Undergrads reinvent the cardboard box

boing
41

Having watched this video for more than 2 minutes, around the age I was about a minute ago, I can say it looks like those guys are smart, motivated and resourceful. Which of course led me to think—Wow, they sure wasted a lot of time in school!

Can’t say I blame 'em. (Though I kind of just did…)

Anyway, I have practical issues with the product these TIME WASTERS designed, created and marketed at an age when I was folding boxes, so I will convey those concerns in a condescending, presumptuous manner now.

Ahem.

What were their instructors doing!!! Probably teaching 'em pansy-ass fluff like how not to end up in a packing line! Oy vey!

One of 'em needs a haircut, too. And would it be so hard to wear a tie??? Get a real job, ya filthy college kids. Um, I mean lads.

Thank you for your time.

42

Try writing “bull semen” on it instead.

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43

I can’t speak to the usefulness of the design, but I can shed some light on the “who the heck makes all these boxes” discussion. My SO works in a warehouse, specifically int he distribution department of the largest company in the nation in its particular field (and, to allay any doubts as to its size, the field is a vital one). And the packers make their own boxes, by hand. There is no automation in the average warehouse, I’d imagine. With how often the line actually breaks down (from what I’ve heard), automating any of it would add sufficient complexity that work wouldn’t get done.

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Even if it took over the market it’s wouldn’t save any trees. Trees used for paper products are farmed for that purpose. If the trees aren’t needed, less will be planted. Net result = zero difference.

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Well at least for Amazon humans are cheaper, check these photos from in one of their warehouses 21 and 22 show a couple of the packers.

46

I was thinking it was going to be more the Big Tape industry.

47

Putting my product management hat on, a number of the previous comments speak to the MVP requirements of transit packaging, namely a) the package must be secure and stable while in transit, b) the box must be stamped out of a roll with minimal waste, c) the package must conform to existing machinery - this new box fails on all three at first glance.

As a model for archival and component storage, @simonize is spot on IMO. The positive qualities of the technology: simplicity, rapid configuration, reusability (via its reversibility), and it’s “gee whiz” factor would all be positive selling features for certain applications.

Overall, the video is evidence of what happens when non-product people try to develop a product: they tend to look at the problem in terms of “I have a neat technology I want to sell” as opposed to “there is an existing problem in the market that is urgent, pervasive and people would be willing to spend money to fix”. Again, @simonize shows the correct thinking here.

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48

Actually, that would solve the problem of having someone press on the top while it’s in shipment, so maybe you’ve got something. (Ah, brainstorming – throw enough silly ideas out and eventually one of them may actually stick.)

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Good observation!

I just got a very prettily packed intro-to-Arduino kit, with a set of internal boxes. Wasteful, but there’s a certain joy in the “kentucky” elegance of it. (This ken tuck here, and that ken tuck there, and…) and it’s all recyclable rather than the plastic bags I’d otherwise expect… Anyway, this design would be too large for that particular kit, but I can certainly see it as inner boxes for larger items, and the self-opening amusement would go nicely there.

Emphatically not a waste. Whether or not this particular idea is worth pursuing, they’re getting an education in what it takes to research an idea, to develop and refine prototypes, to determine if it’s patentable and navigate the patent process, to market it… If they have any intention of being involved in the idea economy in the future, either as inventors or as backers, they’re going to need these skills… and they are rarely taught in anything like an organized fashion.

Engineering programs should include at least a basic intro to how to turn the idea into not just a product but a business. Apparently they’re lucky enough to be involved in one that does. That’s worth celebrating, not complaining about.

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“Tessellation”

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I would expect the closure components of the cardboard Rapid Packing Container to become dog eared or detached after a couple cycles, necessitating the use of tape.

If the duo are aiming for reuse and saving trees, then corrugated plastic, like used for USPS tubs, is the right material to be working with: durable & moisture resistant.

SHEETS3.jpg2326×1566 291 KB

52

I wonder if they considered waste during the box manufacturing process. The old inefficient box they show just happens to be a rectangle with some narrow slots cut out, so it tiles well across the big sheet it is cut out off. Very good chance it actually tiles exactly across whatever the standard size sheet or roll or whatever that comes out of the cardboard machine meaning that nearly all of the cardboard produced turns into box.

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Hi, worked in a warehouse, hands on then managing. Guy with the $1 tape gun instead of a real one, who couldn’t fold that box in one push and tape it in one motion (like with a real tape gun), gotta tell you I would not hire you.

Just kidding, I’d hire you and totally train you to do that much faster than is possible with the “rapid packing container”

Open with a push on one side of the container? They made a disposable lunch box, an act which is decidedly not better for the environment. That box would not ship safely with ANY freight or express delivery service.

It would be good for being the aforementioned disposable lunchbox, since Junior probably could get halfway through the day without accidentally opening it most days, and it becomes a place-mat for Juniors meal, which I hope is a healthy one. I wish Junior well.

These guys did not collaborate or research with anyone of merit/any good materials, or they ignored the downside advice, or they got patted on the head and told they were clever.

That said, just because it is a bad idea does not mean it won’t sell. There’s one born every minute, but I guarantee you no major carrier will pay a claim when they learn a shipper used the stupid box.

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54

It’s a good go. Looks like it will pop in transit. Smart idea. Hope they get somewhere - if this were totally automated with the machine brain selecting the absolute best box for each job (at, say, Amazon), and even cutting the fibreboard to size, minimising overall utilisation like an efficient tailor, it would be super cool.

Need to print it with “don’t just chuck this out - use again!”

55

Thanks for setting me straight on that.

56

the other advantage for archival usage is the lack of glue or tape. Actual archival boxes tend to be made of lignin-free cardboard and held together with little metal edges so there’s no glue to outgas who know what to the contents.

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57

Well the small boxes are held together with those metal edges, and the large ones are folded with a couple of extra flaps and need no tape.

58

Before embarassing themselves publicly, they probably should’ve acquired a basic box certification from a 3rd party. They rate weight capacity and edge crush strength, and these certifications are critical when it comes to insurance claims with shipping companies.

The “wasteful” flaps in conventional boxes actually add a substantial amount of protection on the top and bottom of the carton, as well as more structural rigidity. Tape that is anchored by wrapping it around edges also adds a substantial amount of resilience over small strips of double-sided adhesive.

Really, what these kids did was rip-off the design of the free USPS “video boxes”, as another post pointed out, but they did so in an impractical way. I’ve used plenty of those over the years, but never send them on their way without plenty of additional tape holding them together, since they’re prone to popping open.

But what do I know, I’ve only shipped thousands of items of all shapes, sizes, and weights, from first-class mail to LTL truck freight.

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59

I’ve been working for “Big Cardboard” for a number of years and there’s a few points I’d like to bring forward.

For one thing, we have plenty of custom designs for self-assembling boxes - this is in no way a new or innovative idea in and of itself. The design that’s shown on the video is a nice one, nothing wrong with that, but it’s a variation on an idea that’s been used already, and if you visit some specialized sites that sell cardboard, you’ll see possibly less clever designs but with similar function that work. The reversible idea is a nice touch, too.

However, the claim that their design uses 15% less cardboard than the equivalent from a regular slotted carton is completely false. At the same interior size between the 2, the design of their box will use more cardboard. You have to think that this design is for a die-cut box, and the sheet from which the box will be cut will have to be a bit larger than the flat design. A regular slotted carton will use (Height+Width) X (LengthX2)+(WidthX2)+GlueLap. So if I have a 6X6X6 box with a 1 inch glue lap (tbh, we mostly like 1 1/2" glue laps), I will end with a sheet that’s 12 X 25, which will use 2.08 square feet of cardboard. Their design, without trim, will use (HeightX2)+(LengthX2)+extra for lock portion, say 2 inches on the large bottom and 1 inch on the top ears, all of this X (Width+HeightX2)+extra for side laps, say 2 inches on each side. So again, with a 6X6X6 carton, we end up with a sheet that’s 27 X 24, which amounts to 4.5 square feet of board. More than double the carton than the regular slotted container. In this industry, board is what we sell, and more of it means we charge more.

Another thing that will hurt this idea will be the steel die cost. Typically, for such a design, a steel die would probably cost around 800$CAD. Any variation on size means a new steel die, and the cost of those will grow as the size does. Larger customers won’t mind this, but smaller users are rarely interested in investing on tooling, even if there are many advantages to those.

Finally, the custom jig is another thing that will make this a hard sell to any given customer. Those will be expensive and hard to develop, until 3D printing technology makes its way in the larger world, when it will likely cease to be a problem.

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60

A catalog of first-world problems.