bottom styles, folding cartons offer a functional and customizable way to get your products to your customers safely and stylishly.
Auto Bottom (aka Crash Lock Bottom)
This innovative design features a self-folding bottom that creates a secure closure, eliminating the need for tape or glue. But that's not all! The Auto-Bottom carton shines when it comes to heavy items. Its reinforced bottom, compared to standard cartons, provides an extra layer of protection to prevent your products from breaking through. Plus, these cartons are perfect for quick setups and smaller production runs. Since they can be assembled by hand quickly, you can skip the hassle of automated equipment and get packing right away.
Full Flap Auto Bottom (aka Crash Lock Bottom)
For heavy items, Full Flap Auto-Bottom cartons offer a significant advantage over standard Auto-Bottom styles. The additional bottom panel acts like a built-in strengthener, preventing your products from breaking through and getting damaged. This design also makes them ideal for smaller production runs or quick packaging needs. Since they can be assembled by hand quickly, you can set up packing stations fast without needing expensive automated equipment.
Sleeve
Preglued style (shown) A simple construction in which commonly functions as the slip-on cover for a two piece combination of a tray & sleeve. Additionally, this style is used as the basic structure for many high-end multi-packaging systems. Such sleeve styles may feature either a locked-side seam or glued seam version. For example, today many food companies use this style sleeve to advertise their product which slips over their oven/microwave friendly frozen or fresh packaged food tray.
Standard Reverse Tuck (also known as SRT)
This style is favored (but not limited to) products that require a large window display panel as both top and bottom closures tuck towards the back, which conceals the raw edges at both ends of the front display panel. This carton is also equally suitable for manual erecting, as well as automated assembling. If a die-cut window is used, one can choose between a flexible window material that is glued into the carton, a glued or unglued rigid window into the carton, or no window material needed at all.
Tuck and Tongue
Generally assembled, filled and sealed manually. The Tuck and Tongue carton is designed to withstand round handling without disengaging due to its reinforced locking tab.
Four Corner Beers Tray (aka Biers)
Similar to the Infold/Outfold Tray, this style tray is glued by the converter and shipped flat to the user where it is then generally erected, loaded and closed by hand. The two end panels have less than a 45 degree diagonal angle which allow the tray to resist collapsing once it is assembled. This tray can also have an attached tuck lid if preferred.
Walker Lock Tray
A tray that is usually assembled and erected to lock in place by hand where the inner end panels fold over and mirror the outer end panel.
Seal End (Full Overlap, Partial Overlap)
This carton is generally assembled, filled and sealed on automatic, horizontal or vertical packaging equipment. This style is also beneficial for larger volume orders as it’s not packed by hand. Additionally, each style seal end can feature a zipper-style tear strip on the top panel if chosen. Full flap style cannot reclose once the end consumer opens it from the top panel. Partial flap style allows carton to be reclosed by the end consumer. (Ex. cereal boxes)
Six Corner Beers Tray (aka Biers)
As another member of the tray family, a Six Corner Beers Tray is glued by the converter and shipped flat to the end user where it’s generally assembled and filled by hand. This style tray has a lid that doesn’t tuck but instead locks in place on the front panel. It is very popular among the baked goods industry.
Frame Vue (aka Frame View)
The basic purpose of this tray is to visually enhance a product and used to primarily distinguish a high end quality product. The Frame-Vue Tray is generally set up and loaded by hand after the converter folds & glues the sidewalls together then ships the tray flat before product assembly.
1-2-3 Bottom or Snap Lock Bottom
This style is more generally known today as the 1-2-3 closure or just Snap Lock Bottom. It’s usually paired with a standard top tuck closure, and is assembled and sealed manually (or by hand). This closure style may be applied in a shallow-depth, tube-style counter display carton, as well as in the proportion shown here.
Infold/Outfold Tray
Similar to the Four Corners Beers Tray, this style tray is glued by the converter and shipped flat to the user where it is then generally erected and loaded by hand. However, instead of the two end panels being scored on an angle in order to collapse and lay flat like the Four Corner Beers Tray, this style has angles on both of the side panels. The infold/outfold combination allows this style to have a top lid that conveniently collapses inward over the easily filled outfold bottom.
Simplex Tray (aka Kwikset)
The sidewalls of this tray are preglued by the converter then generally assembled by hand, but can also be assembled by machine. Alternative versions can be made for shallower applications as well.
