Bundled packaging

Some vegetables – e.g. bananas, spring onions, celeriac and herbs – are often sold in unpackaged form, though they still need to meet certain labelling regulations and therefore carry certain product details, such as sell-by dates, barcodes or other relevant information that will ensure a safe supply chain. However, the irregular shapes of vegetables often make it rather difficult to label them. This is why many retailers prefer banding. Unlike string and elastic bands, they have the advantage of offering sufficient space for branding, product details and further information. Moreover, when used like this, ultra-thin banding does not require as much material as full packaging. And, of course, banding solutions are less time-consuming – for instance when handling bundled biscuit bars. Bundles of five bars can be taken from the box onto the shelf much faster than individual products.

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The material of the bands can come in varying thicknesses, qualities and widths. Bands also allow direct printing and offer numerous options to accommodate logos, slogans, recipes and stories. Thanks to sophisticated vacuum mounting systems, each packaging band fits firmly and tightly round each bunch of vegetables. Bundled goods save time when placing them on a supermarket shelf. Photo: Bahlsen Group

Benefits in shipping and for pharmaceuticals

Banding can also be a suitable packaging solution for purposes outside the food industry. The rapid proliferation of e-commerce means that more and more parcels are sent around the world by large sales and packaging centres. This requires inexpensive and environment-friendly solutions but must also satisfy a company’s branding needs. Here, too, packaging bands are seen as popular solutions. While offering enough space for important details, they still leave plenty of room to print further information. Special bundling machines with printers can be configured in such a way as to allow the bundling and even cross-bundling of cardboard boxes, smaller boxes and other small containers. Tracking data for effective order picking purposes can be placed in the right place on a product. Such bundling applications are especially popular in the pharmaceutical industry, which works with large numbers of small packaging sizes. Also, safety bands can be applied for additional tamper-evident closure.
 

Safety bands can add tamper-evident closures to pharmaceutical products. Photo: Bandall