Our customers tell us they appreciate Wertheimer Box’s high-quality packaging boxes. But what goes into a high-quality box? What makes one corrugated carton “high quality?” But not another?
At Wertheimer Box, high-quality packaging is an imperative.
Whether we’re manufacturing shippers, gift boxes, ecommerce packaging, retail displays, or mailer boxes, we address four key areas for ensuring high-quality packaging.
- Exceptional Structure and Functionality
- Diligent Compliance
- Purposeful Printing and Graphic Design
- Intentional Sustainability
In this article, we focus on the 5 touchpoints that underpin the first of these: exceptional structure and functionality.
5 Critical Touchpoints for High-Quality Boxes
High-quality packaging is more than just a box—it’s a critical part of your product’s journey and your brand’s reputation.
Similar to the engine under the hood of your car, your packaging’s structure and functionality are perhaps not as exciting as the box’s printing and graphic design: your sports car’s shiny red finish and bold racing stripes.
But ultimately, it’s what’s under the hood that determines high-quality performance.
In other words, it’s not only the packaging’s outward aesthetics (the box’s color, graphic design, and printing) that makes your packaging “high quality,” but also how well it serves its intended purpose.
As an ISO 9001:2025-certified company, Wertheimer Box implements a comprehensive quality management system (QMS). Every Wertheimer Box employee works in accordance with our QMS and adheres to our quality policies.
Table of Contents
In this article, we boil down our 27-section quality manual into five critical touchpoints:
At Wertheimer Box, high-quality packaging is an imperative.
High-Quality Packaging Touchpoint 1: Dedicated QA Team
Along with our executive team, our QA team oversees the quality process of our packaging from concept to delivery. As part of this oversight, they also conduct packaging audits and ensure that we maintain our certifications.
The schematic (above) represents the process flowchart for our Quality Management System (QMS).
High-Quality Packaging Touchpoint 2: Clear Communication
High-quality packaging hinges on clear communication between your company and ours.
Arguably, communication is the most critical touchpoint because it impacts every subsequent action.
Your Wertheimer Box account manager is your point person for communication. Together, you and your account manager will discuss the “5 W’s” and “How” of your packaging, the:
Why – your packaging’s purpose and functionality
What – your products
How – your process from beginning to end
Who – your company’s decision makers
Where – your shipping destinations and storage
When – Your deadlines and cadence
WHY
Communicating the “Why” of High-Quality Packaging: Your Purpose
Begin with the end in mind. In other words, what do you want your packaging to do?
At first blush, this may seem obvious. But packaging can serve many purposes besides being a vehicle for shipping or a receptacle for holding items.
For example, consider your current packaging. What do you like and dislike about it? Can you improve on it?
You and your account manager will discuss your packaging goals and opportunities.
High-quality packaging “works.” It is not only functional, but it also influences your company’s and your customers’ experience.
Objectives Related to Your Company’s Experience
For your company’s usability, you and your account manager may want to explore opportunities to:
- Ensure your packaging is easy to use throughout your processes of ordering, storing, assembling, using, sealing, and shipping.
- Further budgetary objectives—whether high-end or bare bones.
- Promote your brand or stimulate additional orders.
- Achieve corporate sustainability goals and minimize materials usage.
- Be more environmentally friendly.
Goals Related to Your Customers’ Experience
For customers, you and your account manager may want to discuss enhancements to customer satisfaction, ensuring packaging:
- Arrives safely with products intact.
- Showcases your branding, messaging, and key information.
- Opens easily without frustration.
ISO 9001:2015 Certified Since 2006
Wertheimer Box has maintained ISO 9001:2015 certification since 2006. ISO 9001:2015 is an international standard for establishing, implementing, and maintaining Quality Management Systems (QMS) throughout our manufacturing process.
WHAT
Communicating the “What” of High-Quality Packaging: Your Products
To create high-quality packaging, your account manager and the structural designer must fully grasp the intricacies of your products or components.
Specifically, they’ll want to know the:
- Type of products (e.g., manufacturing parts, food, cosmetics, hazardous items, etc.).
- Fragility and weight of your products.
- Whether your products are perishable; require temperature control, protection from moisture or weather; or are perishable or hazardous.
- Size and shape of your products.
- Quantity of products you want in each box.
- All components you’ll pack in the box (e.g., electronic device, attachments, cord, marketing brochure, etc.).
- Style of box you had in mind.
HOW
Communicating the “How” of High-Quality Packaging: Your Process
Additionally, your account manager will want to understand the “How” of your packaging:
- Your ordering processes and capabilities.
- Warehousing or just-in-time delivery.
- Type of packaging assembly at your organization (e.g., manual, automated, semiautomated).
- Packing materials you prefer (e.g., custom molds, crinkle-cut paper, foam peanuts, or corrugated dividers).
- Product transportation (e.g., national carrier or local delivery driver).
- Whether items will be displayed and shipped in the same packaging.
- Quantities and reordering frequency of your packaging.
“Made in the USA” Quality
We produce nearly all our corrugated sheets at our Wisconsin mill. This allows us control over the manufacturing process, helping ensure high-quality, well-constructed corrugated sheets. Furthermore, we source the remaining sheets only in the United States.
This ensures “made-in-the-USA” quality. Moreover, domestic sourcing avoids disruptions in corrugated sheet availability caused by international supply chain issues or tariffs.
WHO
Communicating the Who of High-Quality Packaging: Colleagues & Customers
Your Colleagues
Early in the process, we recommend involving influential colleagues in packaging discussions:
- Any decision makers besides yourself.
- Your marketing team, brand ambassadors, and/or graphic designers.
- Production and/or shipping leaders.
Your Customers
We’ll also want to know what you know and understand about your customers and/or end users.
Communicating the “Where” of High-Quality Packaging: Shipping & Storage
Our team will want to know the “Where” of your packaging:
- Where you’ll store your flat boxes before use.
- Where your packaged products are headed (e.g., home delivery, offices, manufacturers, retailers, Amazon).
- Distance your products will ship.
WHERE
WHEN
Communicating the When of High-Quality Packaging: Deadlines & Cadences
We want to deliver your packaging on time. Let us know your expectations regarding delivery.
First-time orders (or those with new graphic design or dimensions) will require an additional 1 week of lead time after structural design approval to manufacture your tooling dies (cutting dies and printing plates).
We’ll also want to understand if you have a:
- Go-to-market launch date (new products).
- Holiday or seasonal trends.
High Quality Packaging Touchpoint 3: Excellent Structural Design
With answers to these key questions, the structural designer will collaborate with you and your account team to create a structural design.
The structural design is the “recipe” for your box. It ensures your packaging is functional, durable, and cost-effective. The optimal structural design ensures that:
- Packaging doesn’t puncture, collapse, or burst during assembly, handling, shipping, and delivery.
- Products arrive free of damage because they fit snugly in their packing, which cushions them and avoids excess movement.
- Packaging complies with any required standards of transportation carriers, big box stores, or the government.
For structural integrity, the design includes the following:
- Optimal source materials.
- Style of box or point-of-purchase display type.
- Optimal size and dimensions to minimize costs and ensure quality.
“Wertheimer Box excels when it comes to pricing, on-time delivery, and quality products. I also appreciate the help with designing new boxes or packaging.” – Wertheimer Box Customer
Structural Designs Identify the Optimal Source Material
Like any high-quality recipe, making high-quality packaging begins with superior ingredients. Your structural design will identify the type of containerboard to be cut into sheets for your project.
- Made in the USA Quality
- Containerboard Grade
- Containerboard Flute Type
USA Quality
We buy corrugated sheets that are milled only in the USA.
High-Quality Containerboard Grade: Strength
The container board grade determines the overall strength and integrity of your corrugated sheets. For example, the corrugated grade for a carton of feathers differs from the grade for a box of rocks.
Optimal Flute Type: Resilience and Print Appearance
The thickness of corrugated sheets depends on their flute type. The flute type determines the box’s cushioning and resilience—essential factors when boxes must be stacked or require durability during delivery.
Flute type can also affect the quality of your printing, whether it appears smooth or “bumpy.”
Structural Design Specifies the Box or Display Style
In addition to the packaging source material, the structural design specifies the box or display style. This decision hinges on the packaging objectives and the details uncovered during your discussions with your account manager.
The structural design preserves product protection, packaging appearance, and compliance—all factors that underpin box quality.
Structural Design Chooses “Goldilocks” Box Dimensions
Your structural design will identify your “Goldilocks” (just right) packaging dimensions. The optimal box dimensions:
- Keep your products safe.
- Don’t strain your production budget.
- Avoid excessive shipping costs based on your packaging’s physical weight or dimensional weight (i.e., how much space it occupies).
“Too Small” Packaging Dimensions
A box that is too small can result in tight packing, bulging, punctures, or loose seals, damaging your products and negatively shaping brand perceptions.
“Too Large” Packaging Dimensions
A too-large box allows products to shift:
- Elevating the risk of damaging the product.
- Leading to unnecessary expenses for source materials and shipping.
- Negatively shaping impressions.
- Increasing product replacement costs
At best, your company seems wasteful; at worst, foolish.
“Just Right” Dimensional Considerations
Many factors affect your “Goldilocks” dimensions, including:
- Finished product sizes.
- Necessary packaging support, especially for heavy or fragile items.
- Cushioning to keep products from shifting.
- Number and variety of items per box.
For example, a food manufacturer might intend to ship 24 identical glass bottles of a condiment per box. In contrast, an online shipping company may pack mixed-weight items into a single box.
Rendering, Prototype, and Testing
With these factors in mind, the structural designer may create a 3D computer rendering of your box’s physical form using specialized software. This also generates a “recipe card,” specifications that accompany your project from design through to shipping.
Upon request, the design department also makes a packaging prototype (sample box) for you, typically at no additional cost.
At times, we may also recommend package testing or the law may require it.
“Wertheimer does a wonderful job of working with their customers to find solutions to their packaging needs.” – Wertheimer Box Customer
High-Quality Packaging Touchpoint 4: Meticulous Materials Management
Purchasing
When you approve the design, our purchasing department reviews the specifications to order the correct “ingredients” for your packaging.
For first-time orders, this typically includes corrugated sheets, tooling (cutting and printing) dies, and designated ink colors. (Once purchased, we do not need to order your dies again unless the structural or graphic design changes.)
Receiving
Our receiving clerks check in the purchased items:
- Corrugated sheets
- Cutting dies
- Print plates
- Ink colors
Corrugated Sheets
Upon delivery, our receiving clerks will double-check the load tag to ensure the delivery meets the design specifications on the “recipe” card.
The clerk double-checks the grade, strength, and size of the sheets and ensures the proper number of bales as identified on the card.
They are then received and properly cataloged into our 303,000-square-foot plant.
Ink Colors, Cutting Dies, and Print Plates
Similarly, we verify the correct ink colors, cutting dies, and print plates and move them to the Ink Kitchen, Die Depot, and Printing Plate Library, respectively.
Wertheimer Box High-Quality Packaging Touchpoint 5: Standardized Production Process
With your corrugated sheets, ink, and tooling dies, and timeline in hand, our operations manager schedules production to meet your deadline.
Preproduction
This schedule triggers a flurry of activity:
- Forklift drivers transport your sheets from our catalogued warehouse repository to the designated packaging machine.
- The color specialist mixes the desired ink color in the Ink Kitchen.
- The die guy (actual job title) conveys your tooling dies from the Die Depot to the appropriate machine.
Production
The experienced machine operators feed your corrugated sheets into the machine and run several “make-ready” boxes, adjusting colors, print, or machine settings as needed.
They ensure that Goldilocks “just right” quality is achieved and matches the design specifications. For example, they’ll check that the ink is legible and the box folds correctly.
Depending on the job’s complexity, our flexographic machines can print 2,500 to 10,000 boxes per hour.
Various machines have different capabilities:
- Generate inside/outside printing without re-feeding the sheets into the machine.
- Make die cuts.
- Handle corrugated sheets as large as a refrigerator or compact car and as small as a ring box.
The machine bundles the boxes into bales just before outputting them, and it counts the bales.
At the take-off (output) end of the machine, the boxes travel across the conveyor to the strapping machine.
Skilled plant workers remove the bales and palletize them.
Postproduction
The forklift operator drives the pallets to the staging area for shipping or pickup. Alternatively, packaging may be warehoused for vendor-managed inventory.
Summary
Five critical touchpoints are the pillars of our quality management system (QMS).
- First, a dedicated Quality Assurance (QA) Team oversees all aspects of high-quality packaging.
- Second, clear communication between our Account Manager and your company is essential.
- Third, an excellent structural design meets all packaging objectives.
- Fourth, meticulous purchasing, receiving, and delivery processes ensure the highest-quality “ingredients” for production.
- Finally, standardized production processes adhere to the structural design specifications.
Careful attention to these 5 quality touchpoints ensures the highest-quality packaging that meets your needs.
Wesley Kucera
